Influence of Physical Laws
Now for those of you who are mathematically dyslexic, I will tell you
that these are the only equations I intend to show. They're all in here to
illustrate two points. These are physical laws basically drawn at random
that can be used to quantify the performance of the biological functions
that I've talked about. The important thing is that if you look at the
mathematics of each of these equations, you see two different kinds of
parameters. There are some that are constant, regardless of where you are
on the planet and regardless of where you are in the flow of historical
time. Others are under the control of plant growth and development.
So for example, the density of air or water, which is shown here amongst
other physical features, has not varied dramatically over the last billion
years of evolution and remains the same for any part of the planet that you
happen to visit. So essentially, these parameters which influence the
biology of plants are essentially out of the control of biological
entities. They are things that are given. They're historical gifts or in
some cases, curses. It depends on the function and the environment we are
considering.
But, if you look at the same equations, you will see that there are
parameters that are decidedly within the ability of living things to
control. So for example, if you look at the law of buoyancy, you see that
you have the gravitational constant which plants or animals cannot
manipulate. But, you also see volume, which refers to the amount of
biomass either in the plant or the animal. That volume can be altered by
an organism either through its ontogeny as it grows and develops or through
evolutionary modification. So as a consequence, organisms actually can
control the end result of these mathematical formulae and they can
therefore cope with their environments in very sophisticated ways.
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Narrative Index
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