A I I I 83 S ii m Q Marine Biological Laboratory Library Woods Hole, Mass. ,/«Si>/=S, Presented Ly Dr. Geo. Wald Harvard University S^^Q^^Q^^^^^^^S ^^" m ^^m 1 ' 1 ■^ m ^^ ^^^^" o— 10 — D 2— 1 «« ^ o 1 -— i ss nn — a r Evolution and Human Destiny by FRED KOHLER PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY New York COPYRIGHT 1952, BY PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY 15 E. 40th street, new YORK PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY HALLMARK -HUBNER PRESS, INC. LIBRAE. V , p; Acknowledgments yi-^ .^MAt>a. Xn$^ The translation of a set of ideas into a presentation under- standable to others, requires nearly always the prodding as well as the help of other individuals. In this connection I am greatly indebted for the encourage- ment and help that I have received from Dr. A. Barton, who has done much to cause this book to be written. Special credit is due to Mr. John La Marre who has made contributions during the later stages of the preparation of the manuscript and who insisted on an unwavering statement of the conclu- sions reached, overcoming my own emotional reluctance to do so. After completion of the original manuscript I was fortunate to be introduced to Professor Paul Kosok. Professor Kosok who has worked along similar lines for many years was extremely generous in making the results of his own thinking known to me. Discussion with him caused me to make some significant clarifications in the book. From Mr. Robert Ullman I have received valuable help, especially on the first four chapters. For effective editorial assistance I am indebted to Mr. Elliot Gatner. Furthermore I would like to acknowledge the aid and encouragement received from A. Houser, Murray Klamkin, Professor Eugen Kullmann and Jerome Stanton. Finally as the reader will find implicit in the thesis of this book, my own thinking of necessity operates within the stream of human thought of our times. In the selected bibliography at the end of this book, I have consequently attempted to include those works that have most influenced my thinking. Table of Contents Introduction 3 chapter page I Pre-organic Evolution and the Problem of Or- ganization OF Matter 12 Entropy and Extropy 16 Crystals and Colloids 19 II The Most Primitive Forms of Life 21 The Virus "Reforms" Its Structure 21 The Cell a New Entity of Higher Organization 24 III Biological Death and Sexual Reproduction 29 How Conjugation Defeats Decay Towards Equi- librium 29 Death in Metazoa 38 IV Multicellular Organisms 41 The Cell-Colony as an Intermediate Form 41 Multicellular Life, a System on a Higher Level 47 A Generalization of the Problem of Biological Survival ^ 54 V The Societal Organism 56 Insect Colonies Illustrate the Process 58 The Societal Organism Raises the Organization of Its Immediate Surroundings 65 Colonies of the Higher Animals 68 VI Characteristics of Human Colony Formation 72 The Importance of Language 73 6898* • -. >s 71 '^:^ ^< '' ■ V. J ■.. 1 ..- I. Ai !' \ V 1 ''r>- 1 .-« '*. . r-Al. 4 \ v./' \ 1 r ' ' ,, . \^-* ^ ' ■ , / M ■ -•- ^ V .*- ""*«.. ^, -A J \ .•^.•,' - — — ^ , ' ■ ' \^.^ > f , ''■■■ i? J*"" ,/ CHAPTER VI Characteristics of Human Colony Formation The one species in which colony formation has pro- ceeded much further than among any other mammal is man. In fact some of the developments that have taken place in human society mark the initial phases that one would expect to occur during the beginning of the evolution of a societal organism. Now of course the viewpoint which regards society as an organism is not really new and analogies to this effect have been cited. The communications system of society has been com- pared to the nervous system of a living organism; the police to white blood corpuscles. Other comparisons of a similar nature could be enumerated. Even such con- cepts as group consciousness have found their way into recent literature. Some of the very terminology of our language indicates that there may have been an awareness (perhaps not fully conscious) of this situa- tion for a considerable length of time. Yet the situation is not just figuratively so, but is rapidly becoming true 72 HUMAN COLONY FORMATION in a biologically significant manner. It is only upon recognition of human society as a development con- sistent with the established pattern of evolution, that its nature can be understood and its future charted. We think of human society customarily as an associa- tion of individuals rather than as a more or less in- tegrated entity. If society were indeed nothing more than an association, its total characteristics should not differ greatly from the weighted summation of the characteristics of the individuals composing it. Yet there are many considerations showing that man is hu- man in the fullest sense of the word only, because of the characteristics that he has gained as a result of such integration as has already taken place. Let us then for the moment consider the probable history of human colony formation, as based on findings developed from anthropological and sociological studies, as well as ex- amine it from the point of view of the underlying thermodynamic-biological considerations. THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE Today there is little doubt that some several million years ago the ancestors of present-day man consisted of one or several species of primates. While some of the details of the physical and even more so of the mental makeup of these ancestors is not known, there is no reason for us to believe that they differed in any dras- tic fashion from the other then existing primates. Nor 73 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY is it likely that they were so very much different from the presently existing primates other than man. They probably traveled in fairly large groups, assuring bet- ter protection for themselves and making it easier to find a mate and to raise offspring. This was almost cer- tainly an unconscious process, yet much in accord with the to-be-expected pattern of association. Some mutual sound signals, such as are known to exist among other species of the higher animals, were probably in use among these ancestors of present-day man. Such signals must have been used to warn the group about the ap- proach of dangerous enemies; to signal to a potential mate and to give expression to states of anger, pleasure, pain, and so forth. Whether language originally grew from these signals, or whether, as some philologists hold, symbol formation growing out of rhythmic noises and dances played the predominant part, we do not know for certain. But whichever the case may be, it does not alter the fact that the development of language played an essential part in the development of man as he exists today. Now it is known that the other primates cannot be taught language to any appreciable extent. Therefore language in man must be more than merely the result of imitative learning of the individual. It must also have an organic basis. Without the necessary organs and nervous equipment no animal can master lan- guage. So, if one speaks of the instinct for language in 74 HUMAN COLONY FORMATION man, all one is really saying is, that the ability to learn language constitutes part of his genetically determined makeup. If (there are a few cases on record) a child grows up wild, or is brought up by animals, no real language develops. Children who are brought up in a group, but hardly ever come in contact with human language, develop out of their babbling only the most primitive kind of vocal communication. On the other hand, animals brought up among human beings de- velop no language whatsoever. From these considerations it must be concluded that the ability to master language is rooted in man's biological structure, but that language itself is socially acquired. The existence of the proper organic and nervous equipment is consequently a necessary but not a sufficient condition. Language must also be learned. This dual individually-biological and social root of language throws some light along the path of develop- ment which apparently is taken during the period of formation of a societal organism, such as human so- ciety is in the process of developing into. Here, instead of external environment alone acting as the survival- determining selector of genetic mutations, the internal environment becomes increasingly important as the selector. To explain just how this may have worked with language, one may reason in the following fashion: In a herd which depends to a considerable ex- tent upon mutual signals, a mutant change in any one 75 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY individual of the herd, permitting better signaling and better response to signals would favor the probability of survival of such an individual. This being true, such a mutant change will gradually become one of the char- acteristics of the species. On the basis of many such mutant changes the gradual acquisition by man of the necessary nervous and organic equipment for language can be explained. A similar argument can be employed to explain the development of man's highly developed central nervous