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| author | Radiohotline <radiohotline@disroot.org> | 2026-02-17 11:04:50 +0000 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Radiohotline <radiohotline@disroot.org> | 2026-02-17 11:04:50 +0000 |
| commit | 73ada98fb48514c51bd3e4b50c1d66ee2772870e (patch) | |
| tree | 9f1b456fda8bea4ef19bf616c13b626550610af8 /txt/alive.txt | |
| parent | d467386647277a2b3c40bc149d97c699903b68d3 (diff) | |
fix eyes and other css errors
Diffstat (limited to 'txt/alive.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | txt/alive.txt | 242 |
1 files changed, 135 insertions, 107 deletions
diff --git a/txt/alive.txt b/txt/alive.txt index 945e593..02e5983 100644 --- a/txt/alive.txt +++ b/txt/alive.txt @@ -1,107 +1,135 @@ - It all looks so alive. While the large-scale orchestrations and biological systems within and around us are near-perfect, - working like clockwork in a manner that has been unchanged for millions of years, the tiny little bits themselves aren't - as perfect, which is not only beautiful in a sense, but is also a testimony to why the systems are "perfect". In other words, - they work. They work and that's what matters. Such things as the ones I'm about to describe are insignificant on their own, - yet those are traits of the most important units that make you. - - Here I focus on structure in looks and ordering, not structure in it function. The latter is beautifully perfect already, or, - well, near-perfect. Again, if it didn't work so well, it wouldn't have lasted, and that's an important point, and why - I want to connect "aliveness" with "imperfection." - - Now you're probably confused by the jumble of all the "perfects" and "imperfects" in the above text, but I will clarify what - I was thinking about a while ago. The systems inside us—think of small ones like cellular functions, and big ones like - entire organ systems. (I will later touch into a bigger one: organisms themselves and ecosystems.*) I want you to think of - a microscope image of cells together. You're thinking of it? Good. It doesn't matter what type of cells they are yet. - I want you to focus on the structure. Due to the nature of how things grow, those aren't geometrically perfect. They're lumpy - and variant in size, even if subtly. They're in fluid and contain fluid, so their insides move too. When cells split, - I doubt that they split wholly "perfectly". - - (I digress, but maybe they do, since due to how forces work, the mother cell, when squeezing to split, has a tension form in - the middle, and as it splits, the two resulting parts should be similar in size or volume to maintain enough tension to - successfully split into two, I believe.) - - That aside, my point still stands: the forming cells aren't perfectly circular, or perfectly any shape, for that matter. - - To me, their floating, jiggling, and nature are among what makes them look so alive, which they are, of course, but what is - "aliveness" to us? How do we look at a cow and identify that it is a living creature? Isn't it its little movements, like - its ears', the warmth of its blood, its heartbeat, its little sounds here and there? That's a living being. Now back to the - microscopic. Cells that share a function—say, skin cells—are going to work identically. Every cell destined to do - something is ideally capable and does it, like being able to recieve neurotransmitters, or have the miniscule bits of - chemicals have an effect on it, such that reactions within it can alter its behaviour. In a cell, there are exchanges going - on across membranes. There is DNA being copied and packages being transported. If it weren't for the existence of disorders - that the body cannot deal with, or errors of varying degrees occuring at a cellular level, then this system is perfectly - and flawlessy functional. And I am going to state that regardless of errors that can and do frequently happen inside, because such - things are what I percieve as the aliveness of it all. In other words, you are alive because your body is working. Your parts - are playing their role, and your body is equipped with the ability to deal with things, expected and unexpected. - - The final line is crucial, because those who are disabled aren't less (less perfect, less "functional" or less anything). - They are still alive and their bodies still work enough for them to be alive, not just people but any living thing - that doesn't match the image of a fully perfect, unrealistically ideal member of its species. - - Let's go back to my main topic, which is imperfection in apperance of things that are alive. - - What prompted this entire thought process was me thinking about palisade mesophyll, a part of leaf tissue that, when - viewed in cross-section, has a regular formation of rectangular palisade cells. I was thinking; we call them rectangular - because that is what they look like, and it's perfectly logical to call them that, but they aren't perfect rectangles. - They are bumpy and uneven and I doubt they sit together in perfect, even, brick-like alignment. - - Because of the way those cells form and grow, they won't look like perfect geometrical shapes, yet the function is there, - and they can form that orderly structure that they are supposed