A systems view of biological health

Section 2: Theory

11 : Optimisation of Energy and Structure

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The body contains innumerable examples of evolutionary optimisation that are far beyond our current technology to match or duplicate.

Parts of the workings of living organisms are so efficient that human-made devices will probably never equal them. To give just a verysmall number of examples[1]:

1. Rotational flagella are powered by a motor that is almost 100% efficient, whose structure contains just a dozen protein building-blocks; and which is literally a rotary engine with a clutch that allows for two different directions of motion. The clutch plates drive the motor, and so the number of plates can also be varied to produce more torque.
2. The universal use of twisted proteins in biology allows for the almost 100% efficient transfer of high energy electrons. Chirality [2] of organic molecules allows energy transfer efficiency of 100% (!) [3] due to quantum effects and is – so far as we know – universal across all forms of life.
3. Symbiosis is also based on efficiency. It is costly to carry round, check and maintain DNA, so what tends to happen across the entire swathe of Life (with some interesting exceptions) is that superfluous DNA is discarded. The human microbiome (that has accompanied us for tens of millions of years) produces on our behalf : Vitamin K, most water-soluble B Vitamins, a range of anti-inflammatory compounds and short-chain fatty acids and about 70% of endogenous serotonin.
4. Nothing is ever wasted, and most (if not all) biological structures have at least 2 or 3 functions – a principle exemplified by neural synapses, which allow nerves to communicate simultaneously in several complementary ways at different frequencies – and so participate in multiple parallel layers of communication. Mainstream biophysics (and even neurology) recognises most of these processes, but fails to grasp the implications of multiplexed communication in living systems, and so remains stuck in a "one component, one mechanism" model of the body. The body is therefore mistakenly viewed in the same way as one-component-one-function human-made devices – which actually operate on a simplified and limited subset of the rules that sustain and govern living organisms.

Although it is possible to think of homeostasis as being something relatively static, in fact it is an expression of continuous dynamic conversations and responses that has no absolute resting state to return back to. A stationary unicyclist is a good analogy. The unicyclist is constantly adjusting her balance by means of rapid micromovements that generate impossibly small (sub-conscious) changes in balance and orientationThe first act of forwards motion is one of loss of control - literally falling in that direction. Although this falling appears to be more significant than stasis, in reality it requires far less control - because it is less universally adaptive, and because the control to produce it was already inherent in the control before the falling began. So from a biological and homeostatic point of view, of all possible macro-activities stillness requires the greatest degree of internal self-regulatory micro-activity. And the balanced state of (apparent) stillness embodies the greatest potential (energy) for adaptation and response (lability). Technically speaking, all macro-states of change incur a penalty of inertia, and are therefore inevitably less adaptive. This seemingly topsy-turvy arrangement is a direct analogy to social immobilisation or the startle response, in which the immobilisation might appear externally calm and neutral, but in fact the homeostatic mechanisms underpinning it are more active and potentised and are open to a wider range of possibility than in any other state, and are "waiting" to detect an optimum direction of motion. Simply, a living organism that has temporarily stopped moving and entered any form of stillness is asking the questions :

"... What now? ... and Where? ..."

with every atom of its being. Thus, (rather counter-intuitively) inhibition is the primary means of control in all living organisms. And Where is critical because all responses ultimately end up as movement, and purposeful motion requires a direction.

Complexity

Life sits in an interesting mid-ground of maximum complexity [4]. It is impossible for systems to achieve this unless they are somehow driven from the outside, and Life here on Earth is indeed driven by the vast outpouring of energy from the Sun. It is also impossible to achieve this kind of complexity without many different spacial and temporal scales of information transfer - and so there is an optimum size of Life that can partake of these information / energy streams. Similarly it is necessary to transfer information in both directions - and it seems that Life does this (without loss of mass!) by release of biophotons. All this communication results in a system that is able to balance on the peak of complexity - neither becoming too ordered (and dying through rigidity) nor becoming too random (and dying through chaotic dispersion). In this optimum state, tiny shifts of information (the right kind of information) can have the effect of a butterfly's wing, shifting easily between sometimes very different meta-stable states. So the apparent nothingnesses of thought or attention can send ripples through the entire metabolism, in a cascade driven by many feedback loops - see notes on Amicity.

Energy, Entropy & Communication

Every function and process performed by an organism takes energy - dissipates energy - is a thermodynamic process in which entropy increases - and communication of information is no exception. Since communication is central to the organisation of living systems, it is impossible that communication has somehow been ignored in the organic search for efficiency. So the above chapter also provides clues as to the many ways in which communication is optimised for energy efficiency. This important topic is linked to Biosemiotics (the science of communication in living systems), Cybernetics (the study of the organisation of living systems), and non-equilibrium thermodynamics (which includes the study of energy in dissipative structures - such as living systems). For more discussion see Appendix (4) : article on entropy and information.