3.14 Improvemnet

Improvement (or refinement) is the process of changing a given property or its state so to better fulfill a special criteria. This chapter deals with two essential, from the point of view of the physics of life, improvement processes which shape living objects. The first one is related to the improvement of the properties of a given object during its lifetime and the second to the improvement of subsequent generations.

Let's start with the improvement of living objects from their birth to death. Their genetic design contains the information about the construction and functionality of all their properties and what external factors trigger them and to what extend. Properties can be very different. Some, such as strength, can be controlled by the organism, and others, such as skin color, no. We have come back to the one of the most important questions: how to distinguish a property from its state. Consider human linguistic ability as an example. The set of properties which allows humans to verbally communicate is the result of biological evolution. Generally, this "set of proerties" is called "the ability to speak." However, consider how many languages a human can speak and with what accents - these are states of this properties of this set. The state of a property can be fixed, can vary malleably or vary between a few states. One example is eye-colour, which in the first year of life goes from the initial colour to the final one and will not naturally change. In Poland, a lot of newborns are born with blue eyes and for the majority, this colour changes after a few months.

As we already know, the state of some properties can be shaped by living objects. In other words, the living object can vary them within a certain range. There are two ways: education and training. Both of these concepts intersect with one another and so it is difficult define them in a short and unambiguous way. We can say that education is a transfer of external knowledge to our consciousness, whereas training is learning through action. The fact that by going to school we increase our knowledge is obvious and there is no need to dwell on this. However, it is worth while study the very important issue of supercompensation. We encounter its effects practically everywhere, but only a few people involved in sport are aware of it. Although the phenomenon is not widely known, it is worth a closer look to realize how we shape ourselves.

Among the huge set of human properties are: speed, strength, flexibility and language skills. The states of the first three, known as motor skills, are relatively easy to measure. The state of language skills is also measurable, although it is not as clear or precise as in the case of the first three. What makes blue-collar workers generally stronger than white-collar workers? And how is it that a young child, who moved from his homeland to another country, can successfully communicate in two languages​​? The answers are obvious - the given state of considered properties is the result of external conditions.

How do you become stronger? In the graph the vertical axis represents the state of your strength and the horizontal, time. Heavy physical labour, e.g. during training, exhausts muscles, which decreases the state of the property named strength. Working phase is followed by a rest phase, during which the state of the property gradually returns to initial value. This phase is called the phase of compensation. Afterwards, it is followed by a transitional period of increased efficiency - on the chart this is shown by the green curve, and then efficiency returns to its initial level. This temporary increase in capacity is supercompensation - loosely translated, it is rebuilding with a surplus. This temporary increase in the capacity of the muscles makes them slightly more effective. The graph shows a single cycle of events (exercise - rest - increase in capacity) which makes a so-called training unit. Note that supercompensation does not last forever and will eventually disappear. If you want to keep your improved capacity for a long time, you need to periodically repeat the training units - regular training.

With regular training regimes the increased level of a given property increases, gradually reaching higher and higher states. Of course, the state is limited to a maximum capacity due to the laws of physics, so that capacity of a trained property can not be raised ad infinitum. The graph "Rational training cycle" shows an ideal series of training units: each unit is initiated in the supercompensation phase, exactly at the moment when the capacity of the given property is at its highest point of supercompensation. When the state of trained property reaches its maximum, increasing the training load has no sense, because it can lead to muscle breakdown or another type of injury.

This training cycle, generally speaking, can be called the process of improvment which can be applied to raise the state of almost any property of a living object. This process is a sequence of basic units, each consisting of two phases. In the first, this property is intensively used, which decreases the state of this property (eg. fatigue, exhaustion). In the second, the property is not used (eg. rest, sleep) and its state gradually returns to its original level with a temporary, slight surplus. What happens when a property is not used for a long time? My mother witnessed an interesting medical experiment conducted in the Soviet Union in the early 1980's. A group of extremely physically fit people, including a few astronauts, had to spend three weeks lying in bed. They could not do anything that would require moving, all their needs were met by the staff. The subjects were lying down all the time, even whilst feeding and fulfilling their physiological needs. By the end of the tests, a significant decrease in strength and fitness was noted. This experiment clearly confirms that if any property is not used, its state decreases over time. Psychological resources are similar to physiological ones, and when rarely used they regress in a similar way[31, p. 8]. Moreover, even our immune system requires exposure to bacteria to be able to develop defense mechanisms and strengthen the body[32, p.7]. This decrease of the state of a property is called atrophy. This phenomenon also applies to cells, tissues, organs, memories, social groups [read more] and more.

What can we conclude from this? When it comes to visionaries trying to create the perfect society, and the people who believe them, they need to think about two things. Firstly, is the state of doing nothing but consuming really the one we want to reach? Secondly, what is more appropriate for our better adaptation to the current living conditions, the removal of all obstacles or rationally constructing them? As for ourselves, there is no other way to enhance physical and mental fitness than that which is associated with effort. The effort involved in training, in the commitment of mind and body, in the active active acquisition of knowledge, in the intensive seerch for solutions to real problems and in learning from failures. Garry Kasparov (born., 1963), one of the best chess players of all time, perfectly captured this in his book: The only logical way to improve yourself is the careful avoidance of the comfort zone [based on 31, p. 8].

As previously mentioned, common definitions of evolution are not clear. This ambiguity makes the concept difficult to understand. Therefore, instead of talking about evolution, we will introduce the concept of the process of evolutionary improvement. After this exact definition, it will become easier to understand biological evolution, with all its associated nuances. The process of evolutionary improvement should therefore be regarded as the simplest model of the complex phenomenon known as biological evolution.