system. (Also the use of his hands.) But as has been discussed, biological makeup is not the sole key to man's language. Neither is his more highly developed nervous system by itself sufficient to account adequately for human achievement. When the ratio of brain development in man, to that in the higher animals, is compared with corresponding ratio of their mental achievements, one finds that man's ac- complishments seem vastly out of proportion. How then is one to explain that man's ability is so very much greater than what one would expect on the basis of his brain development alone, basing the comparison on animal standards? When the nature of man's evident ability is analyzed, one can hardly fail to recognize that much of it is based on learning in its broadest sense. Now it is true of course that animals also learn. But their learning takes place in a far more limited manner. Animal learning is based upon observation by the individual animal 76 HUMAN COLONY FORMATION and the trial and error response to such observation. It is not based on any appreciable interchange of infor- mation with other members of the species. After all methods for such an interchange do not exist for them. Man, however, is able to learn through communication with other members of his species. He consequently avails himself of the experiences of other individuals, who in turn were and are able to increase their own effective range of experiences in the same fashion. This process does not hold true only within one generation, but also takes place from one generation to the next. This is of very great moment, for it means that the ex- periences of one generation can be directly transmitted to the next. This constitutes a new and unprecedented factor in the development of life. The extent to which such a transmission of experiences takes place among animals is by comparison very small indeed. At the very best, aside from man, the species only learns be- cause those individuals who do not, fail to survive. Even then, the process is driven forward only by chance mutations and is consequently a comparatively slow one. The entirely new method of learning that is conse- quently available to man as a result of the development of language, increases the effective experience of each individual, to an extent greater by an order of magni- tude over that possible for relatively non-social ani- mals. More than that, this experience is not strictly 77 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY speaking individual experience. It is rather the experi- ence of many other members of the species, existing now and extending back over many generations. One might say that much of the apparent intelligence of man is not his own individual intelligence, but is a manifestation of the intelligence of the developing so- cietal organism. This realization does in no way imply that the minds of individual human beings are not repositories of this societal knowledge. Nor does it deny the very real contributions made by individual human beings to the growing record of human achievement. However, it is well to keep in mind that all such in- dividuals made their contributions largely because they functioned within the total stream of accumulated human experience of their time. No individual genius, no matter how great, could possibly have designed a functioning television receiver either in the year 1000, nor in the year 1800 for that matter. The societal knowledge then available simply did not suffice. While it is of course true that the total knowledge of society is carried forward by individual contributions, it must nevertheless be recognized that compared to the total volume of human knowledge existing at any one pe- riod, the quantitative effect of even a greatly con- tributing individual must of necessity be small. While there is no doubt that our genius of 100 years ago could not have designed a functioning television set, his suc- cessfully constructing one, is even further out of the 78 HUMAN COLONY FORMATION question. There exists no individual today, expert though he might be, who, given all the basic raw mate- rials (various metallic ores, all needed chemicals, etc.) and permitted to use simple hand tools, (such as were available in 1800) could during his lifetime, construct this television set by himself. Even a very bright tech- nician, engineer or physicist, probably does not have in his own mind sufficient knowledge of all the tech- niques that would be required, let alone the physical capacity for performing them. Yet television sets as well as numerous other equally complex items are be- ing turned out by industry in tremendous quantities. But it is not merely our astounding scientific and technical achievements, but indeed our most typically human characteristics that are essentially attributes of the social organism, rather than part of the biological pattern of the individual. Many of the human charac- teristics that are generally referred to as "human na- ture" fall into this category. They are in their present form because there exists now, and has existed for many thousands of years, a society which as a group was able to transmit information. An interesting con- firmation of the societal origin of much of human na- ture is to be found in the histories of the few known cases of human beings who have been raised without any contact with other human beings. Such upbring- ing generally resulted in creatures, the behavior of which differed only little from that of the higher ani- 79 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY mals, and which showed few of the characteristics re- garded as most typically human. The importance of language in facilitating the grow- ing integration of the human colony can hardly be overemphasized. It is probable that the circumstance of the dawning of language in man was an extremely important factor responsible for making him what he is today. Verbal communication alone has its limitations. The number of other ears which any one person can reach are of necessity limited. Accuracy of transmission is not very high, especially over long periods of time. The degree of complexity of information that can be ver- bally transmitted is also inherently limited. As lan- guage itself is largely symbolic, it is not surprising that the first attempts to create visual language should also have been symbolic. These attempts probably date back to approximately that period in pre-history at which language itself reached a fair level of expressive- ness. The development of writing meant that the power of language became greatly enhanced. There- fore, the ability to "remember" from one generation to the next likewise changed from a rather hazy and in- accurate process to one of considerable accuracy. Known history of human society cannot extend much further back than the period during which the art of writing first came into use. Certainly with the advent of writing, the rate at which human knowledge and 80 HUMAN COLONY FORMATION technique advanced became very much faster than it had been prior to that time. Now it is true that closer integration of a developing societal organism would be greatly furthered by im- proved means of communicating experiences and of remembering them. Consequently it is apparent that the knowledge of writing greatly speeded the integra- tion process and may actually be regarded as the initial phase of the development of what might well be called a "societal memory." The invention of printing is again a step forward in the effectiveness of language. It means that the "societal memory" can improve more rapidly, become capable of greater accuracy and be partially shared by a greatly increased number of in- dividuals. It is significant that the advent of the rela- tively wide use of the printing press coincides closely with a further increase in the rate of human progress. Significantly, the rise of ancient science also coincides closely with the perfecting of writing. The birth of modern science falls in the period just after printing came into use in the western world. Use of the print- ing press marks in effect a distinct improvement of the mechanism of the "societal memory." If one considers such a collection of information as is represented in a comprehensive set of encyclopedias, one can hardly fail to regard this as anything else but a deposition of societal knowledge. A deposition of this kind is not, nor could it be, the result of the experiences of any 81 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY single individual. It represents a totality of society's accumulated experiences, reaching way back, not merely in an additive sense, but constituting in many respects an integration of these experiences. It is understandable that the growing societal knowl- edge together with the improving "societal memory" should foster its own self-growth. In its initial phases when spoken language was the only available means of communication and when the spoken word alone served as the vehicle of memory, the rate at which hu- man knowledge accumulated was necessarily a slow process. This must be particularly true, as the develop- ment of