Syntropic Systems and Evolutionary Processes

In all three of these cases, the syntropic anomaly is justified by the existence of a purpose of the system as a whole, whether functional as in the case of the vase, reproductive as in the case of the egg, or sensory as in the case of the eye. In the case of a sustained syntropic process, that is, one that remains continuously over time contrary to the natural energy dispersion of the system, the system's ability to produce energy to maintain the process itself becomes necessarily fundamental. Here we have the root of the system's metabolism. In addition to this, the ability to combat wear and deterioration of the elements that keep the process active becomes important, and thus the regenerative capacity of the system. Finally, since such a system is necessarily an open system, its relationships with the external environment become fundamental, namely its adaptive capacities. In practice, in analyzing a sustained syntropic process, the three characteristics that we had identified as fundamental characteristics in the definition of all living organisms become extremely important.

Evolution and evolutionary cycles

The characteristics of organic systems previously introduced are certainly useful for a preliminary investigation, but do not in our opinion constitute a functional and univocal definition that allows distinguishing mechanisms from organisms. First, we will note that this distinction is not relative to intrinsic properties of the system, but is a characteristic of the type of evolution of the system. To be more precise, however, we must define what we mean by evolution and what the terms associated with it mean.

Definition of evolution

First of all, when we speak of evolution, we must define the evolving substance, that is, the system that is the object of evolution, an evolutionary principle, which is the efficient cause of evolution, and subsequently, we must require the presence of at least three other terms:

• a beginning, that is, an initial state that represents the base state of the substance that evolves;
• an end, which will be the final state of evolution and represents its fulfillment;
• a duration, that is, a finite time that elapses between the initial state and the final state of evolution.

Without a beginning, or initial state of the evolving substance, there clearly cannot be evolution because the very object of evolution is missing. Without an end, or final state to reach, one cannot speak of evolution, but only of a more or less random transformation. An evolutionary path is measured in relation to the distance from the goal, that is, from the end of an evolution. Finally, for the term evolution to make sense, one must suppose that this evolutionary end is achievable in finite time and is not instead an unreachable asymptote. If, in fact, the evolutionary process were infinite, that is, without end and never realizable, there would be no evolution at all and there would be no progress exactly as there would be no progress in having walked some thousands of steps along a road that has no end.

The evolution of every system thus occurs in a determined finite time. To be more precise, in this context time is that reality that allows the evolution of a system. What is outside of time does not evolve, but is. Moreover, if time is measured in relation to what cyclically repeats itself always equal to itself, such as the periodic rising of the sun, the oscillation of a pendulum, or the vibration of an atom, it assumes value only in relation to what does not repeat itself, but changes, transforms, and evolves. If everything that exists in the Universe were periodic and presented itself exactly identical to itself, there would indeed be no evolution nor would it be possible to determine an effective flow of time, due to the presence of infinite identical periods that precede the current one and infinite identical periods that follow it. Conversely, within a periodic phenomenon taken as a unit of temporal measurement, we notice that in an evolving system there is something that changes and thus breaks the perfect circularity of time giving it a beginning, an end, and a duration.

At this point, if the evolutionary principle is defined internally by the elements of the system itself, then we will define the evolution of the system as organic. Conversely, if the evolutionary principle is defined externally to the system itself, we will call the evolution of the system mechanical. If the elements on which the evolutionary principle acts are conscious of the system's end, then we will define the evolution...