[Fis] The genesis of art, love and wellbeing--roots of the roots

[William Miller]

Yes, Pedro, most certainlyso in my view, and continuing our thoughts about the roots of art, Inote your elegantly expressed " transcendence of art &aesthetics linked both to the bottom and to the top of existence. "I would indicate my support of that characterization and ask apertinent question.

My support derives from myunderstanding that cells are consistently attempting to estimateexternal reality to sustain their preferential states throughinternal subjective measurements, and having done so, consistentlyengage in niche constructions (biofilms, tissue ecologies,multicellular organisms) to better sustain themselves. In thismanner, cells are participating in collective problem-solving toachieve states of subjective satisfaction, and in so doing, andimportantly, they are reciprocally shaping their environment.Therefore, the environment is always in intimate reciprocation withcellular life.

Consequently, in my view,just as cells are attempting to grasp the reality at their scope andscale, they are also attempting to sculpt reality to fit theirpreferences. Thus, to me, art is both things, a search of state spaceand an act of constraining it, which is exactly why art is anemotional action,...... life as an emotive force (as Kate wouldinsist). In this same information-dependent framework, the bottom(cells) seamlessly extends to the top (our gifted cognitive powers)and extends right back down to the bottom as our cellular selves thatreturn to the environment (so that this is not really any top orbottom).

My question then, inconsideration of mathematics seen as its own form of beauty and mathpatterns being so readily discernable in living forms, is: does thislend credence to Mike Levin's concept of forms in Platonic space,i.e., are the forms pre-existing and exapted in the cellular form (asthe epitomic substrate of the living frame) and art is our attempt toglimpse those forms, per Plato and Aristotle's formal causes? I'm nophilosopher, and perhaps I'm over my head here.

Best, 

Bill 





    On Wednesday, February 4, 2026 at 11:38:39 PM MST, Francesco Rizzo <13francesco.rizzo at gmail.com> wrote:  
 
 
Dear Pedro, William, and everyone,

I must acknowledge that Pedro contributedsignificantly to my understanding of the eco-biological foundationsthat—combined with the thermodynamic and hermeneutic-mathematical-semiotic (orhistorical-cultural) ones—have formed my real, singular and exclusive economicknowledge that draws from (and gives to) all the sciences. Thank you!

But speaking of the harmony of beauty or the beauty ofharmony, I quote a few lines from paragraph 2.5 "I dreamed of being aliving embryo in my mother's womb: from the psycho-physical matrix to emotionalintelligence in the economy" of my weighty (1,422-page) book"Economia della vita, della scienza e della fede. Il moss chemanca(va)" [Aracne, Rome, 2010]:

 

⌠1. I resume writing, recalling something important:the dream of my life that I had last night, or perhaps in the early hours ofthe morning. The dream of desire, or the desire of the dream, of knowing how Iwas in my mother's womb has come true. Thus, the power of mystery returns,solemn and imposing. It is significant, premonitory, and prophetic (withrespect to the debate on life or assisted procreation currently underway, giventhat we are on the eve of the referendum to repeal the existing law). I havehad the conscious, clear, and distinct experience of being a collection ofcells, an embryo. An embryo that, with contemptuous ease and obsessive self-and other-destructive mania, is considered by some to be a lump of cells notyet a person, with or without a soul (…).

In the reality of the dream, I was a cell, lovinglypreparing to unite with other cells to lovingly form tissues, eager to lovinglyunite in organs, eager to lovingly unite with other organs to lovingly form theorganism that I am. Then, as if by magic, which did not erase the magic of thedream, the time to wake up arrived, and thanking the Father, the Son, and theHoly Spirit, I prayed for all those who have or take life, even by preventingthe birth of children ⌡[pp. 102 and 105].

May the Lord help us.



Francis







CariPedro, William e tutti,

debboriconoscere che Pedro ha contribuito non poco a farmi assumere i fondamentieco-biologici che ̶ uniti a quelli termodinamici edermeneutico-matematico-semiotici (o storico-culturali) ̶ hanno composto la mia reale, singolare ed esclusiva cono-sc(i)enza economica che prende dalle (e da a tuttele) scienze. Grazie!

