Multi-tiered Coordinated Planning
1. A Challenging Project
One of the most complicated projects ever undertaken by humanity is the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). ITER is a large-scale scientific experiment aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of nuclear fusion as a large-scale and carbon-free source of energy. Currently, no less than 35 countries are involved in this project.
The ITER project is in fact a "miniature" example of multi-tiered coordinated planning. Here are some of the features of this project according to its designers:
- Advanced Technology: It requires cutting-edge technology to create and maintain the extreme conditions necessary for nuclear fusion, including temperatures of over 150 million degrees Celsius.
- International Collaboration: Coordinating skills and material contributions from multiple countries, each bringing different technologies, standards, and expertise.
- Engineering Challenges: The reactor’s components must be precisely manufactured and assembled to withstand the intense conditions inside the reactor.
Construction platform for the ITER project -- Image source: https://www.iter.org/
Note the requirements for this project: coordinated skills, expertise, precisely manufactured components that require final assembling. The effort made by all the people connected with this project is off particular note when we review the much larger project in the following section.
2. An Exceptionally Challenging Project
But now consider another very much larger and more complex project, and imagine that you are the principle Project Manager (often called the Program Manager) overseeing all of the sub-projects in concert.
Each of the projects below are required to be individually managed with skilful planning for the successful completion of the overall program. The projects will not necessarily be sequential, but some will need to be completed before the initiation of other projects. Nevertheless, all projects must be completed by intelligent, carefully coordinated advanced planning.
How would you organise and execute these projects, to present them to your employer as completed, successful tasks? And how will you coordinate these projects to complete the entire program successfully?
Note that the explanatory text below includes references to reputable scientific journals and the websites and presentations of internationally respected scientists that provide solid background support for each of the points presented.
MULTI-LEVEL PROJECTS REQUIRING COORDINATED PLANNING
Atoms
The Fundamental Unit of Matter
Project Tier 1
The smallest components of the atom will require a set of properties that will enable it to function as a building block for other, larger components.
These properties or "laws" must include functionality that enables the completion of subsequent projects. For example, atoms need to make their built-in energy available for chemical reactions, bonding, and energy release (especially for photon interaction), and to enable the ultra-precise regulation of these reactions.
Atoms must also be super-efficient and ultra-conservative in their use of spatial dimensions, whilst enabling the addition of mechanisms that will give mass to objects in later projects.
— o o o —
But isolated atoms are of no real value, until they are deployed in later projects.
Molecules
The Building Block of Compounds
Project Tier 2
This project will use the attributes and properties of components created in the first project, Tier 1, namely atoms, to produce a more complex building block capable of interacting successfully with a variety of other molecules.
These must also include properties and functionality that will enable the successful completion of each of the subsequent projects.
— o o o —
But isolated molecules are of no real value, until they are deployed in later projects.
Cells
The Basic Unit of Life
Project Tier 3
Cells will be composed of multiple molecules developed in the Tier 2 project, including large constructions that are built from a number of smaller molecules.
Each cell will potentially contain billions of independent complex organic machines for the performance of a variety of duties that benefit the cell as a whole.
Cells will also perform production tasks that benefit other cells in the body.
As cells die, they will be replaced. This will require around 50 million replacement cells per second, in the human body.
They will also contain a list of instructions for the development and construction of spare parts that will be requested by the cell's multiple machines as and when required.
The completed cells will have built-in functions including: self-defence, self-repair, self-monitoring, self-regulation, cell-autonomy, and self-reproduction.
They will be produced in a variety of formats for different forms of life planned for later projects.
Cells of like-design and purpose must group together in preparation for Tier 4.
— o o o —
But isolated cells are of no real value, until they are deployed in later projects (with due apologies to single-celled organisms!)
Organs
The Body's Functional Units
Project Tier 4
At this level, large critical components will be constructed based on the properties of the cells from Tier 3. These body organs will provide a purpose for the completed items in Tier 8.
Many billions of cells will be grouped in an ordered way to complete each organ. For example, the average human liver will require as many as 300 billion organised cells; and the organ's functionality when complete will be diverse (including over 500 distinct functions)!
The size and location of each organ will be established by a careful balance of it's functionality and the availability of space within the body cavity.
The DNA blueprint must be built into the cells of all body organs, enabling self-regulation, self-management, and self-repair for each organ.
In addition, every organ is required to successfully coordinate with the activities of other organs.
They will grow and function according to instructions provided in the DNA molecule.
These will also be produced in a variety of organised formats for different purposes. They must include attributes that enhance the quality of life — not merely satisfying the criteria for survival.
— o o o —
But isolated organs are of no real value, until they are deployed in the final project (with due apologies to organ donors).
Stars
Nurseries for Elements & Energy
Project Tier 5
The successful completion of the first two projects (atoms and molecules) — along with the functionalities of gravity, dark matter, and dark energy (see Tier 7) — allows for the development of stars, for the provision of light and energy, and for heavier elements that will be essential for the project in Tier 8.
