3.13 Design

In the physics of life, the concept of design plays a key role. So let's define it. Design is a set of information recorded in any way for the construction of an object and/or its properties.

The first important feature of a design is that no matter who produces the final product, the results should be the same. If we send the same design to two different producers, one in Armenia and the other in Malaysia, we should get near-identical products. The second fundamental feature of the design is that it is recorded... and able to be duplicated.

Note that "a set of information recorded in any way" includes not only drawings (if needed), but also instructions "how to assemble" and more complicated information such as "how to behave during assembly" and "how the product should behave/react". When building a house, the builders get the design from the architect, which precisely defines how the building should look, what materials to use and how to proceed. In the case of living objects, the design is a bit different.

The key difference could be summarized as such: a cell "knows" that in certain conditions it can divide. In other terms the given conditions trigger the division of the cells. However, too many cells result in a change of the external conditions which stops division. The signals which control the multiplication of cells have different origins, for example: molar concentration, stress, magnetism, pressure, electricity and others.

The design of the structure differs from the design of the properties. The latter requires, for example, information about the initial values of the property and their limits. To illustrate this let's imagine a freshly made car which goes to be painted. The possibility to paint this car is a property, and that the chosen colour is, for example, red - this is a specific state of this property. The design precisely defines which colour it should be painted. Design can also contain information defining the behaviour of a given property, for example, how to control or regulate. Instincts encoded in our genetic designs contradict the philosophical concept of tabula rasa - that all knowledge comes only from experience, and at birth, our brain is devoid of any information and is a blank slate. In fact, it's hard to believe that some of our behaviours are stored in our genetic design, but if it were not so, newborn mammals would have no sucking reflex and insects could not fly.

In the case of man-made designs, there are specialists to manage them: to create, modify, verify and implement. We call them designers, engineers, technicians... The designs used in production can not usually be modified. However, it happens that they may change for example missing word sorry missing a word by a nice secretary copying the design or a lazy employee who can't find the right bolt. I remember well the situation when Klaus - my boss from the fine mechanic factory, came up to me and said: The only work we earned from last month were the orthopedic supports which you did. How did it happen that you did this in six hours, when you estimated it would take eighty? I reached for my notebook, where I did the calculation, and it turned out that I committed a basic mathematical mistake! Instead of seven I came to seventy hours. What's more, to this result I added the customary 10% covering "any unforeseen circumstances". I handed this calculation to Klaus, and he, while preparing the offer to the customer, rounded up my 77 hours to 80. As a result, the offer was ten times more than it should have been. The customer accepted it, and this shows how a random mistake in the design brought a nice profit!

The natural designs of living objects are stored within every cell regardless of its nature and purpose. The body/cell is the product and the carrier of the design at the same time. As long as man does not begin to alter the genetic code, the designs were only shaped by stages of biological evolution, which we will discuss in detail soon.