Excitable Fields, K/r, and Brian Goodwin

Brian Goodwin (1994) rejects the notion of life as a function of genetic despots. He eases to the next level of causal description, that of "excitable fields" at the molecular, tissue, organ, organism, and community levels.(1)

Every growth process elicits opposing inhibitory ones; the detailed outcome of growth is very much a function of environmental conditions. The interplay of growth and inhibition produces a rhythmic oscillation in the spread of an organization whether that structure is a product of simple chemicals or complex (living) chemicals. Goodwin works his way (upward?) from one-celled, living rococo sculptures that vary greatly with external conditions, despite there being no changes in genotype. Elaborate, dainty forms occur in one-celled creatures and change as a function of the surrounding medium. At another level, eye color and size in fruitflies is a complex interaction of temperature with the gene that is carried. Ants exhibit similar phenomena ...

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