Life, The Universe, and Everything

Cosmology is the study of the origin and nature of the universe, and (in some definitions) humanity's place in it. You'd certainly impress people if you introduced yourself as a cosmologist, despite the annoyance of being occasionally mistaken for a cosmetologist.

A work from a college philosophy class has stuck with me for years: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's "The Phenomenon of Man". Teilhard was a French Jesuit, a paleontologist (he took part in the discovery of Peking Man), and a philosopher/cosmologist. His work got him in trouble with the Vatican, although as time passes it seems like it's regaining a little favor. My course teacher was Fr. Garth Hallett, who probably wanted to stick up for a fellow Jesuit.

I'll have another sip of philosophy juice (tonight's flavor: Jameson!) and share the crux of it, or at least the crux of what I absorbed and/or retained:

1. Consider the milliseconds after the Big Bang, about 14 billion years ago. Subatomic particles started organizing into atoms of greater and greater size and complexity. That transformation still takes place inside stars, via nuclear reactions, but the complexity has peaked -- stars keep making the same mix of atoms, with a maximum atomic weight around 250, as they have for billions of years.

2. But - at some point some atoms organized into molecules, and these increased in size and complexity over time. Interestingly the most complex molecules (DNA) weren't made from the most complex atoms -- instead it's the relatively simple carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen atoms. They were better at combining with each other to create complexity at a higher (molecular) level. It's probably fair to call this process chemical evolution.

3. Evolution of molecules plateaued as well, but continued on a higher level: from DNA to genes, and then up to groups of genes (chromosomes). From there it was on to cells and to groups of cells, i.e. multicellular organisms.

4. Evolution of organisms has continued for billions of years, with humans appearing millions of years ago, and homo sapiens (Latin for "knowing man") arriving at the party about 200,000 years ago. One could make many arguments for humans being the pinnacle of the evolution of organisms, despite our rap music, Larry the Cable Guy, and microwave burritos.

Notice the pattern: atoms "evolved" into greater complexity, but then it was groups of atoms (molecules) that took over. Groups of molecules eventually begat cells, which led to groups of cells working together. So where does it go from here, with people as the highest multicellular organisms? Obviously to groups of people, i.e. organizations. These are formed in myriad ways, and thrive or perish based on how effective they are -- at getting food, fending off disease or external hostile threats (other organizations?), and preventing harmful internal conflict. Families led to tribes led to states/nations, and wham-o, there's a guy walking on the moon -- an inconceivable accomplishment for an individual alone.

Teilhard argued that complexity = "consciousness", with the evolution of man being a giant leap in this area. (This continuum of consciousness from rocks to frogs to people is part of what got him into trouble with the Church.) He died in 1955, but I don't think he'd have been a bit surprised by the internet, with the connections between people around the world leading to some kind of global consciousness ("noosphere"), if you think about it. Right now in some small town in India a guy is posting part of his life story online, while a girl is playing online chess with an old man in Los Angeles, while someone else is checking orders from Brazil for his company's product. How quickly we take it all for granted, and yet these individual social tendrils lead to a connected world.

I won't get into the really tricky part of what we're evolving towards, except that Teilhard called it the "Omega Point", and it has philosophical and theological implications I don't understand the half of. He tried very hard as a Christian and a scientist to keep the whole thing consistent with current teaching in each arena, and to bring it all together; that's probably why it still resonates.

So if you're at a cocktail party and someone cites the fact that humans and chimps share 95% of the same DNA, as if that made us less special, you can chime in (if you're feeling playful) that we share 100% of the same chemical elements, too. Your statement will be just as true and just as fatuous, but you'll know why, thanks to your new friend Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

Pat