Maa proposito dell’armonia della bellezza o della bellezza dell’armonia, riportoalcune righe del paragrafo 2.5 Ho sognato di essere un embrione vivente nelgrembo di mia madre: dalla matrice psico-fisica all’intelligenza emotivanell’economia del mio ponderoso (1422 pagine) libro Economia della vita,della scienza e della fede. Il muschio che manca(va) [Aracne, Roma, 2010]: 

 

⌠1. Riprendo ascrivere ricordando qualcosa di importante: il sogno della vita che ho fattostanotte o forse nelle prime ore del mattino. Il sogno del desiderio o il desideriodel sogno di sapere come stavo nel grembo di mia madre è divenuto realtà.Ritorna, così, solenne e imponente la forza del mistero. È significativo,premonitore e profetico (rispetto al dibattito sulla vita o sulla procreazioneassistita, attualmente in corso, dato che siamo alla vigilia del referendumabrogativo della legge esistente). Ho vissuto la consapevole, chiara e nitidaesperienza di essere un insieme di cellule, un embrione. Embrione che, consprezzante disinvoltura e ossessiva mania auto ed etero-distruttiva, da alcuniviene considerato un grumo di cellule non ancora persona, con o senza l’anima(…).



Nella realtà delsogno ero una cellula, che si preparava con amore ad unirsi con altrecellule per formare con amore i tessuti, che erano impazienti di unirsicon amore negli organi, che erano impazienti di unirsi con amore adaltri organi per formare con amore l’organismo che sono. Poi come perincanto, che non ha cancellato la magia del sogno, è arrivata l’ora dellasveglia e ringraziando il Padre, il Figlio e lo Spirito Santo ho pregato pertutti gli uomini che hanno o tolgono la vita, anche impedendo la nascita deibambini⌡[pp. 102 e 105]. 

Il Signore ci aiuti

Francesco.

 

 

Il giorno mer 4 feb 2026 alle ore 16:18 Pedro C. Marijuán <pedroc.marijuan at gmail.com> ha scritto:

  Dear All, 
  This quest, about "the roots of the roots" of art, becomes cellular, quite cogently. To the cell properties exposed by Bill and Francesco, I would add the extraordinary capability of cells & multicells to discover endless math patterns. We see fractals, Fibonacci sequences, spirals, symmetries, and all kind of math niceties.  Does it relate to the creation of beauty' -- to remind not only Wigner's  “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences” but also how mathematical beauty lies in the harmony, patterns, and structures of numbers, and symmetries that explain the universe. Seemingly, we would close a circle, with transcendence of art & aesthetics linked both to the bottom and to the top of existence. Not to forget the fundamental role of sexual selection in the evolutionary quest for beauty as the best way to stay in the world. Makes sense?? 
  Best --Pedro 
   El 03/02/2026 a las 18:27, William Miller escribió:
  
    
Dear Francesco, 
 
Thank you for your eloquent response. I agree with your assessment of cellular circumstances. Reductionism as a research tool is necessary, but a cell can only be understood as a Kantian whole, as Stu Kauffman and my colleagues and I have argued. Further, we are in complete agreement that each organism is unique. I believe you have hit upon an essential difference between my view and others. In my terms (and my colleagues'), each cell is a unique, competent, and exclusive individual entity (agent). Of course, I don't mean in the same manner as with our human sensibilities, but within their scope and at their scale, and importantly, in their contextual responses to stress. Consequently, information sharing is the cognitive glue that enables seamless multicellularity among the tens of trillions of highly differentiated cells and microbial partners that sustain our lives. And further, as you note, they have unique phylogenetic histories, both collectively and individually.
 
I do differ with you in one respect, which I have previously indicated. My colleagues and I regard all cells as sense-aware individual agents imbued with retrievable and deployable memory systems that engage as a Kantian whole in decision-making and problem-solving. Since all cells must measure their information internally to assess value and valence, they have subjective interiors, and the information that they self-create through that process (infoautopoiesis) is used to sustain each cell in its individual preferential state. Accordingly, for us, each cell is conscious/cognitive/sentient.
 
Lastly, I think biology has historically viewed complexity in a highly simplistic and hubristic manner. We do have tools that have enabled us to elucidate many multicellular biomolecular pathways, and we have even learned to adjust some of these for our benefit as 'fine-tuning'. However, the complexities of the crowded, active environment within every cell are so great that we have no idea where to begin understanding how they operate. We can utilize their products and are beginning to learn how to steer them to our aims (e.g., Mike Levin’s work). How much different would biology be if we regarded the basic cell as the epitome of complexity and its information-processing capabilities as primary and the rest of multicellular life as its elaboration?
 