to form, and work as intended, and I think that's - beautiful. The same idea applies to the spongy mesophyll, which are like the opposite of the palisade in a way, - consisting of rounder cells that aren't evenly placed. In fact, there's no rule to the pattern besides the idea - that the cells should have gaps between them. This doesn't prevent some cells from lumping together, though, as long - as the necessary vaccuum exists for the structure to perform its duty normally. - - This naturally brings us to the next topic: stem cells. Now let's focus on animals again. Stem cells are incredible. - You start as a little ball of cells, an embryo, yet your "code" "knows" that cells are supposed to be different in - order to perform different functions, and those cells do "latch" onto their designated functions and grow accordingly. - Isn't it amazing how cells just "know" that they're supposed to form an ear, and can indeed follow with creating an ear? - And I mean, an actual ear, one whose outer structure they don't start with and work around, yet create from essentially and - structurally nothing but the genetic definition of an ear! It works the same for everyone. The ears are similar for all - humans. They're meant to be, and are programmed to be. How did it come to that, the ability to have an ear that looks like - that across a species? Yes, evolution, but *how*? I can think of the details of how, from the parts of an ear, since those - parts each have a reason they're there, and we can trace each to what made them a need, but that's a different topic, and - you can probably find a decent text on evolution that isn't this ramble. - - This is also applied to the fact that we have skeletons. It amazes me how an embryo can grow into a baby with organs - and a skeleton. Let's take it even further. At some point, life was merely boneless aquatic creatures, yet they eventually - became creatures of flesh, blood, and bones. - - Ears, faces themselves livers, and skeletons, too—none of those are meant to look perfectly even. Your and my liver - aren't identical. They're the same organ and they work the same, but they wouldn't look exactly the same, and I don't - think they should. Again, it's the result of how tissue forms: imperfectly! The cells aren't all the exact same shape and size, - and that combined with them growing over time, forming the organ as they go, relying on a genetic blueprint and not - some physical outline to build on, will create a liver, which is liver-like in shape and can do the function of a liver. - That's simply what a liver is, and that's what my cells and your cells have successfully gathered into. Our livers do the - same thing; we are the same species, and we are both alive. Unless you're reading this in the future, in which case, - I was alive at some point, and this is proof that I was. Anyway, moving on. - - Before I conclude with the biggest point of this passage ("what is aliveness in appearance"), I will explore two - last examples: offspring of asexual reproduction in plants. The mental image I had was that of succulents or small - plants with many small thick leaves lined up. While each of those leaves are identical to each other, and the plant - itself being genetically identical to its parent plant, neither are 100% perfectly identical. The genes are identical, - but, yet again, it is how those cells form tissues that have these little imperfections which create the life that we see. - - The final example is the existence of mathematical patterns in nature. Designs on insects or spirals in the form - of some plants are technically perfect, but the aliveness factors into this again and produces little imperfections - in the form of bumps or curves or varied-sized parts in lumps. (A reader added wax honeycombs when discussing this - and it made me look up images. It's very stunning how perfect they look geometrically, but those too, because of both - the nature of the matter they're made of and the fact that they were made by living animals, fall victim to the idea - presented here. You'll have too look closely to see it, though.) - - Perhaps inanimate things can look alive as well. What to you, would make a robot look alive? I am thinking of a robot with - many appendages or arms: a spider-like giant robot (something similar to "can't help myself" by Sun Yuan & Peng Yu. I - imagine its base to be stationary but it has many arms sticking out, whose movement is anchored to that base). To me, - a pure mechanical motion that is identical in each movement, predictable and repetitive isn't alive, but it can move in ways - that make it seem alive. After thinking, I noticed what I'm looking for: what makes a motion look alive? I found it to be - how it interacts with and is influenced by its surroundings. A robot arm that moves purely based on how it's programmed - to move is, well, functioning, but it doesn't feel alive in any way. It's a machine. Yet a machine, say the spider-thing, - moves imperfectly, such as a motion that isn't even or predictable (it stumbles around, hesitates, doesn't move its - arm for the same distance each time, and so on), can perhaps make me sympathise with a lifeless machine, and even make - me see it as a very large metal animal. - - You were