language sufficiently expressive for the trans- mission of more than the most simple ideas was itself probably a relatively slow process. It apparently took much longer than the total period of time that has elapsed since the dawn of known history. As writing came into use, the rate of accumulation of human knowledge certainly increased. A further marked in- crease of this rate takes place with the advent of the printing press, becoming ever more rapid, as an in- creasing portion of each generation could be effectively reached by this accumulating information. This last factor is a result of the increasing percentage of lit- eracy among the human race, which has tended to in- crease on the average since the beginning of the art of writing. It is against this background of accumulating knowledge and its wider availability that the fantastic 82 HUMAN COLONY FORMATION growth of science and technology became possible. This latter growth of course is equally based on the progressive accumulation of ever more effective tools, which interwoven with the increasing know-how, gives rise to machines which, outside of their obviously utilitarian purpose, also make possible the building of even better machines. Science, a result of accumulating human knowledge, is equally a causating factor of the further development of this knowledge. It makes pos- sible a new specificity of direction, a new method of critical evaluation, and provides for much better in- dexing of the acquired information. The advances of technology began about a century ago to free an increasing portion of the human race from the primary tasks of providing food and shelter. Consequently they became available for other func- tions, such as the production of more tools; the direct or indirect furthering of the growth of knowledge; the production of goods not immediately essential for the survival of individuals; or some form of activity in the mechanism of the social integration process. The in- creasing percentage of individuals so engaged con- tributes greatly to the rate of material progress. The great numerical increase of the earth's population, up to a point, is also both cause and effect of this material progress. All these factors combine to result in the ex- ponential increase of man's effectiveness which cer- tainly has taken place during the past few centuries. 83 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY However as shall soon be discussed, the implications of this material and scientific advance reach far beyond the obvious and are of the greatest significance when examined from the over-all point of view of tracing the development of the human societal organism. In the human colony specialization of individuals is taking place to an increasingly noticeable extent. So- ciety today is becoming ever more dependent upon the specialized skills of many groups. At the present time it is certainly no longer possible for any one individual to be proficient at all the skills that are now essential for the continued functioning of organized society. Various groups of specialists certainly differ to a marked degree in their average mental characteristics. In extreme cases they may even show differences of physical characteristics which are statistically measur- able and significant. As an example, one would expect lumberjacks and chemists, when considered as groups, to show such physical differences. The extent to which specialization has proceeded is greater in the more ad- vanced cultures than in the more backward ones. In modern civilization specialization is fostered more and more by the society itself. The fact that the activities of these various groups are reasonably well integrated into the total workings of society, without the neces- sary conscious control of any one individual, is indeed remarkable. This phenomenon is often regarded as just a matter of fact situation, without recognition that 84 HUMAN COLONY FORMATION it is a characteristic of the integration taking place as a colony develops into an organism. Society's more recent technical advances such as the radio, telegraph, television, rapid transportation, mass distribution of printed material, even such processes as a public election in which the summated desire of large numbers is rapidly recorded — all these mech- anisms operate to transform human society into the integrated entity constituting the societal organism. The analogy of these processes to those which must have taken place during the development of the mul- ticellular organism is indeed striking. The comparison of modern communications to the nervous system of the animal body, of highways and railroads to its ar- teries, and similar examples are, as has been men- tioned, not new. However the concept that society actually constitutes an organic development of living matter, consistent with established evolutionary pat- tern has, as far as the author knows, never been clearly stated and certainly has never been presented as part of a general theory of the evolution of matter. Under- standing of mankind as an evolving bio-social entity, permits insight into human society from an entirely new perspective. INDIVIDUAL SURVIVAL IS BECOMING DEPENDENT ON EXISTENCE WITHIN THE COLONY The survival possibilities of the individual human 85 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY component of modern society are coming to depend ever more upon the internal rather than the external environment. To clarify this, it should be stated that by the term ''internal environment," as used in this book, is meant the total social surroundings in which the individual lives. The expression "external environ- ment" will be used to refer to the ambient that is pro- vided by inanimate matter, as well as that resulting from the presence of other species. Now it is evident that for any animal which shows social tendencies, an internal environment begins to exist, gaining im- portance in respect to the external one as the social cohesion of the species increases. When so viewed, the evident importance of internal environment for man, serves as an indication of the extent to which the social integration of human society has already proceeded to- wards the formation of an organic entity. If in our time an individual human being, or a small group of people, are placed in a wilderness without being aided by very special equipment, they will per- ish, unless conditions happen to be unusually favor- able. Yet a wilderness is essentially nature as it would exist if man were not present. It is external environ- ment in relatively pure form. In the same wilderness animals can survive even under relatively adverse con- ditions without necessarily depending upon mutual assistance. However, modern man cannot do so. It is probable that members of more primitive cultures 86 HUMAN COLONY FORMATION would stand a better chance of survival. Our ancestors living say 25,000 years ago, however, managed quite well. They had none of the special equipment we would find necessary today, nor were they, in terms of their physical structure, substantially better fitted than contemporary man for life in such an environment. At present, for example, the Polar Eskimos live under ex- ceedingly severe conditions in very small groups; at times an individual even lives alone for a considerable period of time. Individuals of southern Eskimo tribes, physically not different from the northern variety, find doing so far more difficult! What is the reason for this situation? Is it merely a question of skills enabling the members of most prim- itive cultures to live in a near wilderness, which be- come lost as a culture advances? Or could it be that this process is inevitable as the social integration of man proceeds? Ability to live in unmodified nature appears to become gradually lost as the degree of mutual inter- dependence increases and as the ability of the colony as a group to cope with the environment becomes greater. This situation is again somewhat analogous to what happens to cells in cell colonies which perish when separated from the colony, while genuine monocellular creatures are quit^ able to live individual lives. The inability of the component members of evolving organisms to get along on their own, conse- quently becomes a causating factor making for the 87 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY continuation of the integration process. That much is quite evident. What is not so apparent, yet probably more significant, — is that there are good reasons for viewing the action of the societal organism upon the ambient as arising out of the need of the organism to preserve and enhance its orderliness in a relatively dis- orderly environment. These reasons will now be dis- cussed. THE HUMAN SOCIETAL ORGANISM INCREASES THE ORDERLINESS (eXTROPY) OF ITS IMMEDIATE SURROUNDINGS If one considers the extropy level of civilized human society and compares it with the extropy level of a non- organized collection of individual human beings, then there can be no doubt that the civilized society consti- tutes the more highly organized system. This means that the process of social integration involves