Dutch biologist Gerard Jagers op Akkerhuis has developed the ‘operator hierarchy’ — a system based on the complexity of particles and of organisms, which can predict the next step in evolution: a technical life form, that can pass on its knowledge and experience to the next generation.
Jagers will receive his doctorate from Radboud University Nijmegen on Monday 6 September.
Biologists’ take on the hierarchy of life has been pretty careless up to now. This hinders the discipline, says Gerard Jagers op Akkerhuis. And there is room for improvement: following lengthy research Jagers came up with a hierarchy that is not only more consistent but also includes the classification of inorganic natural matter.
Following after the ‘memons’, the multicellulars with a neural network, Jagers predicts that the next closure will lead to a life form in which the transfer of the blueprint by means of genes is replaced with the transfer of knowledge and collective experience by so-called ‘memes’.
