The Explosion of Life Forms: Living Beings and Morphology

One of the essential characteristics of living beings is the explosion of variety in their forms that is intrinsically linked to the diversity of the environments they have adapted to. This book, the result of collaboration between international specialists, analyzes the multiplicity of these morphologies. It explores the origin of forms, their role in defining living things, and the relationship between form and function. It exposes the role of genes and epigenetics and examines the forms of bacteria, protists and plants. The Explosion of Life Forms also studies the memory of animals and their sensory processes, the forms of robots (built in the image of living things), and medical technologies aimed at restoring damaged living forms. Finally, this work questions a common principle of construction in the diversity of forms, as well as the idea of an abandonment of the form, a possible hidden defect of some modern philosophies.

Table of Contents:
Introduction xi Georges CHAPOUTHIER and Marie-Christine MAUREL Chapter 1. Possible Traces and Clues of Early Life Forms 1 Marie-Christine MAUREL 1.1. Introduction 1 1.2. Have “things” always been as they are today? 2 1.3. Fossil traces? 4 1.4. Geochemical elements confirming these recent results 6 1.5. Compartmentalization of resources and primary biomass 9 1.6. Rebuilding a living cell: a wide range of possibilities explored, from the mineral to the organic 12 1.7. Conclusion 13 1.8. Acknowledgments 14 1.9. References 14 Chapter 2. The Nature of Life 19 Andreas LOSCH 2.1. Observations and assumptions 20 2.2. Descriptions and definitions 21 2.3. Exploration 23 2.4. Conclusion 25 2.5. References 26 Chapter 3. From Form to Function 29 Jean-Pierre GASC 3.1. Form: a concept for knowledge 29 3.2. Basic structural elements: from the molecule to the cell 31 3.3. The weight of the physical setting 34 3.4. Mesoderm: base material for architect genes 35 3.5. Appendices and laws of mechanics 37 3.6. “Appendicular” movement on land 40 3.7. The legless 44 3.8. And the head 44 3.9. References 47 Chapter 4. On Growth and Form: Context and Purpose 51 Jean-Pierre GASC 4.1. D’Arcy Thompson’s program 54 4.2. Application of mathematics to morphometry 59 4.3. References 61 Chapter 5. The Emergence of Form in the History of Epigenetics 65 Jonathan B. WEITZMAN 5.1. Introduction 65 5.2. From epigenesis to epigenetics 66 5.3. The evolution of the epigenetic landscape 68 5.4. Modernizing the epigenetic landscape 70 5.5. From epigenetic landscape to chromosome conformation 72 5.6. Conclusion: from form to function 75 5.7. Acknowledgments 76 5.8. References 76 Chapter 6. The Many Shapes of Microbial Detection of Kin and Kind 79 Guillermo PAZ-Y-MIÑO-C and Avelina ESPINOSA 6.1. From Darwin’s social-insects-puzzle to microbes 80 6.2. Handshakes of kinship or “kindship” in bacteria 81 6.3. The ameba world of clone discrimination/recognition 85 6.4. Social microbes and multicellularity 88 6.5. Conclusion 95 6.6. References 95 Chapter 7. Development and Evolution of Plant Forms 101 Florian JABBOUR and Guilhem MANSION 7.1. Introduction 101 7.2. Diversity of plant forms and associated functions 102 7.2.1. Anthropocentric view of plant forms 102 7.2.2. Plant forms perceived by pollinators 103 7.3. Origin and evolution of plant forms 104 7.3.1. Pattern formation during ontogenesis 104 7.3.2. Physical-mathematical considerations on plant morphogenesis 105 7.3.3. Implementation of forms during phylogenesis 107 7.4. Origin and evolution of plant forms 112 7.4.1. Usefulness for human societies 112 7.4.2. Usefulness for botanical classifiers 114 7.5. Conclusion 118 7.6. Acknowledgements 118 7.7. References 118 Chapter 8. Forms of Memory 125 Robert JAFFARD 8.1. Introduction 125 8.2. The polymorphism of