never meant to look perfect. You were meant to be alive. Biologically, your body is perfect enough to keep you alive. - - *I ended up not mentioning ecosystems here, but briefly, it was about the sheer diversity of life on Earth, and the - food chains that dominate the flow of the living part of nature. I don't have anything to say that you can't reach - yourself, but the key idea is the systems that simply work. +It all looks so alive. While the large-scale orchestrations and biological systems +within and around us are near-perfect, working like clockwork in a manner that has +been unchanged for millions of years, the tiny little bits themselves aren't as perfect, +which is not only beautiful in a sense, but is also a testimony to why the systems are +"perfect". In other words, they work. They work and that's what matters. Such things as +the ones I'm about to describe are insignificant on their own, yet those are traits of +the most important units that make you. + +Here I focus on structure in looks and ordering, not structure in it function. +The latter is beautifully perfect already, or, well, near-perfect. Again, if it didn't +work so well, it wouldn't have lasted, and that's an important point, and why I want to +connect "aliveness" with "imperfection." + +Now you're probably confused by the jumble of all the "perfects" and "imperfects" in the +above text, but I will clarify what I was thinking about a while ago. The systems inside +us—think of small ones like cellular functions, and big ones like entire organ systems. +(I will later touch into a bigger one: organisms themselves and ecosystems.*) I want you +to think of a microscope image of cells together. You're thinking of it? Good. It doesn't +matter what type of cells they are yet. I want you to focus on the structure. Due to the +nature of how things grow, those aren't geometrically perfect. They're lumpy and variant +in size, even if subtly. They're in fluid and contain fluid, so their insides move too. +When cells split, I doubt that they split wholly "perfectly". + +(I digress, but maybe they do, since due to how forces work, the mother cell, when +squeezing to split, has a tension form in the middle, and as it splits, the two resulting +parts should be similar in size or volume to maintain enough tension to successfully split +into two, I believe.) + +That aside, my point still stands: the forming cells aren't perfectly circular, or perfectly +any shape, for that matter. + +To me, their floating, jiggling, and nature are among what makes them look so alive, which +they are, of course, but what is "aliveness" to us? How do we look at a cow and identify +that it is a living creature? Isn't it its little movements, like its ears', the warmth of +its blood, its heartbeat, its little sounds here and there? That's a living being. Now back +to the microscopic. Cells that share a function—say, skin cells—are going to work identically. +Every cell destined to do something is ideally capable and does it, like being able to +recieve neurotransmitters, or have the miniscule bits of chemicals have an effect on it, +such that reactions within it can alter its behaviour. In a cell, there are exchanges going +on across membranes. There is DNA being copied and packages being transported. If it weren't +for the existence of disorders that the body cannot deal with, or errors of varying degrees +occuring at a cellular level, then this system is perfectly and flawlessy functional. And I +am going to state that regardless of errors that can and do frequently happen inside, because +such things are what I percieve as the aliveness of it all. In other words, you are alive +because your body is working. Your parts are playing their role, and your body is equipped +with the ability to deal with things, expected and unexpected. + +The final line is crucial, because those who are disabled aren't less (less perfect, +less "functional" or less anything). They are still alive and their bodies still work +enough for them to be alive, not just people but any living thing that doesn't match the +image of a fully perfect, unrealistically ideal member of its species. + +Let's go back to my main topic, which is imperfection in apperance of things that are alive. + +What prompted this entire thought process was me thinking about palisade mesophyll, a part +of leaf tissue that, when viewed in cross-section, has a regular formation of rectangular +palisade cells. I was thinking; we call them rectangular because that is what they look like, +and it's perfectly logical to call them that, but they aren't perfect rectangles. +They are bumpy and uneven and I doubt they sit together in perfect, even, brick-like alignment. + +Because of the way those cells form and grow, they won't look like perfect geometrical shapes, +yet the function is there, and they can form that orderly structure that they are supposed to +form, and work as intended, and I think that's beautiful. The same idea applies to the spongy +mesophyll, which are like the opposite of the palisade in a way, consisting of rounder cells +that aren't evenly placed. In fact, there's no rule to the pattern besides the idea that the +cells should have gaps between them. This doesn't prevent some cells from lumping