THE SYSTEMS VIEW OF LIFE

Christian B. Agura
The last decade of the 20th century has seen a marked concern for global problems
bearing on our very survival: a warming globe, threats to the earths ozone layer, deserts
creeping on agricultural lands, pollution of sea and air, lack of water in some areas.
Biology and medicine have held on to the mechanistic, reductionist approach whereby
the functioning of the organism is reduced to cellular and molecular mechanisms; this
mechanic view is justified somewhat because living organisms do act in part like
machines.
Reductionism and holism, analysis and synthesis, are complementary approaches that
used in proper balance, help us obtain a deeper knowledge of life.
Machines function according to linear cause and effect; when they break down, usually a
single cause can be identified. In contrast, the functioning of an organism is guided by
cyclical patterns of information flow known as feedback loops.
A systems view looks at the world in terms of relationships and integration.
Systems are integrated wholes whose properties cannot be reduced to those of similar
units.
Every living organism is an integrated whole, and thus it is a living system.
All these materials systems (cells, organs, social system, etc.) are wholes whose specific
structure arise from interactions and interdependence of their parts.
Living organisms are open systems which means that they have to maintain a continuous
exchange of energy and matter with their environment to stay alive. (Metabolism)
The stability of self-organizing systems is completely dynamic and must not be confused
with equilibrium. It consist of maintaining the same overall structure in spite of ongoing
changes and replacements of its components.
A system is in a state of continual fluctuation even when there is no disturbance.
(Homeostasis)

Examples of adaptation:
Stress Adaptation
Somatic adaptation
Evolution
The ability of the organism to adapt to environmental changes through genetic mutation
has been studied extensively along with reproduction and heredity.
The creative development of new structures and functions without any environmental
pressures, is a manifestation of the potential for self-transcendence that is inherent in all
living things.
Close coordination of activities exists not only among individual of the same species but
also among different species and again the resulting living systems have characteristics of
simple organisms.
Symbiotic relationships are mutually advantageous to the associated partners. They
involve plants, animals, and microorganisms in almost every imaginable combination.
In brief, we do not have solitary beings, every creature is, in some sense connected to and
independent on the rest.
Another principle of living system is their tendency to form multi-leveled structure.
At each of complexity, we encounter systems that are integrated, self-organizing wholes
consisting of smaller parts and at the same time acting like parts of larger wholes.
Most living systems exhibit multi-leveled patterns of organization characterize by many
intricate and nonlinear pathways along which there are signals of information and
transaction between all levels, ascending as well as descending.
Stratified systems renew themselves at all levels and maintain cycles of birth or death for
all organisms.
Detailed studies of the ways in which the biosphere seems to regulate the chemical
composition of the air, the temperature on the surface of the earth, and many other
aspects of the planetary environment have led scientists (James Lovelock & Lynn
Margulis) to suggest that these phenomena can be understood only if the planet as a
whole is regarded as a single living organism. (Gaia hypothesis)
Awareness of our earth as alive played an important role in mans cultural past and it was
revived when astronauts were first able to look at the planet from outer space.
What astronauts and many men and women on earth before them realized is that the earth
is not only teeming with life but seems to be a living being in its own right.
Similar patterns of self-regulations can be observed for other environmental properties
such as the chemical composition of the atmosphere, the salt content of the ocean and the
distribution of trace elements in plants and animals .
The earth then is a living organism- it functions like a living organism, it seems to be an
organism- GAIA.

CURRENT WORLD VIEWS
Christine Lee Bayna
Current experiences show we cannot divide the world into independently existing units or
building .As we penetrate deeply into matter we see not isolated building blocks but
rather nature shows us a complicated web of relationship between the various parts of a
unified whole.
In quantum theory the observed objects can only be understood in terms of processes of
observation and measurement.
Relativity theory has brought about a drastic change in our concepts of space and time.
It has shown as the space is not three dimensional and that time is not a separate entity.
Both are intrinsically connected and form a four dimensional continuum called space and
time.
In modern physics mass is no longer associated with material substance and hence
particles are not seen as consisting of any basic stuff but rather as bundles of energy.
Subatomic particles are dynamic patterns which have a space aspect and a time aspect,
their space aspect makes them appear as objects with a certain mass their time aspect as
processes involving the equivalent energy.
The notion of substances that make up matter is quite useful at the microscopic level but
it does not make sense at the atomic level. Atoms are made up of particles and the
particles are not made up of any kind of material substance
One concept physicists have learned in this century has been that all concepts and
theories we use to describe nature is limited. Whenever we expand the sphere of our
experiences we have to modify or even abandon some of these concepts. To transcend
classical models, scientists will have to go beyond the mechanistic and reductionist
approach, and they will have to develop holistic and ecological views.
The fundamental, cultural significance of such a development would be the recognition
that all rational approaches to reality are limited. Broad acceptance of this fact will be a
necessary first step toward a balanced culture. In such a culture, science will be only one
way whereby individuals pursue their understanding of the cosmos. F. Capra suggests
such understanding would be complemented by the intuitive ways of others such us
poets, psychics, and other equally valid approaches.