The Ghost in the Machine by Arthur Koestler

nowhere those ultimate
constituents which the old mechanistic* approach to life led us to
expect. The hierarchy is open-ended in the downward, as it is in
the upward direction. The atom, itself, although its name is derived
from the Greek for 'indivisible' has turned out to be a very complex,
Janus-faced holon. Facing outward, it associates with other atoms as
if it were a single unitary whole; and the regularity of the atomic
weights of elements, closely approximating to integral numbers, seemed
to confirm the belief in that indivisibility. But since we have learned
to look inside it, we can observe the rule-governed interactions between
nucleus and outer electron-shells, and of a variety of particles within
the nucleus. The rules can be expressed in sets of mathematical equations
which define each particular type of atom as a holon. But here again, the
rules which govern the interactions of the sub-nuclear particles in the
hierarchy are not the same rules which govern the chemical interactions
between atoms as wholes. The subject is too technical to be pursued here;
the interested reader will find a good summary in H. Simon's paper,
which I have quoted before. [1]
* Throughout this book, the term 'mechanistic' is used in its
     general sense, and not in the technical sense of an alternative
     to 'vitalistic' theories in biology.

When we turn from the universe in miniature to the universe at large,
we again find hierarchic order. Moons go round planets, planets
round stars, stars round the centres of their galaxies, galaxies form
clusters. Wherever we find orderly, stable systems in Nature, we find
that they are hierarchically structured, for the simple reason that
without such structuring of complex systems into subassemblies, there
could be no order and stability -- except the order of a dead universe
filled with a uniformly distributed gas. And even so, each discrete gas
molecule would be a microscopic hierarchy. If this sounds by now like
a tautology, all the better.*
* Often, however, we fail to recognise hierarchic structure,
     for example in a crystal, because it has a very shallow hierarchy
     consisting of only three levels (as far as our knowledge goes) --
     molecules -- atoms -- sub-atomic particles; and also because the
     molecular level has an enormous 'span' of near-identical holons.

It would, of course, be grossly anthropomorphic to speak of
'self-assertive' and 'integrative' tendencies in inanimate nature, or of
'flexible strategies'. It is nevertheless true that in all stable dynamic
systems, stability is maintained by the equilibration of opposite forces,
one of which may be centrifugal or separative or inertial, representing
the quasi-independent, holistic properties of the part, and the other
a centripetal or attractive or cohesive force which keeps the part
in its place in the larger whole, and holds it together. On different
levels of the inorganic and organic hierarchies, the polarisation of
'particularistic' and 'holistic' forces takes different forms, but it is
observable on every level. This is not the reflection of any metaphysical
dualism, but rather of Newton's Third Law of Motion ('to every action
there is an equal and opposite reaction') applied to hierarchic systems.

There is also a significant analogy in physics to the distinction between
fixed rules and flexible strategies. The geometrical structure of a crystal
is represented by fixed rules; but crystals growing in a saturated solution
will reach the same final shape by different pathways, i.e., although their
growth processes differ in detail; and even if artificially damaged in the
process, the growing crystal may correct the blemish. In this and many other
well-known phenomena we find the self-regulatory properties of biological
holons foreshadowed on an elementary level.

The Organism and its Spares

As we ascend to the hierarchies of living matter, we find, even on the
lowest level observable through the electron microscope,