a sub- stantial increase in the extropy of the matter involved. The process is consequently consistent in direction with prior evolutionary development. Together with the increase of the organizational level of the biological sub-units, another highly significant development takes place, as the societal organisms begin to evolve. Namely, the biological material endeavors to affect the immediate surroundings in such a fashion as constitutes a decided raising of the organization of this surround- ing material. By comparison, other higher animals 88 HUMAN COLONY FORMATION show this tendency to only a very slight extent. Such animal instincts as result in the building of nests, the fashioning of habitations in the earth and the food storage habits of certain species, are examples of some slight modification of surroundings in the direction of raised organization. The most far-reaching change of this kind among the mammals, is brought about by the beaver, an animal which may be considered to have developed a measure of colony formation. Orderly modification of surroundings is actually more evident among those species of insects which have formed well- integrated colonies. Although the structural complex- ity of an individual insect member of the colony seems lower than that of a mammal, the extent to which an insect colony increases the extropy of its ambient is greater than it is for any mammal, except man. Apparently, once the development of living matter has begun to reach the "societal stage," the raising of the organization of the immediate surroundings be- comes a concurrent feature. The proximate causes for this become evident, if one analyzes the initial mech- anism by means of which this modification of surround- ings takes place. Two problems which face all living creatures are the securing of an adequate food supply and some degree of protection against the elements and against enemies. EfiEective solution of these problems for a large number of individual animals living in close proximity must, 89 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY of necessity, exert a modifying effect upon the imme- diate surroundings. This effect is enhanced, once the problems of food gathering and protection of indi- viduals gives rise to the fashioning of primitive tools and weapons. As the mere gathering of fruits and hunt- ing of animals proves inadequate to the needs of the developing society, planned cultivation and husbandry start to appear. This must become particularly true as the population increases. Once this stage is reached the extent of the modification of the ambient becomes very appreciable. It seems probable that the learning of the use of fire was a potent factor in accelerating this development. The degree of development that is needed for the consistent attainment of the tool-using stage has so far only been achieved by the human spe- cies. It appears likely that a reasonably well-developed system of communication between individuals, and also from one generation to the next, must exist, to permit such skills to develop. Consequently, consider- able semantic development must have preceded the first consistent use of tools. Modern civilization is unthinkable without its im- plements, which, when regarded in the most general terms possible, are matter arranged in a highly organ- ized pattern in such a fashion as to accomplish certain utilitarian purposes. Our tools and machinery are mat- ter so arranged. So are books, radio tubes, clothing, houses, entire cities, works of art and musical scores. 90 HUMAN COLONY FORMATION If indeed all of these implements were suddenly taken away from society, the status of the surviving individu- als would probably for many generations revert to an extremely primitive level. It is in this connection of interest to note, that the first societies to develop a reasonable level of culture at the dawn of history, devoted a considerable part of their total energies to the fashioning of elaborate to- tems which apparently had little immediate functional importance. The building of pyramids and temples falls clearly into this category. These structures cer- tainly had no direct effect upon the food supply or pro- tection of the tribe, even though they were usually in- tended to accomplish these aims by appealing to the proper deity. Interestingly enough they did in their own way serve their purpose. Not of course in the man- ner officially proclaimed — but by serving as seats of theocratic and secular power which were essential for the continuing integration of the social body. It there- fore appears that many of the activities of society which have been regarded as non-utilitarian, have actually a very definite utility, as they are intimately associated with the societal integration process. This concept sheds light on the function of art in so- ciety and should help to clarify many questions in aesthetics. Art from the earliest times has been more than an attempt to imitate the things found in nature. It arose out of man's need to create order in his en- 91 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY vironment. Art is therefore an expression of this need. It portrays such orderliness as man sees directly in nature; creates new patterns of orderliness representa- tive of man's social activities, and serves to fashion the totems and symbols necessary for continuing integra- tion of the social body. It is noteworthy that the phenomenon of this * 'ap- parently non-utilitarian" construction appears in all cultures once they have reached a certain level of com- plexity. It certainly persists vigorously up to the pres- ent day. EFFECT ON IMMEDIATE SURROUNDINGS MAY BE A THERMODYNAMIC NECESSITY If one views the development of the societal organ- ism from a thermodynamic point of view, one might expect that its very high level of extropy could raise serious problems in connection with survival. It is known that the long-term maintenance of any rela- tively non-random structure presents difficulties in a universe in which physical processes generally proceed towards greater randomness. One would expect that the preservation of a high degree of organization for any particular system should become more difficult generally, as the differential between the respective levels of extropy of the system and the surroundings becomes greater. This consideration certainly holds true if one considers the entropy relations of ordinary 92 HUMAN COLONY FORMATION processes. A hot body loses heat faster to the surround- ings than a less hot one. A cube of ice will melt faster as the temperature of the ambient increases. Complex organic chemical compounds generally break down more readily than simpler ones, as the temperature is increased. Living matter is even more sensitive to high temperatures which above a certain level inevitably produce death. As living matter becomes more complex, its chances of remaining alive become more dependent upon its ability to overcome the increased "randomizing" pres- sure of its surroundings. The development of the so- cietal organism results in a very considerable increase of complexity of organization. The problem of per- petuation of a system of such a higher order of com- plexity in an environment which is far more random, is consequently a difficult one. One way in which the effect of the differential between the extropy of a sys- tem and its surroundings could be minimized, would be to insulate such a system with material arranged in such a fashion, as to represent an intermediate layer, that exhibits an entropy level somewhere in between the level of the system and the more general surround- ings. Such a phenomenon actually appears to be taking place. Therefore, one may conclude, that the tendency of the societal organism to modify its surroundings in an orderly fashion, is the consequence of nothing less than thermo-dynamic necessity. This consideration 93 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY should be of great theoretical significance. It relates the survival problems of bio-social organisms to those established for systems on lower levels of complexity. On this basis one can ask the question, does not much of this transformed material actually constitute an in- tegral component of the "body" of the developing so- cietal organism? The answer to this is a qualified yes, although much does of course depend on the definition of the nature of the boundaries of the organism. This situation is even further complicated by the fact that the development of the human societal organism is presently still in its initial stages. This fact alone would make the drawing of boundaries nearly impossible at this time. Finally, clearly fixed spacial limits of a societal or- ganism may not exist in the same sense in which they are known to exist for other living creatures, since we are really dealing with an evolving organism on an entirely new level of complexity. In any event the con- cept of non-living matter constituting part of the body of a living creature should not be too difficult to ac- cept. After all, part of the bodies of many animals are constructed out of "non-living matter," much of which is not even composed of proteins. Examples of this are the bones and teeth of the higher animals, and the shells of many of the invertebrates. As an example, the shell of a lobster is very much part of the creature, yet its chemical composition is chitin and it is not organ- ized into living cells. 