Krasylov, 1997. Метаэкология-26. CONCLUSION. Metabiomass. Metamortmass.
CONCLUSION. Metabiomass. Metamorphmass.
Like a dog. The last enemy. More than one.
V.A. Krasilov. Metaecology. M.: Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1997. 208 p. Part 26.
CONCLUSIONS. Metabios. Metamortmass.
Development.
CONCLUSIONS. In this book, I was primarily interested in the similarity of different systems. I tried to show that semiotics, logic, ethics, and aesthetics arise as systemic properties, similar to the genetic code, sexual reproduction, and the distribution of ecological niches. Continuing the analogies, ecological criteria of biomass, productivity, accumulation of dead production (mortmass), and diversity can be applied to meta-ecological systems. The name 'metaecology' is given in advance, for the future, when these concepts enter the routine analysis of the state of the soul. After all, the meaning of ecology and metaecology is one - in the confrontation with death. At the same time, ecological systems develop in the direction of increasing biomass, growing diversity, and reducing waste, and the same happens with meta-ecological systems. The traditional theory of evolution failed to explain the origin of new properties. It was believed that they are based on errors in genetic coding - a repetition of the history of errors of the Gnostic Sophia of Epiphanius. But the need to make two into one, to enter the kingdom, in the symbolic language of ancient philosophy, meant that the new arises from combination. Thus, the systems approach clarifies the meaning of evolution: the transition to a new state occurs as a result of the interaction of two or more components, combined into a system - participating in a process that forms the structures supporting it. Life, as the ability for programmed synthesis, arose from the combination of adsorption, endothermic reactions, and polymerization. The combination of nucleotide and amino acid polymers gave a self-reproducing system - an organism. Various prokaryotic organisms, combined through symbiosis, formed a eukaryotic cell. Viruses, by integrating into the genome, turned into regulatory elements of the genetic code. The fusion of cells initiated the sexual process, as a result of which individuals are born who are inevitably different from their parents. For two to combine, a whole complex of new properties arose: sexual attraction - love in its nascent form, means of attraction - primary aesthetics, secondary sexual characteristics - the prototype of all semiotic systems, the temporary suppression of aggression necessary for mating - the beginning of ethics. Sexual selection, initially associated with the prevention of incest, contributed to the development of individuality. A system usually has a modest beginning, like the limitation of aggression between two individuals of different sexes at the moment of mating, but then it expands, involving more and more components. Thus, the aesthetic reaction to symbols of sex spread from secondary sexual characteristics (the primary semiotic system) to other parts of the body, flowers and other natural objects involved in sexual symbolism, and to nature as a whole. Morality originates from the same source - the short-term union of two beings, sequentially involving relatives, compatriots, the entire biological species - the highest achievement of humanism, if we are talking about the human species - and, finally, all living things.
Metabios. The similarity of systems clarifies the patterns of spiritual development. Metaecosystems arose in connection with the interpretation of the phenomenon of death and resistance to it. From the first steps, man sought immortality by joining eternity - a more stable system. Contemplation of the cosmos, taught Plato, helps to bring order to one's own head. Ethics was derived from cosmogony, and vice versa. This was a productive period, and we have every reason to continue our search in the same direction, based on the general trends of system evolution. For tens of thousands of years, intelligent humans created myths - syncretic models in which the external is not separated from the internal, events of the material world from events of the spiritual world. As a fused record of external and internal events, myths are absolutely reliable, but any euhemeristic interpretation does not exhaust their content. This fully applies to the interpretation of the Theban cycle proposed in the first chapter as a mythological embodiment of Aryan expansion and assimilation of the culture of conquered peoples (Cadmus's search for a cow, battle with a serpent, a Hamitic totem, subsequent transformation into a serpent), the labors of Hercules - as symbols of the struggle of the theocratic system with totemism, the biblical 'Genesis' - as the history of the formation of ethics in the form of a series of treaties ('commandments') concluded with Adam (prohibition of incest), Noah (rejection of genocide), Abraham (unity in spirit as a condition for tribal prosperity), and Moses (a moral code for righteous living, including the Ten Commandments). The biblical identification of the soul with blood, according to the ancient understanding, a hereditary substance, shows that there is no need to oppose the soul to matter. Spiritual connection, it was believed, united relatives, compatriots, brothers-in-arms, all of the same blood. In modern terms, this is genetic memory, which connects us with all living beings, from the very first organisms that appeared three and a half billion years ago, to those that will live billions of years after us. Life is renewed on the basis of all the experience of previous life, which determines the possibility of gradual development. In developing systems, along with other new properties, time appears as a function of the commensurability of parallel processes. Life adapts to existence in time through the mechanism of memory, which concentrates the past in the present. Nucleotide memory is augmented by neural memory, which at the basic level also uses chemical reactions involving nucleic acids. The possibility of moving in time arises, and not only from past to present (causality), but also from present to future (prediction) and from future to present (goal-orientation). These procedures, by condensing time, stop the fleeting moments of life. The system of consciousness is formed from new memory functions, revealing causes, consequences, and, at higher levels of development, goals and meanings. Turning inward, consciousness forms a double - a model of the knowing subject, which is whimsically superimposed on the representation of the external world, acquiring an existence time different from the physiological. The double perceives various functions - of an evil or good genius, conscience, soul, and can be personified by the cosmos, God, creation, or a loved one. It acquires relative independence, influencing the original according to the principle of feedback. This is the system of personality (ego-system), a tandem that ensures development. Meta-ecological enrichment of the phenomena of being occurs - an increase in meta-biomass. As in biological communities, this process is associated with evolutionary innovations, in this case with new productive ideas that open up additional meta-ecological niches. We have seen the exceptional productivity of sexual and eschatological symbolism, which forms the foundation of the entire multilayered structure of the spiritual world. Thus, the first love overcame the conflictuality of mating individuals only for a moment. It later manifested as sexual selection, promoting the development of individuality. The inertia of sexual feeling kept married couples together after conception for the period of childcare. Enriched by the counter-flow of filial and religious feelings, love makes two into one. In a system of two lives, bound by a double bond of flesh and spirit, lovers can test their self-perceptions, authorial models of the soul, receiving additional impulses for development. This is a miniature model of an ideal social system. At the same time, the individual component of personality, insignificant at the early stages, grows by borrowing from the general gene pool and mass culture. In the evolution of the ego-system, this process is crucial: the boundary of a new era lies between the biblical phrases 'You have heard that it was said' and 'But I say to you.'
