Physics - Molecular Theory of the Living Cell - page 47

(Ji 2004b), and the cosmese may be identified with quantum mechanics in
agreement with Pagels (1982) (see the last row in Table 2.13 ). It is here suggested
that the cellese can be identified with the interpretant of Peirce who defined it as
the effects that a sign has on the mind of the interpreter (see the third triangle in
Table 2.13 ). According to this view, humanese can refer to objects in the world if
and only if mediated by cellese, the molecular language of brain cells .
What is common to all these different classes of languages is the waving process ,
either physical or nonphysical (as in the probability wave) and hence these languages
may obey the principle of nonlocality in addition to that of spectral area code ,
Eq. 2.55 , the two consequences of the wave-particle duality or complementarity
(Herbert 1987). The principle of nonlocality states that the influence of an event
occurring at one region in space can be instantly correlated with another event
occurring elsewhere, no matter how distant, without any exchange of signals between
the two correlated events, in apparent violation of the predictions made by the special
relativity theory. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was experimentally demonstrated that the
principle of nonlocality is obeyed by quantum objects (Herbert 1987; Mermin 1990). I
here postulate that all biological processes such as enzymic catalysis (Sect. 7.2 )and
morphogenesis (Sect. 15.1 )embody nonlocal phenomena that may be identified with
all the physicochemical processes of living systems which cannot be completely
accounted for in terms of the laws of classical physics and chemistry. Biological
evolution itself (Chap. 14 ) may embody nonlocality, both in space and time. Most
nonlocal phenomena discussed in physics (e.g., the Eistein-Podolsky-Rosen [EPR]
experiments) deals with nonlocality in the spatial dimension, but the nonlocality of
biological evolution may involve both the spatial and temporal dimensions. Thus, we
can recognize two kinds of nonlocalities - the spatial and temporal nonlocalities. By
“temporal nonlocality,” I have in mind those situations in nature where an event
occurring at one time point is correlated with another event occurring at the same or
different time points, without any exchange of signals between the two events. Karl
Jung's synchronicity (Jung 1972), for example, precognition, and coincidences of
dreams, may be the best documented example of what is here called the temporal
nonlocality. Synchronicity is defined as “the experience of two or more events that are
apparently causally unrelated occurring together in a meaningful manner. To count
as synchronicity, the events should be unlikely to occur together by chance” ( http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity ) .
In conclusion, the wave-particle duality that was first demonstrated by Einstein
(1905) in connection with the photoelectric effect was found to apply to electrons
by de Broglie in 1923 (de Broglie 1924; Bacciagaluppi and Valenti 2009), to
molecular biology (Ji 2008b), to cell biology (Ji and So 2009d), and to the human
brain, a system of neurons (Pribram 2010) (see Step 1 in Fig. 2.6 ). If these
developments can be substantiated by future investigations, it would be possible
to conclude that quantum physics plays a pivotal role in unraveling the mysteries of
life (see Step 2 in Fig. 2.6 ). It is hoped that the enlightening influence of physics on
biology is not a one-way street but a two-way one in the sense that a deep
understanding of living processes (including human thinking) will eventually aid
physicists in solving their challenging problems such as the ultimate nature of
quons and the origin of the Universe (see Step 3 in Fig. 2.6 ).