94 HUMAN COLONY FORMATION CONSCIOUSNESS CAN NOT BE AN ATTRIBUTE OF AN ISOLATED HUMAN BRAIN At the time a human being is born, his mind con- tains no significant material acquired through sensory perception. Outside of certain instinctual drives which are transmitted via the genetic pattern, the mental makeup of any individual is a function which depends upon the properties of the nervous structure of the creature and the integrated sum of all the perceptions that have impinged upon this nervous structure. The total function is clearly a very complex one, as it not only includes the perceptions themselves, but also such concepts as are formed on the basis of these sensory perceptions and the multiple interactions of these con- cepts. It is obvious that the proper integration, storing and scanning of this perceptual data calls for a highly developed and complex central nervous system. How- ever, for any finite level of complexity of structure, there exists a maximum capacity for memorization, speed at which information can be scanned, total con- cepts that can be simultaneously associated and of in- tegrative faculties. Now it is also true that the number of sensory per- ceptions that the developing mind of the human in- fant receives either directly or indirectly from other human beings, constitutes the vast majority of the total number of significant perceptions received. Many of these perceptions, however, are already quite complex 95 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY in terms of their contents, as they are the result of gen- erations of human experience and thinking. Conse- quently the great majority of our concepts are in fact developed as a result of the integration of experiences and ideas that is taking place as the human societal or- ganism is developing. Members of primitive cultures possess a brain poten- tial equivalent to that of civilized man. However, many of our concepts are completely lacking in their thought processes. The language of such groups fre- quently does not contain words for numbers above the first few numerals. Yet, an infant removed from such a group and raised in modern society will on the average share the conceptual characteristics of the society he is raised in. His central nervous system becomes a repos- itory of some of the common knowledge of the societal organism that he is a part of. As integration of human society proceeds, the rela- tive amount of isolated thinking performed by in- dividuals diminishes. Individual thinking, becomes gradually replaced by a process that has aptly been called "inter-thinking." One of the most remarkable achievements of the hu- man mind is its ability to be conscious of itself and its functioning. When one considers that the human or- ganism, of which the central nervous system is clearly a part, is in reality nothing but exceedingly elaborately organized matter, consciousness represents actually a 96 HUMAN COLONY FORMATION situation in which matter has become aware of its own existence and to some extent of its nature. This is in- deed such a remarkable circumstance that it has fre- quently been considered to be beyond the possibility of any scientific understanding. This situation has formed the basis for much mystical speculation. Such speculation has at times led to the belief that man is in some fundamental aspect different from all other crea- tures and that his mind must contain some principle not explicable in terms of it being an extremely com- plex aggregate of matter. It is indeed true, that man is fundamentally different from any of the other animals. But it is not individual man in terms of his structural makeup who is so very much different; it is the fact that man is a component of a societal organism in the process of formation that accounts for the vast difference. Even as relatively re- cent as during earliest historical times, man's knowl- edge of his own structure, both from an anatomical point of view and certainly from a biochemical stand- point, was practically nonexistent. Yet man of that pe- riod was structurally, and this includes the potential of his central nervous system, scarcely different from the present-day species. What has occurred since that time is not so much a change in individual man, but integration of individuals into a societal pattern, con- current with societal accumulation of knowledge. If one is to regard consciousness in terms of its most gen- 97 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY eralized significance, namely as matter being aware of its own structure — then consciousness is certainly of recent historical origin. Of course one may also regard consciousness as simply meaning that an individual living creature is aware of his own existence. This kind of consciousness certainly has existed since the earliest historical times, and probably dates far back into pre- history. Awareness of one's own existence is a feeling, the existence of which is a matter of degree. Animal psychologists differ as to whether any such awareness exists among the higher animals. Their differences are probably largely due to lack of common definition of the meaning of awareness, as well as the intrinsic dif- ficulties encountered in investigating the subject. Awareness is a mental attribute which probably has no clear beginning in evolutionary history, but gradu- ally evolved in the higher animals, reaching a level in prehistoric man, where awareness of existence may be taken for granted. Certainly awareness must have pre- ceded the more remarkable consciousness of present- day man. While awareness appears possible for a com- plex multicellular creature, real consciousness (de- fined as awareness of structure and nature) seems pos- sible only in a societal organism in the process of for- mation and may well be a concurrent feature of its de- velopment, provided the initial units are of a suffi- ciently high level of complexity. Is there any possibility that this kind of conscious- 98 HUMAN COLONY FORMATION ness could exist in the mind of even the genetically most favorably endowed man who has been raised in complete isolation from society? While the knowledge associated with this conscious- ness exists in the minds of individual human beings within society (to a greater or lesser extent depending on the individual) , the full structure of this conscious- ness involves the entire developing societal organism. This structure includes such diversified matter as the central nervous systems of many individual men. It properly includes the matter comprising manuscripts, books and other records by means of which intelligence is stored and transmitted. One might even include in the structure such members of human society, who al- though they do not contribute directly to the advance- ment of ideas and knowledge, are nevertheless through their existence making it possible for others to do so. One can therefore state that consciousness, the most celebrated achievement of the human mind, is in re- ality a manifestation of a developing mind (or its equivalent) of the evolving human societal organism. When viewed as such, human consciousness, while still a marvelous phenomenon, becomes more comprehen- sible. This analysis of the nature of consciousness is open to the following objection. If all of society were to be destroyed except for isolated individuals, these in- dividuals would still possess their initial consciousness. 99 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY Consequently it can be argued that consciousness does not really require a structure more complex than that of a single human brain. This is true enough as long as it is applied to a static condition of human con- sciousness, once such a condition has already been es- tablished. However the objection does in no way indi- cate that consciousness could possibly have developed independently in any human being who has always been completely isolated from society. There is no question that the total knowledge ef- fectively available to society today, greatly exceeds that contained in any single human brain. Even though the knowledge of individuals has increased during the past few thousand years, the total knowledge of society has increased at a faster rate. This means that the ratio of societal knowledge to average (or even maximum) individual knowledge has been getting larger. It is likely that this ratio will keep increasing at a faster rate in the future, as the potential of a single human brain structure has its limits. Already today, from twenty to twenty-five years are required for the education of a scientist. Unless individual man grows vastly more in- telligent, the detailed knowledge available to any one person cannot become much greater, although there seems to be considerable room for improvements in the quality of that knowledge. Further intellectual