16: Cell Rules determine Form, Not Nature, of Organism

Let us address the idea of Corporations with their Cells of humans or perhaps even smaller companies made up of humans called countries.

Group Values different than Values of Parts

The instinctual feeling is that the whole is the sum of its parts while, in fact, because of synergy the whole is frequently more than the sum of its parts - or at least different.

We’ve mentioned how the morality of the whole is different than that of the parts because while the part strives for perpetuation, the part is dispensable to the whole. As in our chess analogy - the pawns are dispensable. If all the pawns die but the king continues to exist, the game is not lost - the organism continues to survive.

If the whole equals the sum of the parts then the morality of the whole would seem to be similar to the morality of the parts. However if the whole is an emergent feature of the parts, then it is not equal to the parts. If they are not equal then the morality is not equal. In actuality the Groups tend to have different goals than the individuals making them up.

 

If (Whole = ∑Parts) Then (Values of Whole = Values of Parts)

If (Whole ≠ ∑Parts) Then (Values of Whole ≠ Values of Parts)

 

The parts attempt to survive individually. While the whole also attempts to survive individually and if that is at the expense of the parts then so be it. Survival is the only issue at all levels - from microscopic to macroscopic.

Matter > Life > Meta Life: each independent

Let us examine the progression of organ-ization of matter again. We start with the ephemeral building blocks of matter, i.e. electrons, atoms, molecules, whatever. These are called - corpuscles - defined as minute particles of matter. The corpuscles organ-ize themselves into a body - a corpus - whether the body of a microorganism or the body of a human. From the microscopic corpuscle, with no carbon-based life, - to the corpus, based in some type of organic life. The corpus organ-izes itself into corporations, a political body, a meta-life - made of lives, but not a life itself.

Life, just passing through Meta Life

Just as matter is the building block of life, but is of no consequence to life; so is life the building block of meta-life but yet of no consequence to it. Meta-life employs life to maintain itself, but doesn’t hold onto its parts at the expense of he whole. Similarly, Life doesn’t hold onto its waste, made of useless matter that had some importance at one time or another. Just as the pawns are dispensable to the king, so is matter dispensable to life, and life is dispensable to meta-life.

Just as life maintains itself independent of all the matter passing thru so does the corporation of meta-life maintain itself independent of the lives it consumes.

Meta-life must obey the laws of Life

Just as life is independent of the matter that makes it up, so is meta-life independent of the life that makes it up. This is not to say that life is independent of the laws of matter. Life is only independent of the individual pieces of matter, the particulate. Similarly the Corporation, the meta-life, is not independent of the laws of life, but is independent of the individual lives making it up.

Hence, while a collection of individuals is necessary to support the whole, the specific individual is not. While unimportant to the whole, he is very important to himself. While the individual is unimportant, the laws of the individual have a big part in determining the form of the whole. Conversely, the laws of the individual play only a small part in determining the nature, /characteristics/qualities of the whole.

This importance of the laws of the particulate in determining the form of the whole has led scientists to an intensive study of the ‘building blocks of matter’ - spending vast sums on particle accelerators and the like. However, while the Form of the Whole determines the boundaries of the Nature of the Whole - it has virtually nothing to do with the specific - the particulars. Thus, the form of the corporation must follow the laws of the people, who make them up - but the particulars of the corporate manifestation are infinite.

This can be easily seen with a musical analogy. While the sound laws determine the nature of the notes, they yield no meaning, i.e. no sadness, happiness, excitement, or romance. Similarly the Sonata Form in music, while determining the boundaries of the Music, gives us no clue as to the Meaning, i.e. the emotional content of the composition.

While many composers have written many sonatas over many centuries for many instruments, the nature of each piece is unique - simple or complex, beautiful or ugly. inspirational or boring.

While the laws of parts are intimately connected with the form of the whole - the individual parts have nothing to do with the form of the whole or its nature,

Example: While individual notes make up the individual pieces of music, they give no clue as to the actual piece of music or its emotional content. They have absolutely no predictive power when it comes to the music itself. Counting the notes or plotting their frequency will give no idea as to the emotional response of the listener.

 

Letters do not reveal the Meaning of a Book

Another Example: Similarly, letters make up words - which make up sentences - which make up paragraphs - which make up chapters - which make up books. The kind of differences that we have elaborated are the same between each adjacent level. The individual letters of the alphabet have nothing whatsoever to do with the meaning of the words. Knowing all about the laws of paragraphs will give one absolutely no information as to the content of the paragraphs, their meaning. The point is the laws of individual have little to do with the individual nature of the group.

The nature of the individual has even less to do with the nature of the whole. While music is made of notes and books are made of letters - the individual note gives no information about the emotional content of a piece of music and the alphabet gives no information about the meaning of an individual book. Similarly the individual humans, i.e. the rank and file, making up a corporation have little to do with its character.

Meta-Law of Preservation

However while individual laws have very little to do with the nature of the whole, there do exist meta-laws that govern how parts and the whole operate together independent of their individual nature or personality. For instance a meta-law that we’ve already suggested is that each entity whether large or small, inanimate of animate, attempts to preserve or maintain itself. This law extends from the tiniest cell to the largest corporation - from the tiniest bit of matter to the largest galaxy. Indeed in other papers the Author has established that data streams themselves have their own momentum that is maintained. Further the Author suggested that any entity that has any type of momentum resists change. Summarizing, the meta-law of preservation applies to all levels from microscopic to macroscopic - inanimate to animate - and numerical too.

An extension or corollary to this meta-law is that the collective seeks to maintain itself at the expense of the individuals which make it up - whether corpuscle to corpus or corpus to corporation. Life maintains itself at the expense of matter, while meta-life maintains itself at the expense of life.

Applying this corollary to individual cases: Humans maintain their organism at the expense of the individual cells - as well as the individual organs making up the larger organism. Corporations and countries maintain themselves at the expense of the humans that make them up.

 

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