Operational Continuity of Life Systems: A Bundle of Feedback Loops
From a systems engineer’s perspective, I am conducting personal research on the origins of life.
In this article, by observing software systems and life phenomena from the perspective of system operational continuity, I would like to deepen my understanding of life as a system.
In the first half of the article, I will explain from the perspective of how software developers are conscious of the computing environment in which their software operates. To ensure the continued operation of a system, numerous advanced features are necessary.
When considering the point of system operational continuity in relation to life phenomena, it becomes apparent that life phenomena cannot be established with only a single or few functions. A principle emerges that a variety of different functions are necessary.
Of course, living organisms themselves possess numerous complex functions, but this principle should also apply in the process leading up to the origin of life, where organisms are formed. This makes it difficult to assume that life started with simple and few functions and gradually evolved to become more complex.
Here, a new mystery arises about the kind of system that binds multiple highly developed functions together. The second half of the article will revisit the hypothesis about the origins of life that I have presented in other articles and consider how to interpret this new mystery.
Computing Environment from the Perspective of Software Developers
Software engineers often take for granted the computing environment in which software operates. Especially those who have just learned programming at school or are creating software as a hobby tend to think this way. Even those developing application software that runs on PCs and smartphones or serverless applications on the cloud and frontend parts operating on browsers tend to strongly feel this tendency.
On the other hand, those developing software to be embedded in products or operate on servers pay attention to the computing environment in which the software operates. They have an awareness that they are developing a system, considering not just software but also hardware.
When consciously considering the computing environment of software and capturing it as a system, it is essential to pay careful attention to ensure the system operates correctly. Systems are powered on and may be intentionally or accidentally powered off, and hardware may fail partially or entirely. Two different failures can even occur simultaneously by chance.
Operational Continuity in Software Systems
In the case of systems operating on servers, system operators or server administrators maintain the environment for the system to function correctly. Software developers should realize features that autonomously detect anomalies or unexpected events and notify operators or administrators.
Additionally, functions to easily understand the cause of such troubles, leave operational records regardless of trouble occurrence, and functions for operators or administrators to clean halfway information should be considered. Functions to back up or duplicate data in preparation for data corruption should also be contemplated.
Developers of embedded software for products are required to consider even more than system developers on servers because they cannot rely entirely on server operators or administrators. Immediate and appropriate human intervention cannot be expected. Therefore, embedded software developers are demanded even more consideration than server system developers. While not all problems can be solved by software, it is required to maintain functionality autonomously as much as possible while responding appropriately to various situations.
This involves internalizing as much as possible the system maintenance and management services that should be provided by operators or administrators through software functions. This requires the development of extremely advanced and complex mechanisms where the system self-recognizes, self-preserves, attempts self-recovery, self-troubleshooting, and self-degradation.
Complexity of System Operation Continuation
As observed, not only focusing on the aspect of software, when viewed as a system including the environment in which that software operates, it is clear that the continuity of system operation is a very complex matter.
Even if the main function that one wants to realize in a system is simple, for it to continue operating, it is necessary to respond to unexpected operations or unforeseen troubles, by human effort or autonomous internal functions. If such responses cannot be made, the system will stop somewhere, and it will no longer be able to provide its main function.
System designers, from such perspectives, design not only the main functions but also the functions for maintenance and operation, and autonomous self-maintenance. Moreover, not just for software and systems, but the design of maintenance and operation systems by humans and the design of documents such as manuals to be provided to users and maintenance operators are also performed. This is just a matter of adding to what already exists in the case of expanding the functions of existing systems or developing similar systems, but in the case of entirely new development, everything must be considered from scratch.
As we saw earlier, more advanced things are required for embedded systems. For this reason, usually, the design and development for system operation continuity is much larger work than the development of main functions.
Life Phenomena
Reflecting on the complexity and advancement of mechanisms for continuing system operation in embedded systems, the perspective of understanding life phenomena will also change.
Living organisms are systems that demand high operation continuity. Needless to say, a halt in operation means death for organisms.
Considering from the viewpoint of operational continuity, it is not supposed that just one or two decisive functions made with a sophisticated mechanism would be enough to maintain life.
Even in the activities of living organisms, there should be various external and internal changes, fluctuations, and troubles encountered. To appropriately respond to each one, functions or mechanisms for each should be necessary. For example, if there are 100 types of problems, functions capable of 100 types of responses are necessary.
The types of fluctuations and troubles that living organisms encounter are not just 100 types; it should be on a different scale. Even for a unicellular organism, it is not at all strange to have more than 10,000 detailed functions.
What Bundles Functions in Life Phenomena
The need for numerous different functions complicates the understanding of life phenomena. On the other hand, it was a discovery for me that life phenomena are bundles of numerous functions, not a single function.
For living organisms, it’s a requirement to be a bundle of numerous functions. At least I am convinced that it’s correct, regarding whether it was necessary to start with a single or a small number of functions and gradually become complex, or whether it’s a requirement to be a bundle of numerous functions.
