Metropolis Organism Blog Post #25, Civilization According to Science
CIVILIZATION ACCORDING TO SCIENCE According to science, civilization is a life form. Not in the way a rabbit is a life form, but in the way early life was: bacterial, pre-organismic, and indifferent to the individuals that temporarily compose it. Civilization persists, metabolizes, maintains itself, accumulates constraint, and evolves. Humans function within this system as necessary but unremarkable components. This claim relies on no metaphor, intention, culture, consciousness, or meaning. It follows directly from applying scientific reasoning consistently and without human-centered exception. Life, according to science, is defined by process, not appearance. It is characterized by sustained energy throughput, material transformation, persistence through time, self-maintenance, accumulation of constraint, and differential survival of structure. These criteria applied long before animals existed. For most of Earth’s history, life consisted of bacteria and proto-cells—loosely boun...