Molecules and the Mind

Abstract

The greatest wonder of the molecular world is that it gives rise to the manifold subtleties of sense, thought, and emotion. One might easily imagine tiny molecular machines digesting food or molecular ropes and ratchets powering our arms and legs. These processes are inherently physical, and similar in many respects to processes in our familiar world. But the hazy memory of a childhood friend is far more difficult to imagine at the molecular level. It is becoming clear, however, that each aspect of our inner selves may be traced to a physical, molecular source. Hunger, imagination, pain, sight, fear, dreams, anger, smell, inspiration, lust, touch, taste—all have their roots in the multiple actions and interactions of molecules. Just as a touch of the pendulum endows a collection of gears and weights with the ability to measure time, so too by setting the last molecule in place does a new life begin to think and feel.

“... all music is but three parts vied, and multiplied” George Herbert