Life: Emergent or Fundamental?
A Dialogue Between Paul Werbos and the Geometry of Reality
Sungchul Ji, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Cell Biology
Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University
October 17, 2025
1. Two Views of Life
What is life—an emergent phenomenon arising from the laws of physics, or a fundamental feature of reality coequal with matter and mind?
Physicist and systems theorist Paul Werbos and I share a deep conviction that the universe operates according to a unifying variational logic. Yet we diverge profoundly in how we interpret life’s ontological status.
Werbos sees life as emergent within the same mathematical continuum that governs atoms and galaxies.
The Geometry of Reality (GOR), by contrast, treats life and consciousness as fundamental dimensions of existence—irreducible, co-original with energy and information.
2. Werbos’s View: Continuity from Physics to Life
For Werbos, the Lagrangian and entropy functions used in physics already contain the seeds of intelligence.
He proposes that the same mathematical equations—the Lagrangian for mechanics and entropy for thermodynamics—can describe systems from electrons to ecosystems to brains.
In his framework:
The universe optimizes a generalized Lagrangian or cost function.
Life and mind emerge naturally as higher-order solutions to these same equations.
Biological and cognitive systems are thus extensions of control theory, implementing universal optimization.
In your geometric language, Werbos’s universe resides on the XY-plane—the plane of Energy (X) and Information (Y).
It is a world of mathematical continuity where all phenomena, living or non-living, obey the same optimization laws.
3. The Geometry of Reality: Triadic and Fundamental
The Geometry of Reality (GOR) [3] offers a different ontology.
Reality is triadic, not monistic, defined by three orthogonal axes:
Where Werbos confines life to the XY-plane, the GOR situates life within the full XYZ volume.
Life and consciousness are not outcomes of physical processes but principles of organization through which matter and information acquire coherence, direction, and telos.
In this triadic framework:
Energy (X) provides capacity for work.
Information (Y) regulates that work.
Meaning / Spirit (Z) selects and sustains what endures.
Their unity—the Gnergiton—is the living whole.
Thus, the GOR replaces emergence with co-origination: life, mind, and matter are different aspects of one gnergic geometry.
4. The Philosophical Divide
In brief: Werbos’s universe [4] is a mathematical continuum where life emerges from complexity. The GOR universe [3] is a triadic manifold where life constitutes complexity itself.
5. A Possible Reconciliation
Both perspectives may represent different projections of the same deeper structure.
Werbos’s equations elegantly describe the visible dynamics of the XY-plane—the domain of measurable energy and information. The GOR reveals the invisible depth—the Z-dimension of context and meaning that makes those dynamics alive.
In this integrative reading, Werbos’s Lagrangian-entropy models trace the shadow of GOR on the XY-plane: precise but incomplete, two-dimensional reflections of a three-dimensional ontology.
6. Figure 1 — From Werbos to GOR [3]
Caption:
Werbos situates life within the XY-plane of energy and information, where it arises as an emergent optimization process. The Geometry of Reality situates life within the full XYZ volume, where meaning (Z) joins energy (X) and information (Y) to form the triadic whole called the Gnergiton.The XY-plane is the visible projection of the invisible triadic volume—the surface shadow of living reality.
7. Toward a Triadic Science of Reality
The next synthesis in science may come from merging these views:
Werbos’s mathematics captures the measurable flow of energy and information.
The GOR supplies the missing dimension of meaning and purpose.
Together they could yield a triadic physics of life—a science where the Lagrangian and entropy functions are not abandoned but lifted into Gnergy, uniting efficient, formal, and final causation in a single geometry.
In this integrated view, life is not an accident of the universe—it is the universe realizing its own capacity to organize, to know, and to mean.
References
1. Werbos, P. J. (Various writings on Lagrangian and entropy functions in physics and life systems).
2. Ji, S. (2018). The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter. World Scientific.
3. Ji, S. (2025). The Geometry of Reality (GOR): A Triadic Framework for Matter, Mind, and Spirit. https://622622.substack.com/p/geometry-of-reality
4. Werbos, P. (2022). Mathematical Foundations of Life, Mind and All Emergent Phenomena. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1istaZHB3eg4_bRD2KKCEyKaB1bx-vxvK/edit
5. Ji, S. (2025). Self-Organization as the Ultimate Variational Principle of Nature. https://622622.substack.com/p/self-organization-as-the-ultimate
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