Ch.8 INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEMS

8.1 The importance of information processing

Let us consider the following experiment: we take two abiotic bodies B₁ and B₂, with masses m₁ and m₂, placed at distance d, out of which B₁ is steady (it is motionless against the reference), and B₂ is free starting from the moment t (without the initial velocity). We know that the two bodies will be attracted one another with a gravitational force F_G (for the time being, the calculus relation of this force is not relevant), and as a result of this attraction, the body B₂ shall be moving towards the body B₁ until the two bodies are met (merged). If we are making an analogy between the gravitational attraction and the attraction felt by a bio-system (a male B₂, for instance) in relation to another bio-system (for example, a sexually responsive female B₁), which means that in case of the bio-systems, a motion of the male towards the female will take place until the two bodies are touching each other, under the impulse of an “attraction force”.

Because in case of the bio-systems, there is the term called behavior for describing the modification of the external state of an object (bio-system type), subjected to the influence of a flux, we will also use the same term for describing the state modification of an abiotic object. The advantage of this “unification” of terms is even the possibility of revealing one of the major differences between the abiotic and the biotic objects.

As for the two above-mentioned bodies (B₁ and B₂), B₁ shows a passive behavior (by convention, it is motionless) and B₂ is an active one (it moves towards B₁).

Now, let us imagine another experiment which involves three bodies: B₁, B₂ and B₃ which have equal masses m (fig. 8.1.1). The bodies B₁ and B₂ are steady during the whole period of the experiment, they are placed at a distance d one another, and B₃ is placed at a distance d₀ on the median of distance d, and it is motionless (with no initial velocity) until the moment t.

Fig. 8.1.1

The body B₃ is attracted both by the body B₁ and by the body B₂ with equal modulus forces F₁ and F₂, but the body B₃ is not able to make a distinction between them. The only thing which body B₃ is able to “feel” is the vector sum of the two forces, the resultant F_R, that is a force which will finally determine the motion of this body, but not towards one of the existing bodies but towards a virtual (non-existing) body with a mass approximate 2m, placed in point P. According as the approach to point P, the body B₃ “feels” how the virtual body is shrinking, and this body will vanish in the point P (the resultant of the two forces being null).

This “stupid” behavior, we might say, is even due to the inability of the natural abiotic systems to “detect” the multiple and simultaneous existence of two or more objects, and to be able to separate them. For instance, in case of an astronomical body able to “perceive” only the gravitational field, the entire external universe is made-up from a single object which is placed on the direction of the sole resultant of the accumulated attraction forces of all the external bodies. The situation is however similar for any kind of abiotic MS and for any other force generated by another field type; in all of these cases, there will also be an unique resultant for the multitude of outer forces, therefore, an inability to distinguish MS number which acts upon it.

By returning to the above-mentioned example regarding the bio-systems’ behavior, and under similar conditions, when B₃ is a male and B₁ and B₂ are two similarly “appealing” females, under the assumption that B₃ is not the Buridan’s donkey, the male is aware that there are two objects of interest in front of him and he will “solve” both of them one at a time, after a random or motivated choice. But the male bio-system owns the ability of making a distinction between objects, that is a capacity provided by a basic material system - information processing system (IPS) - which capacity the natural abiotic systems⁵9 do not have it.

The existence of IPS is absolutely necessary to all the bio-systems, and without it, none of the vital functions (processes) are able to exist: feeding, individual and species preservation, reproduction etc. Based on this system (IPS), the bio-system may perceive a part from the outside world which is placed beyond the bio-system’s bounding surface and it can differentiate from this world the “good” systems (useful, necessary), the “bad” systems (which may cause damages or even the bio-system’s destruction) and the “neutral” ones (which are neither useful nor dangerous).

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