MULTICELLULAR ORGANISMS 



As one follows the unfolding evolution of multicel- 

 lular organisms, one finds that the increasing com- 

 plexity of structure gives rise to ever more effective 

 creatures. By the term ''more effective" is meant crea- 

 tures that have a better chance of survival in some 

 particular environment than their 'less effective" an- 

 cestors. To the statement that the more developed 

 creatures are more effective (if defined as has been 

 done here) , an obvious objection may be raised. 

 Namely that some of the lower forms of life can survive 

 under conditions where the more complex organisms 

 would perish. While this is certainly true, it does not 

 really invalidate our premise. There are surely condi- 

 tions where the higher forms of life have a better 

 chance of survival than the lower forms. This must 

 after all be true on a purely pragmatic basis — as they 

 did in fact develop and survive. But what is the more 

 surprising consideration, is the fact that they survived 

 in spite of their higher extropy. 



Based on purely thermodynamic considerations one 

 would expect that generally high extropy formations 

 have a smaller chance of preserving their level, than 

 formations of a relatively lower entropy. This consid- 

 eration is based on the assumption that the rate of 

 equalization of entropy levels increases as the differ- 

 ence between these entropy levels increases. This con- 

 sideration seems to hold for physical systems, the 

 entropy of which can be quantitatively compared. Yet 

 in examining living organisms one finds that low en- 



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