together, +though, as long as the necessary vaccuum exists for the structure to perform its duty normally. + +This naturally brings us to the next topic: stem cells. Now let's focus on animals again. +Stem cells are incredible. You start as a little ball of cells, an embryo, yet your "code" +"knows" that cells are supposed to be different in order to perform different functions, and +those cells do "latch" onto their designated functions and grow accordingly. Isn't it amazing +how cells just "know" that they're supposed to form an ear, and can indeed follow with creating +an ear? And I mean, an actual ear, one whose outer structure they don't start with and work +around, yet create from essentially and structurally nothing but the genetic definition of an +ear! It works the same for everyone. The ears are similar for all humans. They're meant to be, +and are programmed to be. How did it come to that, the ability to have an ear that looks like +that across a species? Yes, evolution, but *how*? I can think of the details of how, from the +parts of an ear, since those parts each have a reason they're there, and we can trace each to +what made them a need, but that's a different topic, and you can probably find a decent text +on evolution that isn't this ramble. + +This is also applied to the fact that we have skeletons. It amazes me how an embryo can grow +into a baby with organs and a skeleton. Let's take it even further. At some point, life was +merely boneless aquatic creatures, yet they eventually became creatures of flesh, blood, and bones. + +Ears, faces themselves livers, and skeletons, too—none of those are meant to look perfectly +even. Your and my liver aren't identical. They're the same organ and they work the same, but +they wouldn't look exactly the same, and I don't think they should. Again, it's the result of +how tissue forms: imperfectly! The cells aren't all the exact same shape and size, and that +combined with them growing over time, forming the organ as they go, relying on a genetic +blueprint and not some physical outline to build on, will create a liver, which is liver-like +in shape and can do the function of a liver. That's simply what a liver is, and that's what +my cells and your cells have successfully gathered into. Our livers do the same thing; we are +the same species, and we are both alive. Unless you're reading this in the future, in which case, +I was alive at some point, and this is proof that I was. Anyway, moving on. + +Before I conclude with the biggest point of this passage ("what is aliveness in appearance"), +I will explore two last examples: offspring of asexual reproduction in plants. The mental +image I had was that of succulents or small plants with many small thick leaves lined up. +While each of those leaves are identical to each other, and the plant itself being +genetically identical to its parent plant, neither are 100% perfectly identical. The genes +are identical, but, yet again, it is how those cells form tissues that have these little +imperfections which create the life that we see. + +The final example is the existence of mathematical patterns in nature. Designs on insects +or spirals in the form of some plants are technically perfect, but the aliveness factors +into this again and produces little imperfections in the form of bumps or curves or +varied-sized parts in lumps. (A reader added wax honeycombs when discussing this and it made +me look up images. It's very stunning how perfect they look geometrically, but those too, +because of both the nature of the matter they're made of and the fact that they were made by +living animals, fall victim to the idea presented here. You'll have too look closely to see +it, though.) + +Perhaps inanimate things can look alive as well. What to you, would make a robot look alive? +I am thinking of a robot with many appendages or arms: a spider-like giant robot (something +similar to "can't help myself" by Sun Yuan & Peng Yu. I imagine its base to be stationary +but it has many arms sticking out, whose movement is anchored to that base). To me, a pure +mechanical motion that is identical in each movement, predictable and repetitive isn't alive, +but it can move in ways that make it seem alive. After thinking, I noticed what I'm looking +for: what makes a motion look alive? I found it to be how it interacts with and is influenced +by its surroundings. A robot arm that moves purely based on how it's programmed to move is, +well, functioning, but it doesn't feel alive in any way. It's a machine. Yet a machine, say +the spider-thing, moves imperfectly, such as a motion that isn't even or predictable +(it stumbles around, hesitates, doesn't move its arm for the same distance each time, and +so on), can perhaps make me sympathise with a lifeless machine, and even make me see it as +a very large metal animal. + +You were never meant to look perfect. You were meant to be alive. Biologically, your body +is perfect enough to keep you alive. + +*I ended up not mentioning ecosystems here, but briefly, it was about the sheer diversity +of life on Earth, and the food chains that dominate the flow of the living part of nature. +I don't have anything to say that you can't reach yourself, but the key idea is the systems +that simply work. |
