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