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Credit: DH Illustration
By “life forms,” we refer to everything from mammoth dinosaurs to single-celled organisms, including bacteria, and even ourselves. Is there a comparison to be made between their behaviour and the broader physical laws, such as space-time, relativity, quantum laws, and electromagnetism, which govern the universe? We are not discussing everyday occurrences like falling objects in gravity or the sensation of heat, which are experienced and measured the same way whether we are dealing with a living organism or an inanimate object.
Take, for example, gravitation, which states that bodies attract each other, with greater attraction when they are heavier and closer. Do humans and other species behave similarly? Compare this to behaviour patterns where there is a higher attraction in proximity and waning interest as distance increases. Children moving away to distant places and losing parental concern is a case in point. Does mass play a role here? Yes, children from wealthy families often tend to stay close to home.
Similarly, like poles repel. We can’t have two leaders or two celebrities in the same vicinity without conflict, akin to electromagnetic repulsion, or the phenomenon where the larger entity absorbs the smaller one, similar to gravitational interactions involving black holes.
Consider the law of entropy, which states that everything tends toward a state of rest, with higher levels of energy eventually diminishing to do useful work. Do we conform to this? After all our activities, we tend to rest, right? This accumulation happens to everyone, from saints and sages to notorious figures such as Hitler. As Thomas Gray said, “The paths of glory lead but to the grave.” The mammoth dinosaurs and the treacherous bacteria all come to rest, having no more available energy, much like the law of entropy dictates.
Bizarrely, there is also the law of uncertainty, which tells us we can’t measure both the speed and location of fast-moving subatomic particles precisely. Is there anything in our behaviour patterns that we cannot measure accurately, such as two aspects of emotion or characteristics simultaneously? The transition from anger to violence happens in very transient and uncertain moments.
We can continue to find parallels. In short, we, the living organisms that emerged from a primordial chemical soup, and all inanimate matter, are governed by the grand design of physical laws. We are no more special than other combinations of the 120-odd elements.