www.morphostasis.org.uk

From terra firma to terra plana

This page includes a brief synopsis of the article "From terra firma to terra plana - danger is shaking the foundations. Deconstructing the 'immune system'." - published in 1999

Synopsis and main points

This article emphasises the "presumptions" that lead science up a blind alley

It contends that we are on the edge of a true revolution in immunology

It lists the tenets encompassed by the conventional view

It proceeds to attempt to deconstruct the "immune system" and rebuild it into a "morphostatic system"

It outlines the membership rules for living in the zygote derived colony

It explores "why cell-mediated auto-aggression is so common"

It brings all these former points and articles together in a "synthesis"

It "rounds up" by showing that perspective radically alters our perception of things

It concludes "the system revolves around intracellular surveillance, within individual cells, for dysfunction. Dysfunction is identified by and within each and every nucleated cell of the colony. Danger is signalled when such cells cannot complete a successful and controlled shutdown as things go wrong."

It moves "towards the apotheosis" by pointing out how the danger concept can be replaced with the concept of mess (spilt cellular debris).

It concludes:-

"In converting the analogy to a mess/non-mess discriminator, the whole Morphostasis hypothesis has been strengthened. In particular, the fulcral role of gap junctions has become much more secure. Once we chart the problems faced by an immune system and show how a morphostatic system resolves them, there is - I submit - no contest."

NOTE:

Please note that reference 6 was left out in the published article. Therefore, in the original, numbers 6 to 18 in the bibliography should read 7 to 19 (in the body of the article the numbers are correctly presented). Reference 6 is in "A Sense of Self " . Please also note that there is also a "lapse of concentration" error at the top of page 216 (first paragraph where "irritable" bowel disease should read "inflammatory" bowel disease.

 This page was last updated on 12/11/06