The universe and everything in it are staggeringly complex. This complexity is somewhat displayed in the range of scientific specialization; no one person can possibly master what is known about anything but a small part. And, if they are honest, they will quickly acknowledge that the mysteries within their specialty are vastly larger than what is known; that is what draws good scientists to investigate further and farther.

A simple sketch – stone

If you are walking along a beach and see a small stone, perhaps what will interest you is its size and shape. Is it suitable for skipping across the water? Or perhaps its colors and patterns catch your attention and you will take it home to admire and show others.

If you are a builder using stone, you need to understand the ability of differing types of stone to bear weight under compression and how resistance they are to weathering. You need to know how easy it is to be worked into a shape, and the trade-offs between being easily worked and being strong and resistant. You need to know how common (or rare) it is where you are building as that will greatly affect the price.

Of course, there is much more than these things. A stone is composed of various minerals that have been formed by geological processes over vast amounts of time. These may have been “simply” pressed together by tons and tons of these materials over time; they may have been put under such pressure and heat that they became plastic and bent; differing materials may have become mixed and chemical reactions taken process to form new minerals; they may have been melted and then expelled from a volcano; or they may have experienced all these processes (and more) over untold millions of years.

The story of the stone goes back even further. The various heavy elements that make it up were formed in the heart of ancient stars by the process of fusing lighter elements together under nearly unimaginable heat and pressure over billions of years. These elements only became available to be used in the formation of the earth (and elsewhere) after the (violent) deaths of these ancient stars.

Then there are the physics of this all. You can look at the macro level and the forces at work on the various materials. You can look at the atomic level to understand how various elements combine in chemical reactions. You can look at the at the particles and forces within the atoms that hold them together (or thrust them apart). You can look at the sub-atomic level, at the particles and forces that make-up the atomic particles. It may still go deeper, I have only a relatively simple understanding of these things.

Humans and other living things

Life is still more complex. Of course, there is all the physics and chemistry involved, but also all the processes that go to sustain life and reproduce it. These are vastly complex at the level of bacteria and archaea (both are Prokaryotes – they have no nucleus or mitochondria – they have a “simpler” internal structure than the Eukaryotes, of which we – and trees and mushrooms and insects and etc. – are examples). One theory is that Eukaryotes evolved when an archaeon enveloped a bacterium and did not digest it but developed a symbiotic relationship where the bacteria eventually became mitochondria (and similarly, chloroplasts in plants).

Humans (and other multi-cellular organisms) have this complexity overlayed by the complexity of having cells of many types and functions interacting and functioning as a whole. When you think about it, it is staggering to realize that anything this complex can survive – think of the sheer number of things that can go wrong – much less thrive.

Any human is absolutely unique; there is not only the underlying biology, but also all the experiences that person has had. These experiences start from conception; while the gestation of each baby follows similar paths, they are not identical, even identical twins with identical genes in the same womb have slightly differing experiences. These differences accumulate throughout the person’s life.

In the paragraph above, I emphasized the uniqueness of each individual, but of course we also have vast amounts of things in common. If we did not, medicine could not function nor could society. We are social beings and we are molded in complex ways by social structures as well as our physical environment. These commonalities enable us to feel empathy and compassion – not only for humans, but for animals that we perceive as being similar to ourselves. Some humans seem to be incapable of these feelings; they can be very dangerous.

Simplification and Categorizing

The sheer complexity of the universe and everything in it forces us to classify people and things; otherwise, we would be overwhelmed. One aspect of being alive is the ability to see patterns and groupings in our environment. This is not uniquely human, but someone who is better able to discern patterns than most of us, is thought to be more intelligent. Naturally, we can see patterns that are not there or we can be fooled by patterns into not seeing something that is there. Optical illusions, camouflage and most magic tricks depend on this.

Generally, this simplifying is very useful. An animal sensing a large boulder coming rapidly down a hill towards it, does not need to analyze the intricacies of the geological history of the stone or the complex crystalline structures within it, it knows that it must either escape or find shelter quickly. Similarly, when the pipes in our home are clogged, we need a plumber; we do not need to know of the complexity of the plumber’s background, marital history, or social class. These are most likely all interesting and should we have both the time and inclination, worth learning about (but not at the hourly rate a plumber charges). We need someone to fix the plumbing.

Where this goes wrong

Simplification and categorization are useful mental tricks until we start to think and act as though these constructs are all there is.

One aspect of our being social beings is that we are also tribal. Evidently, all our earliest history was formed around small, familial groups. All groups define themselves (usually as good) versus others (usually as less good in some way or even evil). This serves some very useful purposes (teamwork, supporting those in difficulties, etc.), however, war between groups seems to predate humanity. All life involves competition for resources, unwarranted trust results in loss or even death.

In relatively recent times, humans have learned to enlarge the group. First it was the clan, an extended family. Then came the village or town or city or nation. Since these groups were too large for us to know everyone, they were mostly created from smaller groups based on family or occupation. We know that there is strength in numbers and so other commonalities than our genes can be a basis for cooperation and mutual aid. Competition continues, but rules are established to keep it within agreed bounds.

There still is the other, even within our groups. Who is the other and how do we view them? Perhaps we see them as merely different in some aspect, perhaps with interesting food or music, not quite as good as our group of course, but they cannot help it. We can mix and socialize, we can come together for a common purpose in support of the larger group, and, just perhaps, our groups will even merge given enough time.

But what if we see them as dangerous, hostile and aggressive? This does not have to be even true, but too often it becomes true; if we treat them as if all these things are true, they may coalesce around resistance to this treatment and become all these things to us. Left unchecked, this process can lead to disaster.

Typically, this negative spiral is accentuated by one or both groups simplifying the other, making caricatures of the other that denies their basic humanity. If they are not really human, it is easier to justify cruelty.

If we really want peace, not victory and dominance, we need to break this cycle. We need to emphasize what we have in common and what the other contributes. We need to transform this view of the other into the first view mentioned above. We need positive stories about the other, kindness can breed kindness. Anybody who works to increase hostility is the real enemy; they should be marginalized and isolated as much as possible (conversion is preferable of course).