Biology - Molecular Theory of the Living Cell - page 104

phenomena studied in physics), and all else are secondary to it (or derivable from
it). But the information-energy complementarity postulate states that information is
different from energy, cannot be derived from energy, and plays a role in biology
that is as fundamental as energy, ultimately because what drives living processes is
not free energy nor information alone but a third entity called gnergy, of which
information (gn-) and energy ( ergy) are the complementary aspects (Ji 1991).

4.11 What Is Gnergy?

The concept of gnergy may be related to the concept of the substance discussed by
Socrates, Aristotle, and Spinoza. According to the theory of hylomorphism (from
Greek roots “hylo-” meaning “wood, matter,” and “-morph-” meaning “form”)
which originated with Socrates, substance is composed of matter and form or form
inheres in matter. Aristotle believed that matter and form are real and exist in
substance. This view is known as Aristotelian realism. Hylomorphism may be
diagrammatically represented as shown in Fig. 4.4 , where the triangle symbolizes
the inseparability of substance, matter, and form, and the H in the center of the
triangle symbolizes the philosophical perspective of hylomorphism.
The concept of gnergy as the complementary union of information and energy
(see Sect. 2.3.2 ) can be conveniently depicted using the same triangular scheme as
shown in Fig. 4.4 . One feature added to Fig. 4.5 is the designation of two levels of
philosophy - ontology , the study of being or what is, and epistemology , the study of
how we know about the being. Gnergy transcends the level of energy and informa-
tion since gnergy is what is or exists (i.e., ontic or ontological) regardless of whether
we, Homo sapiens are here to observe it or not, while energy and information are
about how we, Homo sapiens, know what is (i.e., epistemic or epistemological).
As can be seen, the nodes of Figs. 4.4 and 4.5 are very similar (i.e., Substance ~
Genergy, Matter ~ Energy, and Form ~ Information), and the two triangle can be
made identical (or symmetric) by equating hylomorphism with complementarism .
If this analysis is right, we may regard hylomorphism of Greek philosophers as the

Substance

Fig. 4.4 A diagrammatic
representation of the
philosophy of hylomorphism
(H) of Socrates and Aristotle

H

Matter Form

Fig. 4.5 A diagrammatic
representation of the concept
of gnergy in the context
of the philosophy of
complementarism (C)
(Ji 1993, 1995)

Gnergy Ontology

C

Epistemology

Energy Information