On their own, the laws of nature don't tend toward life. To stay alive, living things utilize ingenious solutions. On this ID the Future, host Eric Anderson talks with physician Howard Glicksman about another way that the human body counteracts the natural tendency of the laws of nature to destroy life.
Glicksman explains how the body controls water volume and sodium--two aspects that are absolutely critical to keeping us alive. It isn't just a single system. It's an interconnected and interdependent system of systems using a network of sensors, integrators, and effectors to maintain the life-giving balance of water and sodium in our bodies.
This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Read More ›
When left to their own devices, the laws of nature tend toward death, not life. So what does it take for life to exist? On this ID The Future, host Eric Anderson talks with physician Howard Glicksman about some of the remarkable engineering challenges that have to be solved to produce and maintain living organisms such as ourselves. Glicksman is co-author with systems engineer Steve Laufmann of the recent book Your Designed Body, an exploration of the extraordinary system of systems that encompasses thousands of ingenious and interdependent engineering solutions to keep us alive and ticking. In the "just so" stories of the Darwinian narrative, these engineering solutions simply evolved. They emerged and got conserved. Voila! But in this chat, Anderson and Glicksman explain that it takes more than the laws of nature to keep us from dying. "Chemicals on their own don't have any desire or tendency to turn into living organisms," says Anderson. "They tend to degrade, they tend to break down, they tend to go back to their basic constituents." Glicksman and Anderson discuss examples, including how the human body handles friction, heat transfer, and the crucial task of maintaining chemical balance at the cellular level. And where does all this essential innovation come from? Glicksman points to an intelligent cause that transcends matter and energy. Read More ›
