Thoughts on networks, from the subatomic to the cosmic scale

I've been researching proteins, which are the "work horses" of all known forms of life. We are made up of trillions and trillions of these molecules; if each protein in your body were enlarged to the size of a coin, they would fill the Pacific Ocean. Amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, are themselves constructed from atoms. In essence, these proteins are atomic networks that, like artificial neural networks, process external information, develop rational judgments, and then act accordingly by undergoing structural rearrangements that either activate or deactivate them. Inter-protein interaction networks determine the fate of the cell at a hierarchical level above intra-protein interaction. An estimated 37 trillion cells across the body connect and network with each other on a scale above the molecular world to help us develop, survive, respond, move, and reproduce.

As science uncovers a menagerie of particles beyond the atomic realm, one may question if there is a lower limit to the complexity of these hierarchical networks. But these networks go far beyond the organism connecting everything in our cosmos, encompassing the web of life, the network of vacuum fluctuations in space that connect the electromagnetic waves to the web of life, the network of gravitational fields that shape the trajectory of Earth, the influence of networks of solar systems and galaxies, and so on and so forth. Yet again, it's intriguing to speculate about whether these networks have an upper limit.

Undoubtedly, all things in the universe are connected in some fundamental way. While you and I may be insignificant in the grand scheme of things, every activity has an impact on the networks both within and outside of our bodies. Most significantly, everything developed from a singularity, and separation is really an illusion generated by time; we are more linked than we realize.