Warm regards, 
 
Bill 
  
  
      On Tuesday, February 3, 2026 at 12:31:56 AM MST, Francesco Rizzo <13francesco.rizzo at gmail.com> wrote:  
  
      
Dear William,
 in Ethics of Economic Values or Economics of Ethical Values (FrancoAngeli, Milan, 2004) I wrote in 115-122 pages some things that might interest you, I will excerpt a small part of it below 

 
 
 
⌠Since 1979, I have been working on a city model based on a (not hard or deterministic, but gentle and flexible) interactive multi-temporal-dimensional-media-linguistic-criteria matrix. I have written about this several times in this book. Naturally and culturally, I have employed and calibrated the same model-algorithm for the company analysis. Here – also to pay homage to Pedro C. Marijuán, an exquisite and sensitive person (not only in a human sense) whom I met at an international conference of physicists, biologists, chemists, etc., which took place in Acireale from 17 to 22 September on the topic of Energy and information transfer in biological systems, so dear to me as if I had chosen it (too) – I would like to launch the hypothesis that it could also be useful to better understand and “measure” (in the sense of evaluating) the functional-structural nature-culture or de-cipher-ation of a cell, indeed of every cell that in a given spatio-temporal situation resembles and/or dissimilars (differs from) all the others.
 
Every cell is a uni-duality or a uni-multiplicity, an I-in-oi or an I-in-I, that is, from a functional-structural perspective, a cell in itself and an element in the whole of O that is a tissue, an organ, a living being, just as a man is at the same time a man in itself and an element in the sense of the unitary-unicative comm(-n-io)ne or in the anagrammatic communitarian-communicative I. Everything that is, in some way, unrepeatable, unique, and absolutely individual and "individualizing" is ap-perceived through unique and unrepeatable moments or living beings. Individuality, apparently hidden and veiled by the fundamental elements of atoms and cells, “emerges” as the universe and its actors (men and women, animals and plants) evolve, strengthening and improving their capacity for trans-inform-ation or ad-aptation and ex-aptation.
 
The uniqueness or unrepeatability of individuals and their personalities (of humans, animals, and plants) permeates and is permeated by that complex, intertwined, convulsive, and chaotic set of similar and dissimilar phenomena, of similar and different things, that are natural and social systems. Every being is unique, specific, and atypical, regardless of whether they are humans, animals, or plants. Besides having in common the fact that they are made up of the same-different cells and equal-unequal atoms, and being different because humans have consciousness and other living beings do not (?), they all have their own unique, mysterious, phylo-onto-genetic history⌡.
 
 
 
 
   

 
 
Dear William,
 
in Etica dei valori economici o economia dei valori etici (FrancoAngeli, Milano, 2004) ho scritto in 115-122 pagine alcune cose che potrebbero interessarti, ne stralcio una piccola seguente parte:
   
⌠Dal 1979 lavoro ad un modello di città basato su una (non dura o deterministica, ma dolce e flessibile) matrice inter-attivamulti-temporale-dimensionale-mediale-linguistica-criteriale. Di questo ho scritto più volte nel presente libro. Naturalmente e culturalmente lo stesso modello-algoritmo ho impiegato e tarato per l’analisi dell’azienda. Qui – anche per fare un omaggio a Pedro C. Marijuán, persona squisita e sensibile (non solo in senso umano) che ho conosciuto in un convegno internazionale di fisici, biologici, chimici, etc., che s’è svolto ad Acireale dal 17 al 22 settembre sul tema Energy and information transfer in biological systems, a me tanto caro come se l’avessi scelto (anch’) io – desidero lanciare l’ipotesi che esso possa essere utile anche a comprendere e “misurare”(nel senso di valutare) meglio la natura-cultura funzional-strutturale o de-cifr-azione di una cellula, anzi di ogni cellula che in una data situazione spazio-temporale somiglia e/o dissomiglia (differisce d)a tutte le altre. 
 
Ogni cellula è un’uni-dualità o un’uni-molteplicità, un io-n-oi o un io-n-io, cioè è in una prospettiva funzional-strutturale una cellula a sé e un elemento nell’insieme di o che è un tessuto, un organo, un essere vivente, come un uomo è allo stesso tempo un uomo a sé e un elemento nel senso del(la) comu(-n-io)ne unitario(a)-unicativo(a) o nell’anagrammatico io comunitario-comunicativo. Tutto ciò che è, in un certo qual modo, ir-ripetibile, unico e assolutamente individuale e “individualizzante” si fa ap-percepire attraverso momenti o viventi unici e ir-ripetibili. L’individualità, apparentemente nascosta e velata dagli elementi fondamentali degli atomi e delle cellule, va “emergendo” man mano che l’universo ed i suoi attori (uomini e donne, animali e piante) si evolvono, rafforzando e migliorando la loro capacità di tras-inform-azione o ad-attamento e ex-attamento. 
 