Stars must have sufficient longevity to remain functional and useful for an extended period. They need to be self-sustaining, providing everlasting energy through an ongoing cycle of star births, deaths, and material recycling. This cyclical process will be further supported by the immense energy emitted by black holes, especially those at the centres of galaxies.
Stars must also possess many other attributes — for example the fine balance between the outward force of nuclear fusion and the inward force of gravity — to sustain their versatility and usefulness.
— o o o —
However, stars are of no real value unless life exists to make use of their energy and the elements produced in any subsequent supernova.
Planets
Nurseries for Life
Project Tier 6
Employing attributes and properties from the items produced in Tiers 1, 2 and 5, planets will be developed. Some of these will provide a safe, secure, and pleasant environment for the subsequent production of life in Tier 8.
These planets will depend, for their "pleasant environment," on the successful completion of previous project Tiers. And their continued usefulness will depend on the balanced properties of galaxies produced in Tier 7.
— o o o —
However, life-supporting planets are of no real value unless life exists to make use of them.
Galaxies
Nurseries for Stars
Project Tier 7
Galaxies must become islands for many billions of stars.
At their centre they will have supermassive black holes that will serve to balance stellar development and galaxy rotation. These black holes will prevent runaway star formation, and their enormous energy will also influence the large-scale structure of the universe.
Galaxies will serve as nurseries for the perpetual automatic production of additional stars, as well as the assimilation of the left-over material of stars that have died.
Stars produced in Tier 5, will have additional properties when grouped together by gravity. Therefore, by means of gravity, together with dark matter and dark energy (or the new "current" prevailing theoretical equivalents), the vast cosmic web will provide a nursery for the perpetual self-management of galaxies and of the universe as a whole.
— o o o —
However, none of the items produced in the first 7 projects will be of any real value, unless life exists to make use of them . . .
Life
The Crowning Glory of Creation
Project Tier 8
At this level, the purpose of the previous projects becomes apparent.
Projects 1 to 7 must be complete and signed off before the inception of this project.
For example, only by using the complete set of body organs (as per the blueprint) produced in Tiers 3 and 4 can life function adequately, providing sufficient comfort and quality. Only by providing energy, light, and certain required heavy elements in Tier 5, can life be possible and continue to be sustained. And only by completing Tiers 6 & 7 can life have an adequate and pleasant environment.
When all required components from Tier 4 (namely a full set of body organs) have been detailed in the blueprint of DNA, and the first examples of each form of life are created, this will qualify as the finished product and the completion, not only of this Tier, but of the entire program.
The DNA blueprints will be built into these initial forms of life, enabling continuous self-perpetuation for each kind, and considerable variety within species.
Life forms must be exceptionally efficient, providing for a high quality of life and not merely require continued effort to exist — mere survival is not the objective of this program!
The success of this project will contribute to the immense variety of plant, animal, and insect life, in addition to human life.
OCCAM'S RAZOR
Jumping to Conclusions
Occam's Razor states, roughly speaking, that "the simplest explanation is usually the correct one."
Take the ITER project, discussed at the beginning of this article. Suppose you came across a man who devoted all of his spare time trying to prove that the entire project was completed without the use of any "intentional order and arrangement." He proposed elaborate alternative solutions to explain the spontaneous arrival of every building, every piece of machinery, indeed every single item in the project.
Absurd perhaps?
In some ways, this is reminiscent of the efforts of physicists who seek the 'Theory of Everything,' which aims to unify all fundamental forces and particles of nature into a theory that employs a single, coherent framework.
However, the more that scientists search for this 'Theory of Everything,' the more independent yet contributory, often critical "laws" they find in the universe.
Here are just a few examples of these:
- Multiple body organs involved in the one task of the maintenance and management of blood, our body's vital fluid: Note that this is an example of "disparate management" — The heart, lungs, spleen, kidneys, lymph nodes, thymus gland, bone marrow, plus: 55% of blood (plasma) is produced by the digestive system. These all contribute various components, all essential for our blood and our lives.
- The "laws" that ensure spiral galaxies "keep their shape," thus enabling their constituent stars and planets to maintain stable orbits (essential for life-bearing planets).
- Stars orbiting the outer portion of spiral galaxies orbit at similar speeds than do stars nearer to the galactic centre (something cosmologists struggle to explain); again providing stability of forces within the galaxy, benefiting stars and life-bearing planets.
- The laws that prevent most stars from growing too big (these disparate laws include radiation pressure, stellar winds, and magnetic fields), which could again have a disastrous destabilising effect on other stars and their planets.
- The multiple laws that balance outward radiation pressure with the specific inward pressure from gravity, enabling the lifetime of stars to be extended for a considerable time, essential for life to begin and to persist.
- The properties of water that ensure it freezes from the top down — when most other substances freeze from the bottom up — thus preserving sea life. (See the section The Remarkable Properties of Water.)
"Our intellect is constrained and fails to fathom
the mysterious energy that propels the stars."