progress therefore depends more than ever on the so- cietal integration process. The stage for the develop- 100 HUMAN COLONY FORMATION ment of a more clearly emerging "mind" of the so- cietal organism is now set. WHILE THE HUMAN SOCIETAL ORGANISM IS EVOLVING, ALL OF ITS NEW QUALITIES ARE DIFFICULT TO EVALUATE. Throughout the period of recorded history, and probably preceding that period, the long term trend in human society has been in the direction of increas- ing the size of the cohesive units of society. The growth of the social units was accompanied by an increasing complexity of the internal control system essential for proper function. At this time the average individual, even though functioning effectively within the entire social structure, is often unaware of the mechanism and nature of this structure. Even those individuals in key positions within this structure, who are able to ex- ert control over certain phases of its functioning, can- not possibly be aware of all the detailed processes es- sential to such function. Yet the entire society does function. This process is not so different from the integrated functioning of a multicellular animal, in which the in- dividual cells have no knowledge whatever of their role, nor of the entire organism, yet where the organ- ism also functions as an entity in a highly integrated fashion. The reader, at this point, may perhaps won- der that if the analogy drawn is really valid, how then 101 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY can it be possible than human beings are to some ex- tent aware of their functions and of the existence of society? How can an individual in the developing so- cietal organism, as he is per analogy essentially a cell of that organism, possibly be aware of the larger en- tity? The answer to this apparent paradox lies in the fact that while the parallel between the societal organ- ism and the multicellular organism has validity in terms of overall interpretation, it must nevertheless not be carried too far. There are very important dif- ferences. It must be kept in mind, that the integration of mul- ticellular animals to form a societal organism takes place on a level which is higher, by an order of mag- nitude, than the level on which the integration of cells forming a multicellular organism takes place. One would expect such a difference of level, as the initial difference of complexity of the participating indi- viduals, cells on one hand, complex metazoa on the other, is in itself a difference of similar magnitude. On the basis of such considerations, one can expect the fully developed societal organism to be as superior in effectiveness in respect to its components prior to in- tegration (one of the higher animals) , as a multicel- lular animal is in respect to a protozoa. Consequently the prediction that future man will be a cell-like creature within the societal organism is not a warranted conclusion. Such an interpretation would 102 HUMAN COLONY FORMATION in fact be based on a misunderstanding of the nature of the integration process. Part of the very basis for the to-be-expected superiority of the societal organism is the high, initial complexity of its constituent units. Reversion of these units to a cell-like status would in fact be analogous to a reversion of cells in metazoa to a molecule-like function. Such a reversion does not oc- cur. It is certainly true at this stage of biological evolu- tion, that the repository of the principal components of intelligence which constitute the totality of human knowledge is still the central nervous system of indi- vidual human beings. Without individual man who is able to read, understand and function, our libraries and our gadgets would become useless. The apparently high extropy level of the matter constituting these things would become dubious. However the probable continued existence of the consciousness of individual human beings for quite some time into the future, does not contra-indicate the development by the societal or- ganism of a "mind" of its own. Such a "societal mind" will be made up of the integrated intelligence of many individuals in society. As has been discussed, its scope even at the present, vastly exceeds the knowledge available to any one individual. The thesis that human society has an organic nature which is developing rapidly in the direction of a bio- social entity, is probably a statement that many indi- viduals will find difficult to accept. It is perhaps, 103 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY psychologically, an unduly severe blow to the individ- ual human ego to have to accept oneself as an integral component of an organism in the process of formation. The sense of human aloneness and the feeling of isola- tion from our fellow man, which is so prevalent particularly in intellectually inclined people, in present day American society might on first analysis tend to contradict the theory. Yet, is not the very existence of these feelings perhaps an indication of a psychological need for the integration? In any event, personal mis- givings should certainly not bias one's investigation of a radically new point of view. Let us not forget that human society right now is very much in transition and all of us are very subjec- tively involved in the entire process. It is therefore essential that one exercise uncommon rationality and exclude emotional bias as far as is possible, in order to grasp the full significance of the process responsible for the formation and the present transformation of human society. It appears probable that the recognition of the bio- social nature of the forming human societal organism, will add conscious direction to unconscious pattern and consequently accelerate the process. 104 CHAPTER VII Human Destiny and Evolution One of the tasks which the writer hopes this book will accomplish is to provide a unified view of the process of evolution of matter up to the present time. In order to do so, the relation between theoretical thermodynamic considerations on one hand and bio- logical events as they have actually taken place on the other, has been emphasized at the risk of being repe- titious. This repetition may have led the reader to consider much material as obvious and some of it may have escaped proper consideration. In any event, it might be well to summarize some of the data that has been presented, in order to evaluate it more clearly and to see whether any further conclusions can be drawn from it. On the basis of this data it appears that the long term development of a small portion of matter has over a great period of time proceeded in a direction contrary to the one indicated by the Second Law of 105 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY Thermodynamics to apply to physical processes in gen- eral. This does not imply that any of the physical or chemical processes that go on inside of living organ- isms fail to follow the Second Law. What it does indi- cate is that under certain conditions significant portions of matter will progressively increase their extropy level and succeed in doing so over vast stretches of time. This behavior of matter may be an occurrence expli- cable on the basis of probability considerations govern- ing very large quantities of matter and taking place provided enough time is allowed for random changes to produce an extremely large number of possible com- binations. It appears probable that very special en- vironmental conditions regarding temperatures and the types of materials available, are necessary for this phenomenon to proceed to the extent it has on the earth. It may well be that local complexification of matter (at the expense of entropy increases elsewhere) is subject to a law just as fundamental as the "Second." If such is the case, development of life can be expected, wherever environmental conditions were at all similar to those at one time prevailing on the earth. Under certain other environmental conditions local decreases of entropy level may lead to forms of "life" quite dif- ferent from the kind we are familiar with. While the trend towards a local increase in extropy is probably a universal tendency (perhaps a basic law of nature) it is unlikely that this increase of organization proceeds 106 HUMAN DESTINY AND EVOLUTION as far as the development of life, except where the en- vironment is right. However, considering the exceed- ingly large number of stars in the universe, a consider- able number of which may have planetary systems, life, although a comparative cosmic rarity, may yet have arisen in an appreciable number of localities. The process of this development of matter has been the following: "Complexification," integration of the increasingly complex units into a new entity; further complexification of the new entity leading to a new integration on a higher level, and so forth. At a certain complexity level of this development life makes its gradual appearance, evolving further along the lines of the established pattern. It is the successful solution of the problem of preservation of its high extropy level, which imparts to matter that has reached this certain level