A History of Creativity

While the origins of the universe remain a mystery, one fascinating hypothesis involves black hole cosmology, suggesting that new universes could form within black holes. This process may arise from torsion, a twisting of spacetime caused by particle spin. Theoretically, this torsion could halt the gravitational collapse typical of black holes, allowing dense matter to rebound outward, creating what we perceive as our universe. Thus, it's conceivable that our universe was birthed from a black hole in a prior super-universe, with sub-universes emerging within black holes in our own—a vast multiverse of interconnected realms.

Other theories of the Big Bang exist, but I emphasize the significance of the black hole's event horizon, a barrier that encapsulates our universe. If we are situated inside a black hole, we cannot access the super-universe that contains us, although we might theoretically enter a black hole in our universe that leads to a sub-universe.

The holographic principle posits that the information of objects that fall into a black hole is retained in surface fluctuations at the event horizon, known as "Hawking radiation." Leonard Susskind, in his work The Cosmic Landscape, suggests that our three-dimensional universe may be a holographic projection encoded in two-dimensional data at the event horizon. Therefore, the reality we observe inside the black hole might be a simplified version of the complex information residing on its surface. Susskind argues that information does not have a fixed location; it can appear coherent from within the black hole while remaining disordered from an external perspective.

Returning to the holographic principle, regardless of the universe's creation, our solar system eventually formed through the gravitational collapse of a molecular cloud in interstellar space. This collapse led to the emergence of a protostar and a rotating disc of nebula around it. Over millions of years, gas and particles coalesced into planetesimals, which collided and accumulated to form the planets we recognize today.

The Earth's core generates convection currents in molten iron, creating a magnetic field that protects us from solar winds and cosmic radiation. While the magnetosphere provides an additional barrier alongside the sun's heliosphere, astronauts outside this protective shield still face hazardous radiation.

Life on Earth, primarily composed of carbon and water, emerged through complex processes. Organisms needed methods to replicate, sustain metabolism, and encapsulate themselves within membranes. Various theories suggest that some early form of life originated from the spontaneous formation of liposomes—double-walled structures created by lipids, which organize themselves in water to form bubbles.

Regardless of how life began, the first fully formed organisms were unicellular. According to the National Science Foundation, early life forms likely required membrane compartments for the same reasons modern cells do: to maintain access to essential molecules and exclude harmful ones. Without compartmentalization, ribosomes or early protein synthesis sites would struggle to identify the correct RNA to replicate.

A pivotal moment in the evolution of life was the Great Oxidation Event, marking the shift from photosynthesis by prokaryotic oceanic organisms to the rise of atmospheric oxygen. This oxygen, in conjunction with ultraviolet solar radiation, contributed to the formation of Earth's ozone layer, enabling the diversification of life into multicellular organisms on land.

Neural networks in jellyfish evolved into the central nervous systems seen in most contemporary animals, originating from a large ganglion in a worm-like ancestor that existed around 600 million years ago. This common ancestor established a bilateral body structure with a mouth at one end, an anus at the other, and a gut in between, with a nerve cord running along its length and culminating in a brain at the mouth's end.

Following the Cambrian explosion of diverse life forms, evolution led to a proliferation of invertebrates, vertebrates, dinosaurs, and mammals. Vertebrates, characterized by a backbone, exhibit cephalization, which centralizes control functions in the head. The skull evolved as an extension of the spinal column, providing brain protection. The blood-brain barrier also emerged in vertebrates to prevent pathogens from infiltrating the central nervous system.

These barriers allowed the brain to evolve and complexify, ultimately resulting in the human brain, which supports a nuanced form of consciousness known as personhood. The emergence of self-awareness and intelligence sparked a new era termed the Anthropocene, marked by human dominance and a surge of artifacts, including languages, cultures, tools, and technology.

Another vital barrier in sexually reproducing species is the womb, which nurtures the developing fetus. During pregnancy, the uterine walls thicken and form the placenta, supplying oxygen and nutrients to the fetus.

Social barriers also arise, encompassing families, clubs, ethnicities, and nations, each with its semi-permeable boundaries. For instance, legal frameworks permit adoption but prohibit kidnapping. Traveling between countries necessitates passing through customs, highlighting the ideological and sometimes biological roots of social barriers.

Lastly, the theoretical barrier of technological singularity looms, predicting a future where our creations surpass human intelligence, leading to a transhuman state that could render humanity obsolete.

Creativity by Estrangement

While some of these ideas may be speculative, I present this historical overview to highlight the compelling role barriers play in the universe's creativity. The event horizon, Earth's protective layers, cell membranes, the skull and blood-brain barrier, the womb, ideological constructs, and the looming singularity all serve to isolate parts of the universe, fostering the emergence of new forms and functions.

In retrospect, we can narrate a story illustrating how barriers and emergent processes develop, framing them within a comprehensive conceptual context. However, each barrier carries a degree of unpredictability, as new forms of existence arise within those confines.

