Human Universe

Last night, I watched the first episode of Brian Cox's Human Universe. As usual, it was a fascinating exploration of the universe we live in, and whether he knew it or not, a dialectical elaboration, of how the material nature of that Universe, involves processes that ultimately led to the evolution of human beings, who in turn become able to analyse that material reality, and to interact and change it.

That dialectical relation was summed up in a phrase he used several times that when modern human beings arose 250,000 years ago, who were able to think, create tools etc. this represented the “Universe becoming self-aware.” As he says, human being are just collections of atoms, the same as every other piece of matter in the Universe. We come from the same stardust as all other elements. But, those atoms have so formed themselves, in the human brain as to be aware that that is what they are, and able then to change the material world in which they exist, and of which they are a part.

It is a perfect description of that process. At least I thought so back in March 2011, when I used that exact phrase in my blog - Entropy – to describe it, when I was talking about Brian's previous series on “Entropy”.

Back then I wrote,

“All of the elements that go to make up our material existence, were created in the stars. But, in fact, what human beings signify in becoming self-aware – including the self awareness that all we are is that stardust – is the Universe itself becoming self aware.”

Whereas entropy, and the second law of thermo-dynamics involves a process by which order is continually descending into chaos, we can see the opposite. A big bang that is chaotic being increasingly organised into particles, atoms, and molecules, into stars, planets, galaxies and so on.

“If we look at our planet, we see the same process. The probability that chaotic atoms would come together to form the molecules that form the basic amino acids that are the building blocks of life, is also highly improbable. Yet, again we see that it happened, despite the improbability. The likelihood that the amino acids would combine, and form life is improbable, and yet it happened. If we look at life itself, even simple plant life, rather than chaos out of order we see the exact opposite. How improbable is it that chaotic atoms of carbon dioxide, should be consumed by plants and through photosynthesis be turned into energy. How improbable is it that chaotic atoms of nutrients in the soil, or the molecules of water should be trapped by plants, and transformed from such chaotic existence into the order and structure of complex cells? How unlikely is it that these cells should organise themselves into more complex structures to form leaves, stems, flowers, seeds, and so on? Once again, what we see is not a tendency for chaos out of order, but order and structure being formed out of chaos.

The most complete expression of that is the establishment of intelligent life itself, i.e. us. How improbable is it that the various amino acids, should come together to form cellular life, that through a process of natural selection, which is itself an expression of a tendency towards order and structure out of chaos, should end up with the amazingly complex structure, which is the human being? What I find interesting from a philosophical perspective is what this signifies. Scientists never tire of reminding us that we are all stardust. All of the elements that go to make up our material existence, were created in the stars. But, in fact, what human beings signify in becoming self-aware – including the self awareness that all we are is that stardust – is the Universe itself becoming self aware. I don't mean that in some kind of New Age mystical sense.

If we consider our own self-awareness, we wouldn't say, for example, that our leg was self aware. Yet our leg is part of us. Animals are not self aware, and so it is obvious that it is not just the brain that is self aware either. It can only be some part of the human brain that itself enables us to be self aware. Yet, without our legs, arms, heart, lungs and so on we could not exist, for that part of the brain to provide us with that self awareness. In the same way, humans as just some infinitessimally small part of the Universe, by becoming self aware, represent that Universe becoming self aware, precisely because without it, we could not exist, and we are an inextricable part of it.”

Its good to see that Brian shares that same view.