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Life on earth has experienced many transitions. Looking back to predict the future is a fractal approach to anticipating what we may become. Evolution happens. Not as Darwin suggested as a chaotic series of happenstance where a stronger life form exerts its will over a lesser. Nor does evolution happen randomly without design; there is a consciousness to evolving. Just as experiments have shown where toxic agents were introduced to the environment of simple life forms and their ability to immediately, so to speak, adjust their DNA to survive, so it is nature. Life finds a way, consciously.
Consciousness begins at the simplest level of existence. In 1953, DNA was discovered by James Watson and Francis Crick. This discovery led many to believe that the foundation of life had been discovered. And this belief held fast for 40 years. In 1990, the Human Genome Project led by James Watson sought to patent the design and components of human DNA to market medical interventions. The project was deemed less than successful when the discovery was made that humans possessed the same number of genes as that of roundworms. So, there was something more that defined the differences in life forms, rather than the number of genes each own.
A post Human Genome discovery chronicled by many publications, and one that donned the cover of Time magazine dated January 18, 2010; suggested life has control of its DNA. Epigenetics has demonstrated that the cell membrane, the lining, coordinates the cell’s activities and existence by relaying information of its environment to the DNA. The DNA modifies the instructions it produces to reflect the cell’s environment. The cell membrane then communicates key data to other cells of its status. This lining, this connection to the outside world, is what affects the instructions produced by the DNA, and in effect, manages the life of the cell.
Life on earth has maintained a constant level of existence punctuated by bursts of development. The first life forms were single-celled Prokaryotes. The size of this single-cell entity was limited due to the restrictions the cell membrane can grow before becoming weak and bursting. And with restrictions on size, there were limits to consciousness. The combined surface area of a membrane can be compared to the brain and its surface area. This represents the first leap in the existence of life on earth.
The second leap, the Eukaryote phase, represents the collection of cells that grouped together. The close proximity of the cells improved their survival. Huddling together, each could maximize their size without endangering the lining. Pressing close together, a sister cell could reinforce the lining of other cells and thus the awareness of each individual cell increased.
The third leap represents the Multi-cellular level. The collection of cell within a common membrane compounded the consciousness of the entity. With each cell sharing the economies of scale created by sharing a common lining, the beginnings of intercellular communication began. Now, consciousness and awareness was a shared experience.
The fourth leap is our current existence, cells sharing a common existence, with the added caveat of specialization. Each cell has a job, whether the cell is specialized to be bone or muscle, nature has orchestrated the cooperation of consciousness to become what we know today. One’s body is fifty trillion cells, with specialization, working as individuals for the common good. And this orchestration and cooperation serves as a metaphor for the future.
So that brings us to the next step, the anticipated step of humanities’ next level of consciousness. If our heritage is that of a single cell with limited awareness, and then that of a collection of cells with a shared awareness, then the next step is to recognize humanity as a single cell of a much larger existence. Acting as individuals for a common good, life as we have known it will come to an end. And a greater existence awaits humankind as specialized members of a higher calling. And this will be achieved by cooperation, not competition.