Preface ix“6x9” b2861 The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter(embodied in the Shillongator proposed in 1991 and further elaborated
on in Section 10.18).
It is interesting to point out that, when I started to construct Table P1,
I had only the first two rows clearly in mind. Then when I extended the
left-hand column by three more stages based on the history of cosmology,
I was forced to come up with a comparable extension in biology as shown
in the right-hand column, with the unexpected result of the three more
ators emerging therein. The term “X-ator” refers to the theoretical model
of the system of physicochemical processes that organizes itself driven by
its own internal free energy and controls information in such a way as to
perform some function (see Section 2.6), where X is the name of the city
where the major research on the mechanism of the self-organizing pro-
cesses under consideration is carried out.
Another unexpected feature of Table P1 is that its right-hand column
lists the main topics discussed in this book in varying degrees of detail,
although the cell-centered biology is the focus of this book as indicated by
its main title, the Cell Language Theory. It is hoped that this book will
contribute to advancing our knowledge on the phenomenon of life as
manifested in living cells, our internal Universe, just as the astronomical
research over the last centuries and millennia has been advancing our
knowledge about the external Universe (see row 6 in Table P1).
We are made out of matter. Our body contains 25 elements out of
about 100 elements found in the Universe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Composition_of_the_human_body). We now know that when these ele-
ments are organized properly in space and time to constitute our body
(which is a system of living cells), they exhibit the property called mind.
We also know that, at the moment when our body dies, our mind disap-
pears even though little or no matter is lost immediately after death from
our body. This simple thought experience reveals that matter is neces-
sary but not sufficient for mind, leading to the conclusion that the neces-
sary and sufficient condition for the phenomenon of mind must include
not only the material, but also non-material factors (NMFs). I tenta-
tively identify NMFs with “relations” or “edges” in a network diagram
whose “nodes” are material objects. There are at least three theoretically
possible relations among matter, body, and mind, as briefly explained in
the legend to Table P2.b2861_FM.indd 9 17-10-2017 11:35:00 AM