four fundamental forces
plus matter
the universe is a medium
everything we experience is emergent from those rules playing out
everything we recognise
each concept
is a pattern
a planet
the recurring pattern of stellar dust converging
a star, its brother
that same pattern on a huge scale
super-heating from its own sheer magnitude
a solar system
the pattern of planets forming around stars
a galaxy
the pattern of solar systems clustering
those galaxies cluster
those clusters form filaments
then no more patterns
the end of greatness
some patterns are more interesting
patterns that self-replicate
the river
using water to carve itself into the rock
the crystal snowflake
forcing water to join its organised structure
the rock is a medium for rivers
the precipitous air a medium for ice crystals
all it takes is for a seed
a chance arrangement of elements
and then the pattern grows
in some primordial soup
a chance arrangement of so-called "organic" matter occurred
a pattern was formed
a self-replicating pattern
that pattern replicated
and in doing so changed the nature of its medium
a medium of more complex parts
a chance yet more complex arrangement
a new self-replicating pattern
changing the medium again
run it forward a gazillion years
forget some patterns
overwritten by others
starved of their medium
life
the patterns that survive today
highly complex
highly interdependent
yet still just patterns
replicating in the medium that we call earth
we are the patterns that happen to have emerged
but we're on the top, no?
something special
something intelligent
conscious
the brain is a medium
neurons and all the rest
interconnected
a medium for the propagation of signals
chain reactions and interactions
those interactions are what we call consciousness
intelligence
special
our thoughts and feelings are patterns of interaction
travelling through a medium
the brain
just like patterns of displacement in the air
that we call sound
an idea is a pattern
we are the medium
ideas replicate and through us change humanity
their medium
natural selection of genes drove evolution of life's pattern
now selection of ideas (memes) drives evolution of humanity
society is a pattern in the medium of ideas
each society seeking to sustain and replicate itself on this tiny planet
we are patterns in time and space
neither fundamental, nor ultimate
another step on the ladder of increasingly complex patterns
we are not the end of greatness
if an interacting system of signals propagating through the brain can give rise to consciousness
then can an interacting system of ideas propagating through humanity feel pain?