Metamortmass. Just as in an ecological community, the ratio of existing biomass to produced mortmass, which removes carbon from the atmosphere, so necessary for biological production, is crucial, so in a meta-ecological system, the mass of living culture is constantly compared with dead mass, removed from circulation for pragmatic or ideological reasons. If the accumulated by generations of people is converted into metamortmass, drawing creative stimuli from the spiritual atmosphere, then the system produces primitive, quickly reproducible ideas. This has happened many times in human history. Thus, the overthrow of ancient culture began with Julius Caesar's burning of the Library of Alexandria (47 BC), the destruction of which was completed by Christian hermits, who simultaneously killed the last Neoplatonist philosopher - Theon's daughter Hypatia. The background to these events was the expectation of the end of the world, initially associated with wild Roman militarism. Similar apocalyptic expectations during the Cold War, the confrontation of nuclear powers, caused a comparable scale of overthrow - the interruption of cultural traditions that extended from the Renaissance. Against the background of the general trend of increasing metabios, regressive tendencies periodically manifest - the removal of an even finer rational layer, the suppression of the individual component - becoming increasingly dangerous over time. We know what calamities the primitive state of the soul - tribal magic - brings when combined with modern technology. Not a small part of the blame lies with those who, by contrasting spirituality with reason, contributed to the destruction of the rational layer. The simplification of spiritual life inevitably leads to the reduction of the soul. Is this not what was meant when it was said that he who is afraid to lose his soul will lose it? Even in the early history of Christianity, the transition from universal philosophical ideas to their metaphorical embodiment in metaphysics and then to the ritualization of metaphors in religion matured, which can be compared to the production of mortmass in ecological systems. Both ecological and meta-ecological systems are dual: they include living and dead (inert, according to V.I. Vernadsky) components. Just as the living grows at the expense of the dead, so the dead is replenished at the expense of the living (and not only in an ecosystem or organism, but also in spiritual life - how much of it petrifies in temples and monuments). The conflict between the living and the dead in one system is inevitable, as they have opposite thermodynamic goals: the dead produces entropy, striving for rest, the living reduces entropy, accelerating development. Life is a state of a physico-vital system in which living components involve inert ones in development (as in the case of biogenic circulation of substances). Death is a state of the same system when the accumulation of dead substance makes development impossible (physiological collapse of an organism, sclerosis of tissues, mass culture reproduction). The Gorgon Medusa, who turns into stone, and Galatea, the revived stone, are symbols of murderous and life-giving feelings, fear and love, which can be considered twins, as both originate from the instinct of self-preservation, which forces one to avoid danger and care for procreation. These are 'mirror' twins: fear divides, love unites. The conflict of twins is inevitable: even life-giving feelings carry the seeds of destruction. Although love, even in the most primitive form of sexual attraction, has the ability to transform means of attack into means of attraction, the terrible into the beautiful, battle arrows into arrows of Eros, it still bears the birthmarks of fear (sexual cannibalism is characteristic not only of praying mantises). Both sexual and genetically related social love (for the alpha individual, the leader) suppress aggression, turning it inward. Omega withdraws, not forcing alpha to expend energy on competitive struggle. On this basis, the instinct of self-destruction develops, manifesting in humans in various forms, from drug addiction to masochism. In the process of metaphysical enrichment, the destructive instinct transforms into a feeling of tribal or social guilt, a need for purification through suffering, atonement, self-sacrifice. By breaking the distance, a person recognizes his insignificance before the alpha and tends to deny himself qualities inherent in this embodiment of virtue (a similar self-determination of personality from the opposite is observed in relationships with an outstanding father, elder brother, and even a virtuous wife, only the polarization is not so obvious). Love for our enemies turns external conflict into internal, the struggle for existence into a struggle with oneself, and ultimately can turn into self-hatred. Although omega, as a rule, leaves no offspring, 'self-destruction genes' do not disappear, because in combination with 'self-preservation genes,' they provide a higher creative potential than self-preservation in its pure form. Alpha conquers this world, beta creates its own, in which it can prevail. The ancients often attributed the creation of the world not to the supreme god, but to his defeated ancestor. For the latter, creation was an act of self-sacrifice - a violation of the integrity of self-sufficient existence - and all earthly creators follow his example.
Like a dog. The last enemy. More than one.
V.A. Krasilov. Metaecology. M.: Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1997. 208 p. Part 26.
CONCLUSIONS. Metabios. Metamortmass.
Development.