I'll look forward to reading your write up.

Dear Sewanu,

I found your point about recognition patterns in atoms truly thought-provoking. This idea of a primitive structural or energetic memory is very interesting. I’m definitely interested in reading your next contribution — you can count on my close attention.

Warm regards, João Carlos Orquiza

Philip G Penketh hilip G Penketh

Dear Philip,

Thank you for your kind words. I'm currently working on a more detailed write-up to better articulate the hypothesis. I’ll be sure to share it once it’s ready — I truly look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.

Best regards, Sewanu

João Carlos Orquiza

Dear João Carlos,

Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply. I’m really glad the idea resonated with you. I’m currently developing the idea further and would be honored to have your continued attention and feedback as it evolves.

Warm regards, Sewanu

Attached here is my proposed idea. I hope it can make a paradigm shift in science.

Dear Sewanu,

I'm currently reading through your proposal, and I must say that this initial statement — "Matter behaves according to what it ‘knows’ about itself — a form of intrinsic pattern memory" — strikes me as a truly original path. As far as I can follow so far, it's a perspective I haven't encountered before.

Looking forward to continuing the reading.

Warm regards, João Carlos Orquiza

Dear Joao,

Thank you so much for your kind words —I’m truly honored that the idea resonates with you. It means a lot to hear that this perspective feels original. I look forward to any thoughts or feedback you might have as you read further.

Warm regards, Sewanu

Dear Sewanu Stephen Godonu,

Firstly, I think I should give you a little information about my personal academic background, before I comment on your hypothesis. My formal training is as a biochemist (B.A; M.A; Ph.D.) and I have worked for a total of approximately 4 decades at the laboratory bench mainly in anticancer and anti-parasite drug design and development. I believe I have a relatively good overall understanding of many of the major concepts in other scientific fields, however you should recognize that when I am talking about areas outside of my direct field of expertise, there is a possibility that I'm talking BS.

Having read your Manifesto, I like the way you think, and I too am certain information can be retained in very simple systems and this can be regarded as a form of memory. The first that springs to mind is photoluminescence. Very simple compounds such as strontium aluminate (& various organic molecules) will glow for a considerable time after being exposed to high energy light photons (the principle being many cheap glow toys etc.). In these molecules it is a spin forbidden transition for this excited form to transition to the ground state, and therefore it re-emits the energy over many minutes or even hours. This glowing is a form of atomic memory, indicating that recently it was exposed to high energy light photons. Additionally information can be encoded in chemical bonds that do not readily rotate. This can be due to the bond having partial double bond character such as keto-enol tautomerism, or in the partial double character of peptide bonds, or by purely steric hindrance effects. The presence of these also can be regarded as information and memory. In a polymer containing such moieties it could carry a long string of the equivalent of binary digits.

I once worked on a drug which possessed two stable conformations. These conformations are known as atropisomers (conformers differing in structure owing to hindered bond rotation) that are interconverted at 37 °C in aqueous solution by first-order kinetics with t1/2 values of ∼50 and ∼64 hours respectively. The atropisomers differ in physical properties such as partition coefficients that allow their chromatographic separation. Interestingly they have striking differences in their rate of metabolism/efficacy towards EMT6 murine mammary carcinoma cells in in vitro assays.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51509897_12-Bismethylsulfonyl-1-2-chloroethyl-2-1-4-nitrophenylethoxycarbonylhydrazine_KS119_A_Cytotoxic_Prodrug_with_Two_Stable_Conformations_Differing_in_Biological_and_Physical_Properties

Again this can be regarded as a sort of relatively stable molecular conformational memory, as their characteristics are retained for days at 37ºC, and for weeks in the refrigerator. However, merely possessing information, say a string of '1's and '0's, or conformations, or a string of DNA base pairs is relatively useless without (the information in) the machinery required to decode this information. This train of thought reminds me of the movie 'Independence Day' where the aliens were defeated as a result of uploading a computer virus, which would have only worked if the aliens were using a Bill Gates DOS based operating, but perhaps such billionaires will do anything for more money/power, and sell out their species to aliens. Thus, without a cell able to transcribe the DNA into mRNA, and an appropriate ribosomes/tRNAs to translate it into protein we could not arrive at the intended encoded product. Thus although we have sequenced the human genome, that sequence alone would not allow one to make a human (this ruins the plots of several SciFi novels and movies in which the DNA sequence is the only information needed). Similarly if we found an alien craft and found information encoded in the equivalent of '0's and '1's it would be useless without their computer machinery and an alien to read it/operate it. Information is everywhere, but to be like Sherlock Holmes and deduce what it means you need a model in which to input that information, so it can be correctly interpreted.

On the macroscopic scale it would be possible to calculate where all the pool balls would scatter and their fates, knowing precisely the trajectory and velocity of the cue ball. However, as we descend in scale, quantum mechanics and uncertainty creep in/emerge and the precise prediction of the behavior of individual atoms becomes impossible to predict.

One point you mentioned concerning the equivalent behavior of hydrogen isotopes I believe is incorrect. The C-D bond is significantly stronger (~3%) than the C-H bond (that is ~ 12 KJ/mol), the activation energy required to break the former is larger, resulting in a smaller rate constant. Thus, a pronounced kinetic isotope effect is observed on deuterium/hydrogen substitution when the breaking of this bond is involved in the rate-determining step. The extent of reaction slowing is quite variable and is likely dependent upon the degree of breakage of the C-D bond in the transition state. Although reaction rate differentials of < ~ 7-fold are usually observed, values as high as 70-fold have been documented (Gant TG. Using Deuterium in Drug Discovery: Leaving the Label in the Drug. J Med Chem. 2014; 57:3595-611.).

Overall, I like your hypothesis and approach, however, I feel that a single unifying theory of everything atomic (Intrinsic Recognition and Memory of Atoms and Molecules) is a herculean task.

All the best, and good luck.

Phil

Dear Philip,

Thank you so much for your thoughtful feedback. I agree — proposing a unifying theory at the atomic level is indeed a Herculean task, and I see this manifesto more as a starting point for rethinking how we understand molecular identity and behavior. I'm very open to refining it in dialogue with others, and your encouragement means a lot as I continue developing the idea further. I look forward to rethinking and exploring more of the incorrectness and important notes you've pointed out. Thanks for your expertise. I hope this will get somewhere even though it might take an eternity, but that's science, and that's the interesting part of it.

Warm regards,

Sewanu

Dear Philip PhD,

After carefully reading your response over again, I realize that photoluminescence is supporting my hypothesis somehow. With that, it opens up a view for me. Thanks for your expertise, and I appreciate your encouragement. I look forward to sharing my new development and will appreciate your perspective. Thanks

Warm regards,

Sewanu

You are welcome.

Cardiac cells synchronize when touching.