First, let’s continue from last time — the circulation on Earth that begins with the sun.

In this circulation, as you know, plants perform photosynthesis, creating organic matter (sugar) from carbon dioxide using the power of the sun.

Then, animals breathe, turning sugar back into carbon dioxide while extracting and using energy.

This is a cycle of passing on the energy received from the sun, changing its form.

In other words, life is a system that relays the power received from the sun. Up to this point, we’re on the same page, right?

Here’s a question: what do you think is the difference between living things and nonliving things?

True, but I actually agree.

There’s a theory (*1) that focuses on function, and from that perspective, I see being alive as “a system that keeps running cycles endlessly, and through that activity creates the boundary between itself and the outside world.”

So, anything with such a self-running system is a living thing.

Exactly — self-running.

But why do living things keep running on their own?

I didn’t have a good answer for that before.

I used to just think, that’s just how life is.

But one day, I felt like I finally found the answer.
The clue was entropy.

As I said earlier, the “force that makes things mix” — the source of all phenomena in the universe — disappears once things are fully mixed.

That means the state after mixing, when the force is gone — death — is actually the most natural state in the universe.

But living things keep running. Why?

From what we’ve seen so far, it’s because living things, or ecosystems, have a system to circulate the power they receive from the sun.

And at the same time, they have a mechanism for handling genetic information — the blueprint that creates, passes on, and adapts that system to the environment.

So, living things combine both the self-running force and the mechanism to maintain it.

And to keep that self-running force means they keep holding on to the force before mixing —
living things constantly maintain the state before mixing (*2).
(We could even explain genetic information and evolution with entropy, but let’s save that for another time (*3).)

Earlier I said the post-mixing, death state is the most natural state.

So in that sense, nothing is more unnatural than life.

In a universe always heading toward death, life resists it, keeping the state before mixing.

That’s what life is, what it means to be alive.

And all this exists miraculously within the circulation starting from the sun.

Yeah, it’s strange.

And I think it’s exactly this unnaturalness, this mystery, that makes us feel the vitality and wonder of life.

Now, think about this — there’s something in our everyday lives that’s strangely similar to living things.

What do you think it is?

Definitely.

Maybe it’s just me, but one of those things is architecture.

Exactly.

For example, when we design comfortable buildings, we try to make the indoor temperature lower than outside in summer, higher in winter.

In other words, we maintain the state before mixing — an unnatural state.

And to do that, we keep improving technology, adapting to the environment.

Doesn’t that sound a lot like what living things do?

…
Maybe it is.

But I think there’s a hint here.

I used to feel a bit of guilt about controlling the environment of architecture, about maintaining an unnatural state.

But when I realized living things themselves are unnatural,
and that this very unnaturalness gives life its meaning and vitality,
that guilt began to fade.

That doesn’t mean I think controlling the environment is always good.

I just think we should take inspiration from life, which exists miraculously within the circulation starting from the sun.

And if we can do that, maybe we can give architecture a sense of vitality, like life itself.

Then architecture wouldn’t be built out of duty or obligation.
It would be architecture that affirms all forms of existence,
architecture that affirms the people who live in it.
I don’t know if this answers your question, Semuu,
but I want to create architecture that feels connected to life itself.
And I want to do it together with you and Niki.
I think that’s what it really means to live.

???
Semuu?
What’s wrong?

!!!!!!!!!!

……
Uh… I didn’t know what to say…
One Semuu was already like having a hundred people…
Now it’s like two hundred…

………………………………..
W-well, yes…
Let’s do our best…
(There’s so much we still don’t understand about these Insect-humans…)