L’unicità o ir-ripetibilità individual-personale (di uomini, animali, piante) attraversa ed è attraversata da quell’insieme, complesso, intrecciato, convulso e caotico di fenomeni simili e dissimili e di cose somiglianti e differenti che sono i sistemi naturali e sociali. Ogni essere è una o ha la sua univoca, specifica e atipica impronta ecologica a prescindere che si tratti di uomini, animali o piante, che oltre ad avere in comune il fatto che sono costituiti dalle stesse-differenti cellule e dagli uguali-disuguali atomi e ad essere differenti perché gli uomini hanno la coscienza e gli altri esseri viventi no (?), hanno tutti una loro e unica, misteriosa, storia filo-onto-genetica⌡.
 
Francesco
  
  Il giorno lun 2 feb 2026 alle ore 17:21 William Miller <wbmiller1 at cox.net> ha scritto:
  
      
Dear All, 
 

 
 
I have followed this fascinating thread with great interest. Pedro's comment on getting to the 'root' of the reason for art and the appreciation of beauty has motivated me to comment now, rather than previously, since the prior thrust of the discussion has focused on our human sensibilities, and my work is about cells. However, any discernment of a 'root' of an aesthetic impulse must eventually include consideration of how cells operate, since we are all cellular constructs. I hope you will find this alternative take on the matter interesting and not off-topic.
 
I have published about the empirically verified behaviors of all cells. Those observations and experiments confirm that cells operate within a compact narrative of consistent behaviors since their origin as their means of dealing with their obligatory context of the ambiguity of biological information (previously presented with Mike Levin).
 
All cells are intelligent and engaged in measuring ambiguous environmental cues as infocomputation for (value) and valence (subjective experiences at scale ). I defend that cells have experiences at scale because all cells have defined homeorhetic preferences that they maintain but also adjust in context as differential rates of dynamic flux. Kant had intuited that all learning derives from experiences and cells are certainly learning systems.
 
Cells consistently display six behavioral attributes: collaboration, cooperation, co-dependence, generally mutualizing competition, respect for the self-integrity of other cells, and they consistently abide by the principle that each is served best by serving others. The proof is seamless multicellularity, enabling you to read this now. None of this is conjectural and is easily observable. Indeed, cancer is destructive since it does not follow those rules with normative cells, only with like-kind cancer cells (as a different form of selfhood).
 
Notably, cells act in these patterns because this is how they form their sense of the world, i.e., glean at their scale some understanding of the status of their interior versus the external environment, essential to maintaining their preferential states and naturally implicit to their survival. This is how they form their grasp of reality, from which all problem-solving must issue. After all, cells are not programmed robots: they are decision-making and problem-solving agents.
 
I would offer that the deepest root of art is an expression of our cellular selves as a search to find answers to our yearning questions and doubts about reality, on the one hand, and as an explicit expression of a state of preference in context on the other. These two cellular imperatives merge as our expression of art and govern our need to create it. This also explains why some art is beautiful to some and execrable to others, and some art is seen as illuminating to one individual and ridiculous to another. It is always an individual, subjective assessment that reflects an exclusive interior state.
 
Our consciousness consists of doubts and preferences. As I often say, 'being is doubt', and I now offer that 'life is preferences'. Art is each individual's idiosyncratic attempt to resolve personal doubts, expressively illustrate its effect on the artist, and satisfy a preferential state. Furthermore, since art is shared with others almost without exception, it is a communal activity, conforming with the innate cellular root behavior of 'you serve yourself best by serving others'.
 
We are cellular beings, and all of evolution is a narrative of the continuous exaptation of unicellular traits channeled and repurposed at successive scales . In each instance, it serves to enhance the deployment of information to problem-solve in our unending struggle to grasp external reality. These exaptations are tools of continuous cellular natural learning, which requires an unending exploration the environment through alternative paths. Art is one means by which this deeply rooted impulse, so essential to life, is satisfied.
 
After all, isn't this exactly what we are currently engaged in within this forum and is it not its own form of Art?
 
Best, 
 
Bill 
  
  
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