LIFE: Intriguing For Ever ?

         

Image: www.thelabyrinthoflife.net

What is life? A simple question….. but the answer may not be as simple.

A professor in a theory class of Biochemistry defines life, in simple terms as a series of biochemical reactions/processes….. A thought provoking statement indeed….. raises a million questions and doubts. Is life as simple as that ?? The opening chapters of most of the textbooks in biology try to define life in a more theoretical/superficial manner fitting to suit the context, sometimes sounding absurd. May be simplifying the complicated process to a more assimilative form may make it more complex.

 Life is a series of biochemical processes….True. But is life only limited to a series of biochemical reactions? A physics maestro may have a different opinion. Life may be an integration of physical processes…..Molecular interactions of bio-molecules may define and govern what life is all about according to the molecular biologists. Can the metabolic and biological processes in a stimulus-response mode alone define life? Can they alone determine what life is all about?

With all the amazing advancements in technology and the knowledge generated can we still have a more convincing definition for what life is? How exactly  are the living beings different from the non-living? Other than the usual textbook definitions can there be a precise definition? Can a self sustained system which can generate energy and reproduce on its own be called as a living organism?

Single cell organisms such as bacteria divide and multiply. So also do the atoms. Nuclear and/or atomic fission is a destructive process if uncontrolled. But atomic fission and fusion are considered as physical processes and not biological. Why? Is it because atoms as such cannot decide when to stop the fission/ fusion once triggered. An external force is required to start and stop the process. In biological systems as well many processes are determined by external signals. Do these decisions to regulate a biological process define the life processes? So what are these decisions? Are these decisions/ regulation of biological processes merely responses to external stimuli or environmental factors? Signaling networks also exist in lower organisms. May be in lower organisms the complexity is less and the decisions are just limited to that. So do these complexities in signaling networks determine a higher order of evolution? There are myriad molecular machineries with in a system. A majority of them may be still cryptic and remain undecoded. These molecular machineries are subset of the whole organism. Am “I” constituted merely of all these tiny interconnected machineries alone. There must be something such as a master control.The master control may be the whole organism itself in case of lower organisms or may be a specialised organ such as brain in higher organisms. Then is it higher intelligence? Where is the seat of intelligence and thinking? Is it the brain? How is the organism intelligence connected to the cellular intelligence or molecular intelligence or atomic intelligence. The question is: "Am 'I' just a human machine"?

Development of the whole organism from a single cell is a more enamoring and intricate process. Plants are living organisms, which are mostly immobile and have totipotency. Some lower animals/ organs also exhibit totipotency. De-differentiation and re-differentiation are part of development of biological organisms. New life originates by the union of sperm and egg. Sperm and egg are though not considered organisms as such. Birth is programmed. Are we constituted of 5 elements of  Fire (agni), Earth, Water, Vayu (air) and space/sky..... as explained in the "Panjabootha" concept?

"God" particle may be Higgs Boson or something else, charged or chargeless.Life originated in ocean as an assembly of biomolecules which at a later stage acquired more diverse functions.Today we know much more about the functions of these biomolecules, however, a sea of information still remains to be decoded about the biomolecules. Life might have originated from space as per the 'Panspermic' theory. How did “I” as a being originate from the organisation of biomolecules? There are many physical, biochemical and physiological processes operating in an organism. Diffusion, osmosis etc are physical processes operating in a cell. Still many physical processes as such are not biological though occurring within the organism.

There is a remarkable progress in our understanding of human development, the 10 month period in the womb as well the developmental processes after birth. Can we create life under artificial conditions? Already efforts are underway but theoretically the bacteria Synthia produced under artificial conditions by assembly of genetic information/DNA cannot be considered as synthesis of new life form. Can life be created from the assembly of inanimate molecules? Is re-generation the only sign of life? A cell originates from a pre-existing cell. How and from where does the original (pre-existing) cell come from?

Much is known about the development of an organism/ life form. Equally important is the knowledge of death. If energy can be equated to matter (E=mc2), is it true that the soul or life-force is simply the energy that leaves the matter/mass which has a definite form and shape.Then is it true that after death a person becomes one with the universe? May be the departed soul had become a star shining in the sky as told in the many folk lores and fairy tales.

Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. Then does the cycle of re-births occur? Rebirth may be manifestation of the energy or soul that has left the mass/ matter. Energy can manifest from one form to the other. So can the human be reborn as a plant or an animal? Scientific studies have been conducted on re-incarnations and have been published (ref: Dr. Ian Stevenson, a medical doctor by profession who has delved into the mysterious recall of past lives in children). Then there is a possibility of existence of ghosts. Can ghosts be considered as forms of negative energy? What is unknown is mysterious……

Reiki is a form of healing by removing the negative energy from the system. The alternative medicines such as Ayruveda, Siddha and Homoeopathy treat the human body as a system. Aura scanning is widely employed to diagnose diseases which may even be life-threatening.

Cell death is also programmed (apoptosis). Necrosis is another form of cell death which is not biological but  purely a physical process though occurring inside a biological organism. What is ageing? Is it simply a wear and tear in response to environment. It is well known that iron gets oxidized when exposed to air and moisture. Oxidants in the cell may cause damage to the critical components of the cell accelerating the cellular and biological ageing processes. Is rusting of iron equivalent to biological ageing?