Is the transformation of a limousine into an off-road car difficult? It depends for whom, but probably most people would say yes. Let's ask another question - is it easy to increase the capacity of the engine in our car? Probably easier than to make an off-road car out of a limo, but... in practice nobody does it. If we want to have a more powerful engine in our car, we usually sell the old car and buy a new one. It is just simpler and more convenient.

Let's look at the process of car production. At the assembly stage it is possible to incorporate minor improvements. But when it turns out that minor changes are not enough, because more serious ones are needed, designers take over the task. They develop a new project and later, based on this, new more perfect models are assembled. Living objects are also assembled on the basis of projects which are stored within their genes and which are slightly modified copies of the previous model (parents). Constructors modify projects based on their knowledge, experience and the solutions of their competitors. However, the mechanism of modifying the design of living objects works in an alternative way. It modifies due to random changes! It's hard to believe because firstly the changes are taking place at the nucleotide level, invisible to us. Secondly: they relate to specific structures, so the changes are not purely random, but they have their own characteristics - the randomness comes from a limited set of changes. A good illustration of this type of randomness is rolling six dice. After the roll, the sum of the dots range from 6 to 36. But sometimes, very rarely, it is five. It occurs when one of the dice fall of the table, and all the others show ones. Then again, it is possible to roll more than 36, when some extraneous force adds a seventh die, and there are six sixes on the table. But what if the randomness was more extreme? For example, the extraneous force does not add a die but a coin. The result would not change because neither side of the coin will affect the score. Thus, the randomness varies from 6 to 36, wherein the majority of results are close to the mean average value, which is 21. The extreme values (6 and 36) occur very rarely. A less extreme version of full randomness involves boxes of nails. The label says "Approximately 100 nails" therefore, the box you buy can contain 97 nails. Or it can contain 103. So we can say that the number of nails in each box is totally random but the difference is slight. This shows that even randomness has its features and characteristics. The characteristics of the modification of the genetic designs of living objects are a bit more complicated than those just discussed. However, at this stage of our discussion we need not go into these details and deal with mutations, recombinations and horizontal gene transfers. The most important thing is that the genetic design is modified in some characteristic way. On the basis of such modified designs, the next generation of living objects are created. Returning to our process of evolutionary improvement, its first phase (and the necessary constructor) is the creation of a set of different projects (designs) based on the intput set of projects (designs).

Objects are built on the basis of these modified projects/designs. If a sufficient number are built, it may happen that they will compete with each other. It doesn't matter whether this competition will consist of a physical battle or being chosen by a consumer. Through competition, the projects/designs that do not meet the criteria of competitiveness are eliminated. Therefore competition is selection. What, then, is the second phase of the process of evolutionary improvement? Overproduction, competition or selection? Overproduction, as it leads to competition which in turn selects. So overproduction is the second phase and also the second necessary constructor of the process of evolutionary improvement.

Let's stop for a moment at selection. Under socialism, which was forced upon Eastern Europe after World War II, almost everyone loved goods from the West. Our televisions and cars were uglier and full of flaws, and western washing powders cleaned a lot better than ours. So if someone managed to get some western product, or even the packaging (yes, yes!), he boasted. What was the reason? Socialism does not allow overproduction, everything was bought immediately by hungry consumers. Therefore, selection of products didn't occur, so neither did the selection of the projects/designs. One can not say that they were not modified. They were modified, but these modifications were made on the whim of the designers, not by the will of the consumers. Selection is unfortunately unpleasant, especially for the rejected objects. In real life it manifests itself in various forms: by getting rid of it, reselling at a loss, destruction, killing, not using, etc.. In addition, the selection does not directly influence the single object. So from the point of view of this object it is a bad thing, because it does not bring direct benefits, but is mainly associated with losses. However, for the population of objects it is a beneficial mechanism, necessary and even desirable in every aspect! It is an example of, typical for the physics of life, dilemmas - something that is not good for the individual is good for the population. We call this the I/Group dilemma.

Contrary to appearances, the process of evolutionary improvement is commonly used by mankind. Good examples are competitive sports tournaments. The winner moves on to the next stage of the competition, whilst the losers are eliminated. The competition within the tournament is enormous. Normally there is only one winner and a lot of losers. Only winning matters. Those who do not often win are not eligible for further tournaments. Trainers who do not use effective training methods that ensure the success of their pupils lose their jobs. Strenuous trainings and the competitions, working with proven methods and searching for new ones, thinking about continuous improvement, all this is serves to create and select a master - an object that is best suited to the circumstances. The selection is soulless, does not penetrate into the essence of things, does not pay attention to the details, it just eliminates - a limping bison is immediately hunted by wolves.

Selection is identified with brutality and animality, because animals hunt and devour without mercy, but few people realize that each of us, and almost every day, is equally heartless... even while shopping. When we put the goods into the basket, we do not reflect on the morality of those responsible for their creation, of the working conditions of the employees or even if the workers receive a decent salary. We are guided by our selfish criteria: need, quality, prevailing fashion and personal taste, but mainly with a view to its profitability. So the third phase and also the third necessary constructor of the process of evolutionary improvement is selection.

These three stages are not enough, they must repeat in sequence. The preocess of evolutionary improvement is a perpetual cycle consisting of three stages, occurring one after another, in a specific order. First, the creation of a set of modified projects based on a set of input projects. Second, the overproduction of objects built on the basis of the projects created in the previous step. Third, selection (choice) of a group of objects which will constitute the input projects for the beginning of the next cycle. To achieve significant results the number of cycles has to be large. And for small or random changes to occur - unimaginably large!