Our universe contains a huge variety of “things”, such as protons, atoms, molecules, living cells and human beings. It’s clear that there is some sort of hierarchy in this variety – for example, human beings are made of cells, which are made of molecules, which themselves are made of atoms. There are things that contain smaller things, and are themselves part of bigger things.
In this respect the universe resembles a set of Russian dolls. We can unpack the separate dolls, and lay them out, but we have no overall pattern or scheme.
The classical reductionist approach is retrospective, and takes things apart to find out what they are made of. From this point of view, an atom appears as a unitary thing that can be disassembled into a nucleus and a number of electrons.
However, if one looks forwards rather than backwards, and views the universe as it evolves, then it’s clear that “things” are actually communities. So, now a number of electrons come together around a nucleus to form a community that we call an atom. Similarly, a community of atoms come together to form a molecule, a community of molecules gather to form a living cell, and a community of neurons form a brain. The universe now becomes a vast, complex community – in fact, a hierarchy of communities.
A simple pattern emerges, in which a hierarchy of eight levels of communities encompass our known universe, from quarks to human consciousness. Each level in this universal hierarchy is a community of individual entities that are bound together by an endless sequence of exchanges.
The communities at each level are all analogous, but differ in the identities of the agents, and the exchange process. So, for example, an atom is a community of electrons bound by the process of exchanging photons with the nucleus, and a complex living organism is a community of specialist cells bound by the process of exchanging messenger molecules between themselves. The universe is not a static edifice, like the stones piled one on top of another in an arch, but is closer to the array of balls sustained by the incessant motions of a juggler’s hands.
These, then, are the key ideas in “The Communal Universe”: a universe that is made up of communities, forming a hierarchy with a simple pattern, and with all communities bound together by processes of incessant exchange.
“The Communal Universe” is based on well-established science, but presents a new synthesis, in terms of a hierarchy of communities, and a new emphasis on the incessant exchanges that sustain every community.
Early in 2016 I completed a highly condensed account of the whole scheme. I tried to get this published as a paper in a peer-reviewed journal, but at around 11,000 words it is too long and too cross-disciplinary, and it has been rejected as “outside the scope” of the journals I have approached. I’m making this paper freely available here. This is written in the style of a professional scientific paper, but is accessible to a general reader. One of my tasks is to learn how not to write like a professional scientist.
I’m also providing the Preface and Introduction here, because they give an overview of the book.
Any constructive feedback is welcome, and I can be reached via the email address below.
Andrew McNeil
andrewmcneil48<at>gmail<dot>com
October 2021
The scientific paper: The Communal Universe
Preface: Ch-00-preface-211020-PROOF
Chapter 0: Introduction to the Universal Hierarchy Ch-0-Introduction-211012-PROOF