How do the stars originate? Big-bang and other theories may explain the origin of universe/ similar phenomenon. If we are a part of the vast inexplicable universe, are we humans in an isolated system called Earth. Do we have partners or companions somewhere out there and how advanced they may be? How the aliens will be if they exist? Some Sci-Fi movies do depict them as monsters/ monster-like, having different forms or shapes, different genetic code so and so.

How am "I"(consciousness) different from others? What makes us human? Is life simply a chain of biochemical reactions, integrated and tuned to a particular stimuli or respond to a particular stimulus in a specified way. Can emotions be programmed? “I” as a being is an integration of the physical, biochemical and molecular processes. But still “ I” as a being is different and more evolved? Where is that demarcation?

Is it the higher level of organization/ complex level of organisation part of the processes that determine our (human) level/order of evolution? So does it imply that organization of molecules at a lower level or less complexity of processes are alone present in lower organisms which are in the lower ranking or order of evolution? Or is it the highly evolved neuronal system or the language/ communication /the formulas/theories/maths that had elevated us to organisms of higher intelligence and higher in the order of evolution???

Language is also part of our evolutionary process to humans (of a higher order?). Animals also have different ways of communication. Some parrots do talk as human beings. There were men who could understand the language of birds according to Hindu mythology. It is widely believed that animals have a different sensory perception other than the five senses of humans. Even human beings have Sixth sense or ESP (Extra Sensory Perception). Music also is a language. How can one distinguish that a low note is a sad note and the higher beats correlate to joy and happiness. Can plants distinguish these notes? As some reports go, there is some concept of music therapy where greater growth of plants was achieved with music. If there is a scientific basis to such theories then it may well be believed….

Many machines are simulations of biological processes. For example principle of camera is based on human eye, aeroplane is designed based on birds, design of ship (buoyancy and stream lined body) is again a simulation of animal world. The integrated circuits in chips can be compared to neurological circuits in brain. Can immune cell memory be related to the computer memory?

How amazing is the animal world !!! It’s just unbelievable…. at times thwarting our general notion of being the superior creature in the small space called earth… Ants, bees etc have a social structure or organize as colonies. There are many examples such as the Beavers, Nature’s engineers and the weaver bird which makes a great nest of remarkable shape!!!! Dolphins are believed to be animals of higher intelligence. The radar is based on dolphin’s way of communication using sound waves. Echo-location is used in bats and whales as well. The long, seasonal flight of migratory birds which is precise and  well co-ordinated is as well a subject of scientific curiosity. May be the networking /signaling systems in animals are different or are understood and decoded in a different way. So can we still take pride as the most intelligent creatures /life forms on earth?

What is learning? If a person is not trained in a particular way or the system is not trained in a particular way then are we savages just following the animal instincts?.Is training a process of evolution? Is learning a way of programming the system to perform in a defined or prescribed way?

What is personality? Is it a sum total of the patterned behavior? Can behavior be predicted given the subset of conditions. The laws of physics and chemistry are defined under particular conditions, meaning the law operates under the standard/particular conditions of temperature and pressure and as such means when conditions change, the law fails to operate. But the conditions keep changing with respect to biological processes more often or at a greater frequency. Biological processes also can be simulated or modeled or can be fitted into mathematical models. Like weather forecasting, disease forecasting can be done. Pre-disposition to diseases can also be found out given the sequence of genome. Why does the developmental processes or pattern formation in living world follow a set of mathematical calculations (Fibonacci numbers)?There is then maths in life as well. Can tools like bioinformatics and statistics be applied to study human behavior and personality as well?

So also there is chemistry of emotions, we have a love chemical oxytocin, stress hormone adrenalin, and also MHC (Major Histocompatibility complex) related laws of attraction. So does the variation in all these chemicals/ biological factors determine personality types? Is it the cause or the effect? If the signalling networks go hay wire does the personality type change? What is then madness? Can emotions be programmed? Can behavior be predicted? Like the predictability of physical processes, predictability of designs, there should be predictability of behavior as well. Can emotions be simulated and modeled? Can biological processes be precisely predicted and explained with mathematical models? How effective it will be?

What is the scientific basis of astrology? If the physical and environmental factors affect the development or fate of an organism, does the particular configuration of constellations during birth affect the development of the foetus and life afterwards. Is it absurd / non sense or is there some latent wisdom in such astrological calculations? The tides on earth are caused by the position of moon. On a similar note, can planetary positions influence the events in one’s life?

What if all the theories of theoretical physics are only imaginations of some crazy scientists? It is the way we interpret. We have proofs for gravity, electricity etc. …It may be our own terms/ways to explain the unknown.

 What is time? A sense, a perception or an absolute phenomenon? There are different time zones. There is a biological clock in-built in all organisms. Circadian rhythms are also exhibited by plants.

Genome is not randomly made. There is an intelligent design. Is it an individual or collective design? The Lamarckian principle of use and disuse is highly relevant given the knowledge of regulatory processes involved other than the genetic mechanisms. It is well known we are not the sum total of our genes alone. Intelligence, is it essential for survival? Intelligence, is it only a survival instinct or a luxurious outfit (In-built?) at least for humans.

Are we as organisms a mere assembly of systems and processes and signaling networks that are interconnected. But  then am “I” as a being just a subset of the whole universe? Then how  "I” as a being is different from the rest?  There are more questions than answers……….