The Origin of Life: The Principle of Mutual Adjustment
Thinking about the origin of life is not merely considering the chemicals and chemical reactions that constitute living organisms. It is about understanding how non-living chemicals combined to create the complex system we call life.
This phenomenon, where the system as a whole possesses unique properties that cannot be predicted by examining its components, is referred to as emergent phenomena.
In contemplating the origin of life, I realized that the principle underlying emergent phenomena is mutual adjustment.
Mutual adjustment refers to the phenomenon where multiple elements interact over time and become harmonized. As a result of this harmonization, mutual adjustment stabilizes and becomes more robust against change.
In this article, I will explain the principle of mutual adjustment.
Examples of Mutual Adjustment
The fine-tuning problem of various constants in the universe can be seen as a result of mutual adjustment. While these constants appear invariant, they may represent the successful functioning of mutual adjustment.
Atoms, which are assemblies of elementary particles, are stable due to mutual adjustment. Molecules are also formed by the mutual adjustment of atoms.
The origin of life can be understood as the complex evolution of mutual adjustment. Chains of chemical reactions among various substances stabilize and become robust against changes through mutual adjustment. These stabilized chains form the foundation for new chains of chemical reactions to emerge.
As these processes run parallel and are repeated, the network of chemical reaction chains forms a macroscopic mutual adjustment, which eventually leads to life.
The ecosystem of living organisms exemplifies mutual adjustment through co-evolution.
The brain’s recognition of the external world is also a result of mutual adjustment between the brain’s internal concepts and external objects. Furthermore, the ability to accurately control the body and objects arises from mutual adjustment aligning tacit knowledge of control methods with the behavior of the body and objects.
Extending this to recognition and control, we find science and technology. These fields are established and evolve through advanced intellectual mutual adjustment.
In economics, examples include the abandonment of the gold standard for currency or the price adjustments in free markets through the interplay of supply and demand. The determination of exchange rates and price adjustments are classic examples of mutual adjustment.
Reduction to Mutual Adjustment
When analyzing phenomena, we often break them down into smaller elements to understand them.
If mutual adjustment is neglected during this process, the dynamic nature and complexity of the subject are lost, reducing the quality of analysis.
This is a problem with the conventional element-reductionist way of thinking.
However, it is difficult to understand complex subjects without breaking them down, making reductionist thinking valid. The issue arises when the focus on elements causes mutual adjustment to be overlooked.
To address this, mutual adjustment, alongside the elements, should be included as part of the analysis. I propose this analytical method as “mutual adjustment reductionism.”
In mutual adjustment reductionism, relationships are not merely secondary elements connecting parts. Relationships dynamically exist as mutual adjustments and are primary actors.
Horizontal and Vertical Perspectives
The examples mentioned earlier illustrate mutual adjustment at the same level or scale. This is an analysis of relationships from a horizontal perspective.
Mutual adjustment also functions across different levels and scales. Even if the granularity of the elements differs, they interact within the same scope.
For instance, consider Earth’s environment and single-celled organisms. The environment affects cells, and in turn, cells alter the Earth’s atmosphere.
In this way, mutual adjustment occurs across different levels and scales, analyzed from a vertical perspective.
Mutual adjustment reductionism allows us to decompose complex subjects by consciously switching between multiple perspectives.
A Worldview of Mutual Adjustment
The idea of focusing on relationships, not just elements, is found in holism, systems theory, and complexity theory.
However, these approaches often emphasize capturing the whole without breaking it down into elements, avoiding reductionist methods. This can lead to abstract analyses.
Mutual adjustment reductionism takes an approach of breaking down subjects into relationships, not abstractly but with the clarity of reductionism.
Moreover, mutual adjustment reductionism focuses specifically on mutual adjustments among relationships.
Mutual adjustment is a type of interaction and a kind of feedback loop. However, mutual adjustment is particularly significant because it produces stable and concrete entities from abstract relationships.
Additionally, mutual adjustment can generate flexible and dynamic entities, as well as fixed and static ones. Atoms and molecules exemplify the former, while living organisms exemplify the latter.
Though they appear to operate on entirely different principles, examining them through the lens of mutual adjustment reveals a common underlying principle.
Evolution Through Mutual Adjustment
Mutual adjustment itself evolves to stabilize the elements it relates.
Stabilized mutual adjustment leads to the emergence of new stable elements. These new elements may combine with others, initiating new mutual adjustments.
Thus, the following processes, combined, explain evolution from the perspective of mutual adjustment:
1. Accidental combination of elements
2. Initiation of mutual adjustment dependent on the combination
3. Emergence of new elements as a result of mutual adjustment
This encompasses both horizontal and vertical perspectives of mutual adjustment.
As mutual adjustments interact and reinforce each other in layered and multifaceted ways, central elements or mutual adjustments gain extraordinary stability. Simultaneously, the increase in elements creates new potential combinations of mutual adjustment.
As long as the dynamics of accidental combinations continue, evolution driven by mutual adjustment progresses both horizontally and vertically.
Algorithmic Formalization
This process formalizes evolution through mutual adjustment as an algorithm. This algorithm serves as a framework, with its specific behaviors determined by the individual elements and levels. This enables simulations by applying the concretized algorithms.
Traditionally, physical behavior has been formalized using equations. However, evolution via mutual adjustment is better expressed as an algorithm rather than equations.
Unlike the bottom-up approach of combining and analyzing traditional equations, the algorithm for mutual adjustment evolution is a top-down framework.
This makes it possible to grasp overall trends without fully understanding specific algorithms for each element or level.
Consider the continuation of this process. Repeated initiation of mutual adjustments and emergence of elements drives evolution.
Indeed, the structure of the universe, star formation, the creation of quantum particles, atoms, molecules, the emergence of life, and even the development of intelligence, society, culture, technology, and economy can all be understood through this simple algorithmic perspective.
Conclusion
As stated at the beginning, the principle of mutual adjustment explains emergent phenomena.
This principle not only explains the origin of life but serves as a universal principle for explaining all emergent phenomena. It reveals that all elements owe their existence to the principle of mutual adjustment.
This reasoning might seem bold, but upon reflecting on various phenomena, it becomes challenging to refute. Once considered this way, it becomes difficult to ignore the principle of mutual adjustment in understanding the world.
This claim, which might seem radical at first glance, is already embedded in our observations and understanding. It merely lacked recognition and focus.
I am not presenting something entirely new. I am naming what has been overlooked as “mutual adjustment,” drawing attention to it.
By doing so, I argue that we can view various phenomena with fresh eyes, discovering previously unnoticed insights.
