#5: You're a Pattern
As mentioned, this is a meta-post. To set expectations, that means this one is going to be weird. We’re going to look at ourselves and existence through the lens of patterns, whatever the ef that means.
My hope with this post is to spur a different way of looking at meaning, through a more physical lens.
I’m going to start with a metaphor. This metaphor is going to compare us to proteins.
It’s All a Pattern, From Humans to Rocks
For a brief 101 explanation of proteins: proteins are tiny little structures in our bodies, and all life for that matter, that are the building blocks of our cells.
I like to think of proteins like little tiny lego blocks. The shape of a protein, much like a lego block, dictates how that protein can be used.
If you have a flat lego block with 6 holes, it’s going to be used differently than a cubic lego block with 4 holes.
Proteins work the same way, connecting to each other in order to build our cells.
Ok, proteins 101 complete.
Like proteins, humans are also biological structures. The question I’d like to pose is: “does the shape or “pattern” of our body dictate how we relate to our environment?”
I know it’s a weird question, so here’s an example to try to simplify it. Imagine yourself with two arms. Now imagine you suffer an unfortunate accident and lose one of your arms. Now imagine yourself with one arm. I think we’d all agree that the two armed version of you was capable of interacting with your environment in ways that the one armed version is not.
That’s not to say the one armed version of you isn’t amazing, you are still amazing. Just different.
That’s an example of an obviously physical change that impacts how you relate to your environment. You became a different shaped lego block.
Now let’s consider a less obvious example of a “body pattern change” impacting how you relate to your environment. Imagine yourself today, just as you are reading this. Now imagine yourself one year from today after having undergone intense psychotherapy 5 days a week for the previous 52 weeks with the world’s best therapist.
While the post-therapy you will probably look pretty similar to the pre-therapy you, a physical change has actually occurred. Your body, primarily your brain, exists in a different pattern than it did before the therapy.
This new pattern, while not visibly apparent, enables you to interact with the world in new ways. Much like when you went from having two arms to one arm, the post-therapy pattern of your body changes your relationship with your surroundings. You have become a different lego block capable of connecting with the world in different ways.
Beyond our bodies and other biological objects, patterns also dictate how non-biological objects relate to their environments.
For example, the pattern of our moon dictates how it relates to the environment, which includes the Earth. If we were to take a big chunk out of the moon, it would exist in a new pattern that would relate to the Earth in different ways.
The Pattern is Always Changing
If we were to take out our “existential camera” and capture this moment of existence in its entirety, there would be a unique pattern to that moment. The picture would show all the objects that make up existence, large and small. Those objects would exist in an “existential pattern” representing that moment. And then the photo would of course have “existential resolution” showing the precise pattern of every object in the photo.
Interestingly, the pattern of every object in the photo is what dictates the overall pattern of existence. To return to the moon example, if the moon had a big chunk taken out of it, the distance between the Earth and the moon would be different than if the moon remained intact, changing the existential snapshot.
If we were to let a moment of time go by and we captured another image, the pattern would be entirely different. Every single object in existence will have both moved a small amount, changing the overall existential pattern. The new image would also show that every single object changed its own pattern by losing, adding, or changing parts of itself.
What is the Pattern Changing Into?
Without “intelligent” actors like us humans capable of free will, our current existential observations point to the pattern of existence trending towards separation. We observe our universe expanding, with the distance between most objects growing. If that continues indefinitely, then the distance between each object will be possibly infinite, which won’t be a very exciting pattern. Some would call that pattern a “heat death” or “big freeze,” meaning shit would be boring with no more exciting movement. A final existential pattern. The death of our universe.
Life, especially human life, is a fascinating character in this existential story because it seems as though we are capable of intentionally changing the overall pattern. The fate vs free will debate has been on-going for millenia because we humans are subject to both. Like all objects, my body is subject to the effects of gravity and friction. However, I spend much of my time choosing to move my body. For example, as I type these words, my body is proactively changing the pattern of existence.
With this free will thing, intelligent beings can change the predetermined story. Perhaps we’ll choose to tie all the galaxies together with big ropes to keep them from separating too far. Or perhaps we’ll loop our universe in on itself so that the expansion isn’t infinite. Or perhaps we’ll bridge our universe into another universe that is too densely populated and let them rent out some space. Or perhaps we’ll use the empty space in our universe to build synthetic planets, stars, and galaxies, filling the void. Or perhaps we’ll tweak the source code on this universe’s simulation to something we prefer.
Regardless of the exact approach, it’s curious that the interest of intelligent agents like ourselves seems to be in conflict with the predetermined trend towards separation. It’s as though the universe sprouted life as a means of countering its own death. We don’t want a universal heat death because it would mean our death as well. We need heat, stars, and energy to survive!
Tying This Pattern Metaphor to Society
We’ve explored how the pattern of our body dictates its function. How the pattern of non-biological objects like the moon dictates its function. How the pattern of existence is constantly changing based on the patterns of the objects within it.
Now let’s imagine we have a “human society camera” that is capable of capturing the whole of human society. In the image, we can see all the humans and all the things that humans are capable of controlling at any given time. This pattern represents our society. Currently, the pattern would show 8 billion of us scattered about the earth with 7 people living in the international space station. It would show all of the built world, including the cities, technologies, and other human-made objects. We’d see the Earth’s land that we have control over and the ocean that we have influenced. We’d also see the incentive systems- economies, governments, religions, etc.- that invisibly tie us together. This society picture would show a pattern.
To end with a question: which pattern of our society would be the most existentially relevant?
Next Up
As I’ve been chatting with people about this newsletter and my general interest in a more existentially relevant society, I’ve gotten better at verbalizing what this whole line of thinking is about.
In the next post, I’m going to summarize what this substack is seeking to explore, hopefully clarifying what the goal here is.
ttyl