Atoms in motion - Richard Fynman and 6 easy pieces

Above is the name of the first chapter in the book 6 easy pices by Richerd Fynman the physicist. The book is an introductory book, to physics for anyone who needs to create a better model of the world. I could finish the first chapter in just under an hour, and now I know how the steam comes out from my cup of morning cofee and why the coffee becomes colder when that steam is blown away from the wind. I can understand why the soap bubbles which looked like they have perfectly fine surface is slowly decaying spontaneously and dissapear and pop, at the end. It is all due to atoms in motion. I think anyone who is interested in the natural world should have this knowledge of the atomic theory and atoms in motion.

Atoms in motion

He claims at the end of the chapter, "Everything that animals do, atoms do". And further explains this bold claim that, "There is nothing that living things do that cannot be understood from the point of view that they are made of atoms acting according to the laws of physics". This quote gave me a remarkable insight. Previously I discussed that what is common to all living things is liking and disliking. Or "having a desire". It is not movement. It is not replication. It is not even thinking, or eating. All living things show that they desire "good" things and they desire "bad" things to go away. You just have to keep your flower pot by the window, and you will see it leans towards the sunlight. Away from your dark shadowy room. Plant is living.

Living things in motion

We use this character to distinguish living from non living. All other characters of so called living are not fundemental. I have seen animals living witout able to replicate. A tree is living without able to run away. If you do not eat, you will still be living after 5 days, but what vanishes when you die is your desire to acqure things. I would say a person who is depressed and without a will, is more dead than a corpse! Now lets move from philosophy and combine our knoledge about atom theory, with our knowlege about living organism.

Atoms in motion

As you can see, fundemental characeristic of atom theory, is they attract and repulse each other, in specific ways. Oxygeon atom desires a hydrogen atom, or two. So they combine to make a water molecule. A carbon desires carbon, and they combine to make coal, but when met with oxygen, the attraction/desire is so furious that it starts to burn. Make a fire with oxygen and make carbondioxide. Now compare this to your desires. What do you feel when you desire something. Like an object or a dream or a vision, that you feel you should achieve. Initially there will be blurry feelings, however when desire gets stronger, you will start to feel the burn inside. Like the firestones clash together to make a fire. And it seems the theory put forward by Richard Fynman is very true. Desire/attraction is not just the characteristic of all living things like I thought. It is the characteristic thing of all things, living and non living. So, if we share same characteristics with microscopic atoms, in macroscopic way, are we living or non living? There is a possibility what we consider "our" desires are not truely "ours" to begin with. But combination of desires of atoms living inside us.

Isn't it amazing universe has created a combination of atoms, so complex that it is able to understand it's own structure and function? And you are such a copy of this same configuration and you are wasting your time on earth making errends meet without investigating this?

Richard Fynman:

I often seen him say, he is just a kid, a normal person, who devoted a lot of time studying hard which he strived to study. But when I read his book I can clearly disagree to this fact. As, he is able to discribe the shape of an intricate snowflake (hexagonal) just with few blob diagram of water molecules. Let's say he failed to understand he is unique and awsome !