Consider the emergence of consciousness and personhood from the brain. Dualist philosophers have explored the enigma of consciousness, often using thought experiments about knowledge. Imagine learning everything about the universe in a black-and-white room, having never encountered the color red. Upon exiting and seeing a red apple, did you gain new knowledge? This raises the question of whether consciousness, the subjective experience of sensation and thought, can be wholly explained by objective descriptions.

The anomaly of consciousness invites a parallel with the holographic principle. If we substitute the two-dimensional data on the event horizon for the brain's neural states, we might see consciousness as a holographic projection of brain activity. When awake and engaging with the world, conscious states do not seem to correspond directly to brain states. For example, while tasting asparagus, the regions of the brain responsible for that experience do not literally "taste" asparagus. Indeed, consciousness appears to have no specific location, prompting folklore surrounding immaterial spirits. We lack direct access to our brain; instead, conscious experience seems to be projected into an independent mental realm, possibly aligned with the brain's electromagnetic field.

Setting speculation aside, consider the novelty of consciousness from a neurological or evolutionary standpoint. There's no compelling reason why creatures couldn't fulfill their evolutionary roles as mere zombies. Somehow, personhood emerges as a byproduct of our neurochemistry, leading to a complex brain that fosters self-awareness, intelligence, and further dimensions of creativity, including cultural and potentially divine aspects beyond transhumanism.

To assert that one order of reality arises from another in an unpredictable manner is akin to suggesting that the former is miraculous in relation to the latter. However, the term "miraculous" carries ambiguous connotations, so I propose discussing this in terms of estrangement. This does not imply that consciousness is unrelated to the brain or that the organic processes within cell membranes lack connection to the inorganic world. Rather, the broader world separates itself from the part it has abandoned, allowing that part to develop a distinct mode of existence, necessitating an irreducible explanation for these emergent phenomena.

A black hole is estranged from the surrounding spacetime, as anything within it is isolated. The patterns of teleology occurring beyond organic membranes cannot be fully explained by physical causality. While we can understand how the apparent designs in biological structures and behaviors evolve through natural selection, they emerge from chemical processes.

Nevertheless, life’s estrangement from non-life is tangible. While life may have originated innocuously through the spontaneous formation of a fatty bubble trapping an early RNA replicase, the advent of organic evolution birthed a new order of reality. The organelles within a unicellular organism can be described in physical terms—mass and energy—but this neglects their functional roles and their oppositional stance toward the external environment. Living organisms are inherently programmed for self-preservation and genetic transmission, a tendency most pronounced in our species, which has pursued a cancerous expansion of its living conditions at the cost of numerous other species.

Biting the Hand that Feeds us Poison

To claim that one level of existence is estranged from another is to convey more than mere separation or incompatibility of theories. It underscores the wild and potentially self-defeating nature of creativity. A universe may thrive within a black hole, yet that universe's protective womb ultimately consumes its parent universe. In the long run, black holes might obliterate all of space and time within our universe, just as our own black hole will eventually collapse, along with its encompassing super-universe.

The sun that nourishes our planet and enables life's evolution will eventually envelop the solar system and annihilate Earth. More critically, we, in our hubris, attempt to dominate nature; we metaphorically bite the hand that feeds us, for that "hand"—the matter forming our solar system—was once part of a molecular cloud that fragmented, contributing to its own destruction. The womb of primates is not a paradise for the fetus; rather, these two entities are often at odds, as pregnancy can threaten the mother's life. Cells from the invasive placenta infiltrate the mother's arteries, reshaping them to suit the fetus's needs.

Consciousness is not satisfied with mere observation; our intelligence drives us to comprehend how DNA and the brain function, empowering us to manipulate our genetic makeup. We unleash machines that could devastate the evolutionary processes that gave rise to our existence.

Moreover, consciousness can mirror the inherent alienation within the universe's creative forces, revealing a state of existential angst. We risk self-destruction in a horror that arises from the chaotic emergence of new orders of being. Through introspection, asceticism, or artistic ecstasy, we can detach from society, entering a lonely realm of thought that alienates us from our own minds and public personas. Just as evolution carved out space for the brain to expand within bone, the noosphere—the collective field of conscious experience and worldviews—creates a black hole-like niche for harboring resentment and despair.

The intelligence that empowers us also harbors the potential for our annihilation, as this trait was birthed not by a wise, benevolent deity but rather through a violent rupture within the world itself. Reflect on the mass extinctions that paved the way for the emergence of intelligent, sentient primates. Consider the creatures that had to be hunted and consumed while still alive for our evolution to occur, as the ruthlessness and grotesqueness of natural selection seem to echo the absurdities of cosmic and solar events. If our universe indeed emerged from a black hole that contributes to the destruction of its parent universe, we should hardly anticipate that the fruits of such a tainted tree will flourish in a wholesome manner.

These barriers function as a magician's curtain, shielding the old world from interfering with new phenomena, yet they also serve as reminders that each order of existence is severed from its predecessor. The new worlds are abandoned by the old, left to navigate their own fates, and should they falter, the experiment can be replicated elsewhere. The divine is not concealed, nor is creative power beyond our grasp; rather, we personify this divine influence due to its often grotesque nature.