Tim,
I am no expert in biology (the understatement
of the 3rd millennium) but tackled a bit the question of procaryotes in the
aspect of 'complicating' the living structures. Corrections
accepted.
The procaryotes are - if not necessarily the
smalles - the simplest creatures considered 'alive'. Citoplasm and cell
membrane. With most chemical procedures of cell life. Lynn Margulis (frmr Mrs.
Carl Sagan) developed the theory of symbiotic associations - as far as I
read not extended down to prokaryotes, which I did: Assuming that there were
several of them "meeting" and "cooperating" when the 'social'
contract started: the conglomerates of the
diverse cells separated the functions and all 'worked' together for the
community. Then - by permeability of the cell membranes - some slipped inside
others - keeping the functions from the inside, some became mitochondria,
others the cell nucleus. At this point the eucaryotes were evolved, our
stuff.
The procaryotes "did not die" their simple
functions did not include senescence, they underwent mitosis, divided into two
similar ones and (renewed) kept on living. All on environmental impact. They
could be destroyed by outside brute forces, not by aging. This was before the
invention of the biological clock.
Which brings me to the question I wanted to
raise for awhile, but procrastinated:
Did RR develop a conclusion of death? Lately a
friend wrote an article about "soul, that remains after death" (not a
religious theory, he is an astronomer and did not identify an 'eternal soul')
just the accumulated experience bothered him - as energy - how and where can
it go when a person dies?
I have a different opinion (as
always<G>) about the phenomenon of living, we call: dying. The living
structure functions in its adjusted complexity, certain secondary failures are
repaired, yet when some substantial component gets busted, the complexity does
not function together anymore. Everything is there - almost - just some
essential factor stepped out. Now the experience: it is not some sort of
'mental energy' as the reductionistic science imagines which can be accounted
for in some 'equilibrium' inventory. It is a process of 'experiencing' in the
atemporal mindfunction and the act of 'remembering' is not to scratch out a
stored contraption which represents the past event, rather a 'second look' at
it within the ever changing conditions of the world (and the brain). This
accounts for 'forgetfulness' and 'shaping' of memories, unknown in computers,
where the memory is frozen into matter. Erazing such frozen memory IS an
energy-application, while the "inability to take a second look" is not.
I wonder how Rosen adjusted the idea of
'death'? also I would appreciate opinions to the question. Please do not
include the eternal soul which goes into heaven and plays the harp: it can be
very boring after the first 30,000 years playing the same
hymns.
Apologizing for the moribund
question
John M
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, November 28, 2003 12:16
PM
Subject: Mycoplasma information?
Hi
all,
A relative was
recently diagnosed with "walking pneumonia", and wondering what that
actually was, I did a little research. In the process I came to learn some
about mycoplasmas (or Mollicutes), a kind of prokaryote bacterium (or
bacterium-like) which apparently are the smallest known living organisms.
Because of this latter fact, they intrigue me as perhaps being
informative about "minimum requirements" for an organism being
alive.
I wondered if
anyone on the list was very familiar with them, or knew of a good web
resource regarding their inner workings? Most web info I found is related to
the infections they cause, rather than their internal structure or
workings.
Tim