Biology Week Six (June 11): The Complexity and Nature of Life
Living and non-living systems:
According to our readings for this week, the key criteria of a living system is as follows:
1. pattern of organization: the configuration of relationships that determines the system's essential characteristics
2. structure: the physical embodiment of the system's pattern of organization
3. life process: the activity involved in the continual embodiment of the system's pattern of organization
These are all interconnected and explain the basic foundations of a living thing with autopoiesis being the overarching term for the pattern of living systems, but what I most relate to is the necessary component of cognition which goes almost hand in hand with autopoeisis. Something living must have some sort of cognitive component. We humans are made up of many little cells and each of those cells are part of a network that each have a specific role to play in this constantly fluctuating system that creates us. We are building and breaking down cells every day. Just like last reading with how we distinguished Earth as a living system in comparison to Mars. Mars was stagnant and all of the gases on its planet were in equilibrium. Earth was in constant flux and that showed we're all part of a big network in living beings trying to live in harmony.
"Grandmothers may hold the key to human evolution" This article greatly resonates with my own grandmother. She was the true "breadwinner" as my grandfather had left very early when my father was growing up. She held three jobs raising 5 children by herself. I come from a long ancestry of very strong women that were often the main supporters of the family!
According to our readings for this week, the key criteria of a living system is as follows:
1. pattern of organization: the configuration of relationships that determines the system's essential characteristics
2. structure: the physical embodiment of the system's pattern of organization
3. life process: the activity involved in the continual embodiment of the system's pattern of organization
These are all interconnected and explain the basic foundations of a living thing with autopoiesis being the overarching term for the pattern of living systems, but what I most relate to is the necessary component of cognition which goes almost hand in hand with autopoeisis. Something living must have some sort of cognitive component. We humans are made up of many little cells and each of those cells are part of a network that each have a specific role to play in this constantly fluctuating system that creates us. We are building and breaking down cells every day. Just like last reading with how we distinguished Earth as a living system in comparison to Mars. Mars was stagnant and all of the gases on its planet were in equilibrium. Earth was in constant flux and that showed we're all part of a big network in living beings trying to live in harmony.
"Grandmothers may hold the key to human evolution" This article greatly resonates with my own grandmother. She was the true "breadwinner" as my grandfather had left very early when my father was growing up. She held three jobs raising 5 children by herself. I come from a long ancestry of very strong women that were often the main supporters of the family!
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