of complexity, the characteristics of living matter. The struggle of life to maintain its precariously high level of orderliness, is commonly termed the struggle for survival. In all the more complex forms of life, survival of the species can only be assured by means of an exceedingly complex reproductive process. By means of this process the species overcomes the ulti- mate effect of the Second Law. The individual, how- ever, cannot be preserved indefinitely, but must always suffer death. For the species as a whole there occurs the constant trial and error process of mutation by means of which survival in changing environment is 107 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY attempted. The solution of the problem of survival is consequently pragmatically determined for any species and the resultant outcome determines its manner of further development. From the overall consideration of the evolutionary process, it would appear probable that after a period of complexification of the multicellular organisms a new integration step will take place leading to the formation of an entirely new organic entity — namely the societal organism. Analysis of the nature and history of human society, as well as study of the colonies established by other species, make it apparent that such an integra- tion process is presently taking place. Many aspects of human society, man's intelligence, man's control over his environment, his political history and even the "miracle" of consciousness appear to be a result of this integration process and are among the unfolding prop- erties of the new entity. These new properties appear to be necessitated by the to-be-expected "thermody- namic problems" confronting living matter that is in the process of increasing its organizational level by still another order of magnitude. The formation of a societal organism from the hu- man species, is proceeding at a surprisingly fast pace, as compared to the period of time required for the complexification of multicellular creatures. Consider- ing the rate at which this integration appears to be taking place, it is reasonable to expect that a human 108 HUMAN DESTINY AND EVOLUTION societal organism constituting a distinct bio-social entity will come about. The capabilities that may be expected from the fully integrated entity should be enormously greater than those possessed by human society at its present stage. This increase of capabilities (and this includes the degree of consciousness) should be many times greater than the distance that now sep- arates the most primitive cultures known, from mod- ern industrial society. At our present evolutionary stage, the integration process of the human species has barely gotten started. Consequently the human societal organism, to the extent to which it can be considered to exist at this time, is extremely primitive and just appearing to become recognizable as an entity. As to the relationship of the individual human being to the societal organism, valid conclusions can probably not be drawn at this stage of development. However it does appear quite certain that further human progress will not result merely from the biological improvement of individual man. It will be the integration process, the formation of the new organic entity that will deter- mine the future development of man. The further evolution of human society would be greatly affected by the development of a reproductive system operating on a societaL level. The development of such a feature is to be expected on theoretical grounds. As has been discussed, it has already taken place in the incipient societal organisms of various 109 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY insects. While it does not as yet exist in human society, its probable nature can even now be charted. No more than a few generations may separate us from its development. The first roots of such a societal reproductive system will grow out of the present necessity for birth control, coupled with an increasing trend in the direction of conscious eugenic selection. The effectiveness of any, at this time practicable, eugenics program is however somewhat limited, not only by the obvious social and ethical problems, but more fundamentally by the underlying genetic difficulties, especially those of rec- ognizing recessive mutations. Furthermore, such a program could at the very best, only prevent perpetua- tion of the least desirable characteristics and to some extent further the transmission of the most desirable ones. After all the bulk of human offspring would still come from the part of mankind endowed with average characteristics. An entirely different situation would prevail, were it possible to sire future humanity from the best fraction of a percent of the human race. Progress towards the culturing of human genetic material outside of the human body and success in fer- tilizing such cultures and raising human embryos, will make it possible to utilize only the germ cells of a few selected individuals to perpetuate the entire human species. Once this is achieved, the logical necessity of the needs of the integrating organism, will probably 110 HUMAN DESTINY AND EVOLUTION force society to adopt this method, despite of the social and moral barriers which at the present would seem nearly unsurmountable. The result of such a societal reproductive system will again greatly increase the rate of societal integration and must within a few genera- tions after its general adoption completely transform the nature of mankind. Perhaps a word of caution should be injected at this point. This concerns any attempt to draw what might be called socio-political conclusions from the physical and biological data presented here. While it is certainly true that the concept of the human societal organism will eventually alter man's theory of society, every effort must be made at present to avoid rationalizations by means of which political doctrine is held to be in accord with natural law. This is easily recognized when the political views expressed are contrary to ones own. However when the opinions expressed are in accord with our own views, the nature of the rationalization is less easily recognized. In either case, conclusions so arrived at have the habit of becoming dogma which channelizes scientific thought along lines which are politically acceptable. This situation which so seriously impeded the progress of human knowledge during the middle ages, is again making its existence felt in many parts of the world. We must be on guard against this trend; if unchecked it could contribute toward taking civilization back to the dark ages, made darker this HI EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY time because of the new means of destruction placed by science into the hands of self-justifying authority. The pattern of past evolutionary history indicates that the process by means of which human society is now becoming more and more consolidated will con- tinue, until an entity with an organic existence of its own is formed. Human individuality as it exists today will undergo drastic changes as the societal organism evolves. It is difficult to believe that the individual human constituent of an eventual societal organism would closely resemble present-day man, especially in regard to psychological makeup. Presently, however, the desire of individual human beings to live better, happier lives, constitutes one of the forces pushing in the direction of the integration that is taking place. As has already been mentioned, the concept of the evolving societal organism is certain to have profound repercussions in the social sciences, especially in An- thropology, Sociology and Psychology. As it is the pur- pose of this book to present basic ideas, discussion of their full implications is beyond the writer's present scope. 