If the quality and types of functions to deal with fluctuations and troubles are insufficient, life phenomena in organisms cannot continue for a long time. Even if there are functions to leave offspring and the ability to improve adaptability by evolution, it is meaningless unless individual organisms can operate stably for a sufficient time.
Aside from the types and specific mechanisms of functions necessary for operation continuation, if bundling numerous functions is a requirement for organisms, there should be a mechanism to bundle that function. What is the mechanism that bundles the necessary functions for organisms to be established? This has emerged as a new question.
Perspective on Feedback Loops
I believe that the mechanism for sustained activity in life phenomena is due to individual, self-reinforcing feedback loops that have evolved. I think that these loops can be those that have eventually become fully integrated within the organism, or those that arise from the interactions between an organism and its environment.
These feedback loops are thought to have originally been phenomena formed by non-living entities on the ancient Earth before the emergence of life.
There are multiple ponds and lakes on Earth, with water circulating between them. Chemical substances accumulate in these ponds and lakes and, upon receiving energy from sources such as the sun or geothermal heat, they undergo chemical reactions, producing new chemical compounds. As these chemicals move within the water cycle, which includes river flow, evaporation, cloud movement, and precipitation, feedback loops are formed.
The starting point of my hypothesis is that these individual feedback loops evolved by gradually replacing their constituent elements with more complex chemical compounds. Ultimately, I hypothesize that these chemicals became encapsulated within a cell membrane, giving rise to the prototype of life.
If one interprets that even a single feedback loop could evolve into a prototype of life, and then further evolve with additional functions, the discussion would end here.
However, if one believes that life requires a bundle of numerous functions, then a single feedback loop would still be nothing more than a non-living phenomenon. This is similar to saying that a single protein on its own is not life.
This raises the mystery of how the numerous feedback loops necessary for life to form were effectively bundled together to function as a cell.
Formation Process of the Bundle of Feedback Loops
One possibility I consider is that feedback loops may have formed dependencies on each other, creating a loop structure.
There should be cases where feedback loops depend on each other. If this dependency completes a full circle, forming a looped structure, then it would indeed appear as if the feedback loops are bundled.
A key question is why such a complex framework, where feedback loops form dependency loops with each other, was necessary. Understanding can be found by noting that early feedback loops utilized the Earth’s water cycle for the movement of chemical substances, whereas living organisms do not rely on this.
It can be postulated that the initial chemical feedback loops on Earth achieved stable chemical transfers by relying on the planet’s water cycle. On this foundation, using the chemicals produced, other feedback loops would also have been formed. As multiple feedback loops evolve with dependencies on each other, we can hypothesize that a feedback loop capable of substituting the chemical transfer function, previously dependent on the Earth’s water cycle, emerged. This allows for the realization of chemical transfer functions independent of the Earth’s water cycle, with these feedback loops forming a circular dependency structure.
When this cluster of non-living feedback loops, which was dependent on the Earth’s water cycle, became independent, it should appear as the starting point of life. Thus, my hypothesis is that this independence from the Earth’s water cycle might have been a phase in the transition from non-living to living phenomena.
From this perspective, the formation of numerous feedback loops, further interconnected in dependency loops, was necessary for life’s emergence. Consequently, a bundle of interconnected feedback loops would naturally arise.
This is my hypothesis regarding the formation process and underlying principles of bundles of feedback loops with numerous functions necessary for sustained activity.
In Conclusion
Embedded software comes with certain restrictions, where the constraints of the computing environment and stable operation are demanded as requirements. Due to these, it’s difficult for embedded software developers to adopt the latest software technologies and development methods, which often appear when searching the internet or reading technical blogs. This situation leaves embedded software developers feeling left behind by the world’s technology.
However, whether or not the latest software technology can be used is merely a superficial issue for system developers. As we have seen, embedded software developers are required to have advanced and deep knowledge, practical know-how, and design skills in the field of system execution environment autonomy, more so than other software developers.
Various functions needed to realize such autonomous systems, whether they are software operating on servers, or application software on PCs and smartphones, are useful features if equipped. If designed appropriately, embedded software developers will never be lagging in their skills as engineers.
In this article, we focused on the challenging problem of ensuring autonomous operational continuity, which embedded system developers work on by considering the characteristics of each new product and its computing environment. Based on the insights gained from that problem, I led to insights into the origin of life, the theme of my personal research.
Besides the development of embedded systems and software, there are various jobs in the world, many of which may seem mundane at first glance. Among such jobs, by observing carefully, essential difficulties and high complexities can be found, and new insights and discoveries are likely sleeping in such parts. If they could be easily solved with pure science and logic alone, those jobs would undoubtedly have become simpler and easier long ago.
If difficulties remain, it’s not surprising that there is some essential wisdom or discovery that we should focus on.