memory 126 8.3. Non-associative memories 127 8.3.1. Habituation and sensitization 127 8.3.2. Priming 129 8.3.3. Perceptual learning 130 8.4. Classical conditioning 131 8.4.1. Operational definition, rules and varieties of classical conditioning 131 8.4.2. Contemporary theory of classical conditioning 132 8.4.3. The importance of classical conditioning 133 8.5. Instrumental conditioning 134 8.5.1. Law of effect, stimulus-response (S-R) theory and “habits” 134 8.5.2. From S-R theory to cognitive theories 135 8.5.3. The two facets of instrumental conditioning 136 8.6. Procedural memory as a “memory system” 137 8.6.1. Habits: double functional dissociations in mammals 137 8.6.2. Human procedural memory and its cerebral supports 139 8.7. Declarative memory 140 8.7.1. Episodic and semantic memory: definitions, properties and relationships 141 8.7.2. Episodic memory in animals? 143 8.8. Short-term memory and working memory 144 8.8.1. General characteristics 144 8.8.2. Models 144 8.8.3. Short-term memory in animals 146 8.8.4. Cerebral substrates 147 8.9. Conclusion: organization and reconfiguration of the different forms of memory 147 8.10. References 150 Chapter 9. The Construction of Sensory Universes 155 Dalila BOVET 9.1. Introduction 155 9.2. Chemoreception 156 9.2.1. Taste 156 9.2.2. Smell 158 9.3. Mechanoreception 159 9.3.1. Touch 160 9.3.2. Lateral lines 160 9.3.3. Hearing 161 9.4. Electromagnetoreception 163 9.4.1. Vision 163 9.4.2. Electroreception 165 9.4.3. Magnetoreception 166 9.4.4. Thermoreception 167 9.5. Information filtering 167 9.6. Conclusion 170 9.7. References 172 Chapter 10. Emotional and Social Forms of Robots 173 Laurence DEVILLERS 10.1. Introduction 173 10.2. Communication with social and emotional robots 175 10.3. Human empathy for machines 176 10.4. Machine emotions 178 10.5. Conclusion: risks and benefits 180 10.6. References 181 Chapter 11. When Medical Technology Mimics Living Forms 183 Didier FASS 11.1. Introduction 183 11.2. Historical and epistemological perspective 184 11.2.1. A comparative history of medical technology 184 11.2.2. Epistemological perspective 189 11.2.3. A conceptual and theoretical framework: the mathematical theory of integrative physiology (MTIP) by Gilbert Chauvet 193 11.2.4. Forms of thinking or processing by machines 196 11.3. Simulation, biomimetics and bioprinting: a future for medical technology 196 11.4. References 199 Chapter 12. From Living to Thinking: Mosaic Architecture 203 Georges CHAPOUTHIER 12.1. Introduction 203 12.2. Two main principles 203 12.3. Genes and cells 204 12.4. More complex anatomical mosaics 206 12.5. Epistemological rehabilitation of asexual reproduction 207 12.6. Social mosaics 208 12.7. Encephalic mosaics 208 12.8. Mosaics of thought 210 12.9. Man-made objects 213 12.10. Human and animal cultural traits 214 12.11. A universality of mosaics? 215 12.12. Conclusion: philosophical foundations 216 12.13. References 217 Chapter 13. Converging Technologies or Paradoxes of Power 221 Jean-Michel BESNIER 13.1. Introduction 221 13.2. Might, domination, power 223 13.3. Life, technique, power 224 13.4. “Technological arrogance” 227 13.5. Technological convergence and singularity 228 13.6. Innovation, research, invention 230 13.7. Conclusion 231 13.8. References 231 List of Authors 233 Index 235

About the Author :
Georges Chapouthier is a biologist, philosopher and Emeritus Director of Research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France. His research interests focus on animals and the brain. Marie-Christine Maurel is a Professor at Sorbonne University and a researcher at the Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité laboratory at the National Museum of Natural History in France. Her research interests focus on the origins of life, RNA, viroids and molecular archeobiology.