112 CHAPTER VIII Epilogue There are certain further conclusions that may be drawn from the material which has been presented. In contrast to the matters discussed up to this point, which the writer hopes have been well established, the ideas that will now be presented are entirely specula- tive in their nature and should be considered apart from the rest of the book. One may, as a matter of fact, thoroughly disagree with these final ideas and yet be able to accept the presentation up to this point as fundamentally sound. The conclusions that have been arrived at so far, concerned the pattern of past evolution as well as some of the consequences this pattern is likely to produce in the near future. The speculations that will now be con- sidered are arrived at by extending the known portion of the graph of evolution over an exceedingly long pe- riod of time. Clearly such an extrapolation is of a low order of validity, especially as not all of the factors lis EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY determining the known portion of the curve are fully understood. It is also in danger of being too subjective as the interpolator himself is part of the data which he utilizes for the extension. Yet, extension of the graph might help us to provide some sort of answers to questions which men have been asking through the ages. Just what is the meaning of life? Does it have a purpose? Where is the development of life leading? Is life not perhaps just a sort of accident without any real cosmic significance? What is the true nature of the universe; that of time, space, mass and energy? Is the universe itself purposeful? And finally, are scientific answers to questions such as the ones stated possible within the limitations of human comprehension? Which human being in whom at least a glimmering of imaginative curiosity is still alive, can resist the attempt to extend the graph? Let us then see, if by doing so, any contribution can be made towards pro- viding answers to the fundamental questions raised. On the basis of the pattern of the evolutionary devel- opment of matter into living forms, it would seem unreasonable to assume that the integration of multi- cellular organisms to form a societal organism will be the final step in the development of living matter. If such a termination were to take place it would mark the end of progressive evolution and constitute a discontinuity of what seems to have the quality of a 114 EPILOGUE basic process of nature. Therefore we shall assume that the established pattern of development will continue. The immediate consequence of such a continuation of the established pattern points towards a long period of "complexification" of such a societal organism (or organisms) as may form on the earth. During this pe- riod of increasing complexity the control of living matter over the surroundings should advance to a suffi- cient extent as to make it possible for societal organisms to establish themselves in other localities of our solar system and perhaps beyond that. After such a period of increasing complexity, one would ultimately expect another integration step to take place, leading to the formation of some sort of "super-societal organism" which would again continue to increase in complexity. All this does indeed sound fantastic, like some wild ideas out of a "science fiction" story. The writer is therefore reluctant to present these ideas. Still, are they not the result which appears to be a reasonable conse- quence of a continuation of the established pattern of evolution? After all, the very existence of conscious life in the universe is a fantastic phenomenon. We should not permit our imagination to become frightened just because our reasoning leads to results which seem extraordinary. ^ About the nature of such a "super-societal organism" we can hardly even begin to speculate. We certainly lack all specific data for so doing. Furthermore our 115 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY present level of comprehension does not suffice for a real understanding of such an organism. Therefore no attempt will be made to draw any physical picture. We shall limit ourselves to the attempt to predict some of the attributes of the organism. On this basis it appears reasonable to assume that the ratio of effective- ness and consciousness of such an organism as compared to present-day man, will be of about the same order of magnitude as the ratio of these qualities in modern man compared to those in a cell colony. The vistas which such a development opens, are staggering in their implications. Certainly, if the increase of capa- bility and consciousness will be anywhere near as great as our suppositions lead us to believe, then answers to present-day man's unanswerable questions will become quite possible. Full understanding will probably turn out to be of a nature utterly inaccessible to the human mind at this time. Perhaps the very questions will be found to have been improperly put. So when it is con- cluded that full answers to the fundamental problems cited seem beyond human comprehension, then this conclusion applies to the presently existing human mind, but not to the consciousness of some organism that will live some billions of years after us — yet whose ancestors we may chance to be, just as some primitive cells about one billion years ago were our ancestors. There is, after all, no reason for believing that the level of insight into nature that human beings have presently 116 EPILOGUE attained marks a limit, at least from an order of magni- tude point of view. Scientific advances of the past cen- tury have increased our understanding of the world we live in enormously, yet have raised entirely new ques- tions. This process should accelerate, as integration of the human societal organism proceeds at a quicker pace. Full comprehension of nature, however, must be relegated to a higher level of integration, in the very distant future. The control over other matter that such a super- societal organism representing a higher level of integra- tion will be able to exercise is beyond ordinary conception. It should again be greater by about the same ratio by which the control that man is able to exercise now, exceeds that possible for a primitive cell colony. An increase of control by such an order of magnitude brings us quite conceivably to a stage where the living material of the organism will control the non-living portion of matter in such a fashion as is necessitated by its problem of preserving its own extremely complex organization. Eventually then, if we are extrapolating correctly, living matter succeeding in controlling cosmic proc- esses will ever more completely control the nature of the universe as well as comprise in its own entity an increasing portion of the material in the universe. This, drawn to its inescapable conclusion, means that the entity of living matter will become ever more iden- 117 EVOLUTION AND HUMAN DESTINY tical with the entity of the universe. If this is true, then it means that the evolution of living matter is moving in the direction of a conscious universe. This conclusion may seem utterly fantastic if considered in the light of present human limitations in contrast to the immensity of the cosmos. Still is it not equally fan- tastic, yet true, that the matter that constitutes man has, if considered as an entity, even now achieved some knowledge of its own structure, as well as of the nature of other matter. So perhaps the glimmering of con- sciousness which man, a tiny portion of the total matter of the universe, has already achieved, is just the dawn of the great developments in evolution that are yet to come. 118 Selected Bibliography Beaver, William C: General Biology. C. V. Mosby Co., 1946. Blum, Harold F.: Time's Arrow and Evolution, Princeton Uni- versity Press, 1951. Dunn, L. C. and Dobzansky, Th.: Heredity, Race and Society. New American Library, 1946. Hoyle, Fred: The Nature of the Universe. Harper & Bros., 1950. Huxley, Julian: Man in the Modern World. New American Library, 1948. Evolution: The Modern Synthesis. Harper, 1943. Jones, H. Spencer: Life on Other Worlds. Macmillan Co., 1940. Langer, Susanne K.: Philosophy in a New Key. Harvard Uni- versity Press, 1942. Richter, George Holmes: Textbook of Organic Chemistry. John Wiley & Sons, 1938. Russel, Bertrand: The Impact of Science on Society. Columbia University Press, 1951. Human Knowledge, Its Scope and Limits. Simon & Schuster, 1948. A History of Western Philosophy. Simon & Schuster, 1945. Schroedinger, Erwin: What Is Lifet Macmillan, 1945. Simpson, G. G.: The Meaning of Evolution. Columbia Univer- sity Press, 1944. Sullivan, J. W. N.: Limitations of Science. Viking Press, 1933. 119 Index amino acid, 21, 22, 25 a priori probability, 14, 16 art, 91, 92 awareness, 61, 95 analogy, limitations of, 102, 103 beaver, 69 binary fission, 53 blood corpuscles, 72 boundaries of societal organisms, 94 brain, human, 95, 100 cancer, 39 cell, 24, 25, 44, 61 central nervous system, 95, 99 colloids, 19, 20, 26 colony, 56, 57 consciousness, 95, 96, 98, 100, 118 cybernetics, 17 cell colony, 41, 43, 117 conjugation, 28, 29, 35 crystals, 18, 19, 26 chromosomes, 46 death, 29, 33, 37, 38, 45 endomixis, 37 energy, 23 entropy, 16, 17, 53, 54, 93, 106 evolution of chemical complexity, 13 extropy. 16, 17, 49, 54, 64, 88, 93, 106 galaxies, 13 genes, 44, 46 genetic code, 60 genetic mutation, 34 genetic theory, 51, 52, 70 herd, 56 hermaphrodite method of reproduc- tion, 42 insects, 58, 59, 64, 65, 89 instinct, 59, 60, 70 intclUgencc, 59, 114 Kosok, Paul, 17 language, 73, 74, 75, 76 life span, 39, 40 lobster, 94 mammals, 69 metazoa, 38, 41, 43, 47 mutation, 31, 33, 34, 35, 46, 47, 88 mitosis, 33, 45 107 Paramecium, 36 polymerization, 21, 26, 55 probability of survival, 21 protein, 21 plant life, 23 protozoa, 27, 37, 38, 48 pre-organic evolution, 12 randomness, 17 reduction-division, 46 resonance, 26 110 reproduction, 27, 29, 45, 46, 66, 109 rickettsiae, 24 Schroedinger, Erwin, 17 science, 83 second law of thermodynamics, 15, 23, 30, 37, 106 sexual reproduction, 42, 44 societal knowledge, 78, 81, 82 societal memory, 81, 82 societal integration, 64 societal organism, 57, 58, 66, 71, 88 sociability, 56 socio-political conclusions. 111 somatic mutation, 32, 33 super-societal organism, 115 survival, 21, 54, 59, 69, 107 technology, 83 tobacco mosaic, 24 vaccinia, 24 valence, 26 virus, 21, 24. 55 vol vox, 41 120 fJM aa ■ ■ ■ h *»**»* fc^m^**' ■«