— Albert Einstein
Where does the principle of Occam's Razor fit into this?
- The most complex and implausible theory is that all the distinct laws and attributes of every type of particle, element, molecule, and every other item and force in nature (including the small sample of six "laws" listed above), are somehow connected by a single formula or framework!
- The simplest explanation is that the universe, the earth and life upon it, were intentionally planned and purposely designed.
Why is this latter option so difficult for some to believe and even harder, it seems, to adopt?
For example, the search for extra terrestrial life is given more impetus today than ever before. Every planet that is found where the remotest hint of possible life may be discovered, becomes a cause of excitement for many people.
The readiness to believe in the existence of aliens is very evident and even widespread. The possibility is there, therefore the search is given greater importance!
"Superior" Aliens?
Do those who have an interest in this search set their minds on a predetermined limit of the expected intelligence and abilities of aliens that may be discovered?
Actually many scientists are happy to accept, and even promote, the possibility that aliens could be vastly superior to humans. Some even explain that the absence of any alien communication so far, is by itself evidence that they must be many times more advanced than humans!
Therefore, could there exist an alien, an extra-terrestrial life form, an intelligent being, many times superior to humans, that planned, proposed, executed, and managed the above "exceptionally challenging project"?
Many feel that the chances of
finding alien life are very high.
If this very old inscription was discovered in some remote location, would you choose the simplest explanation for its existence, that it was purposely made? Or would you conclude that thousands of years of wind and erosion were responsible? (Note how this basic yet unassailable logic ties in with the Arecibo message discussion.)
"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe."
— Professor Carl Sagan
(1934-1996)
Intrinsic "Laws"
Imagine the enormous size of a list, a catalogue that encompasses every natural item, from the tiniest ultramicroscopic particles to the sprawling galactic cosmic web! Each object in this immense catalogue adheres to intrinsic, immutable “laws” or properties — parameters known as the “laws of physics" — which are independent, inviolable, yet harmonize together perfectly, creating an exquisite symphonic masterpiece.
Scientists struggle to fully understand many of these laws (see the comment from Albert Einstein above), but more significantly they are unable to explain their origin — i.e. although there are theories that attempt to shed light on the origin of “matter,” no serious attempt is made to explain empirically the origin of these critical, physical, fundamental “laws.”
"These laws are ... everywhere we have thought to look"
Regarding the "laws of nature," the famous physicist Erwin Schrödinger, wrote:
"Incredibly small groups of atoms, much too small
to display exact statistical laws, do play a dominating
role in the very orderly and lawful events within a
living organism."
In other words, the attributes and "laws" that tiny quantum particles are subject to in the ultramicroscopic world, play a "dominating role" in the "laws" of the larger components belonging to life (see the discussion on "Cascade Effect" in the Section A Universe Fine-tuned for Life).
With regard to the universality of these laws, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson had this to say:
"These laws are in evidence on Earth, and everywhere we have thought to look in the universe—from the domain of particle physics to the large scale structure of the universe."
"Understanding the whole"
The highly regarded Biophysicist Denis Noble (who held the Burdon Sanderson Chair of Cardiovascular Physiology at the University of Oxford from 1984 to 2004 and is now an Emeritus Professor and co-Director of Computational Physiology) refers to a "collective intelligence" in a discussion of what he calls an "evolution driven by purpose" in this YouTube presentation:
"The purpose of the individual molecules and genes comes from understanding the whole — without that, you can't know why those components are there."
Stuart Kauffman and Andrea Roli refer to this as "a Kantian Whole: an organized self-constructing being, having the property that the parts exist for and by means of the whole."
"There are no arbitrary constants . . . nature is so constituted that it is possible logically to lay down such strongly determined laws that within these laws only rationally determined constants occur (not constants, therefore, whose numerical value could be changed without destroying the theory)."
Therefore, according to the greatest physicist of our times, the "constants" of nature (discussed at some length in the section "A Universe Fine-tuned for Life") were "rationally determined." He also said: "I cannot imagine a theory containing an arbitrary number which the whim of the Creator could have chosen differently." And in a personal letter he once wrote: "The universe operates under definite laws, although we cannot detail precisely how they function."
Do you agree that sounds like intentional order, planning and arrangement?
Or is evolution somehow capable of rational thinking?
- Evolution does not possess "life." So how could it pass on life to us?
- Evolution does not have a self identity? Therefore, how could it provide humans with a self-identity?
- Evolution is not "conscious." So how could it impart consciousness to humans and animals?
Like a beautiful and well-crafted jigsaw, all the items in the aforementioned "list" fit together perfectly to accomplish the overall "project" of an expanding, ever-changing universe, well-suited for life.
Therefore, if evolution itself was in the dock, under cross examination, without a doubt the barrister would persist with the question, "Where did these laws come from"?
What is your conclusion?
Infinity and Stupidity
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity;
and I'm not sure about the universe.”
— Albert Einstein
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