Felicidad & The Theory of

EverythingMarta Pinilla

Metaphor is to the human mind what folding is to science.

Some scientists use origami as a metaphor for under-standing the complexity of the cosmos. The amount of complexity in a structure such as a galaxy or filament of galaxies increases with the amount of “origami pa-per” that gets folded up to construct the structure.The team will use this definition for the first all-inclu-sive quantitative measurement of the complexity, or entropy, in the cosmic web. In modern theories of grav-ity, entropy is a subtle concept, but it seems to be of crucial importance. Fully understanding gravitational entropy may provide the key to the mystery of “dark energy,” the accelerated expansion of the universe.

In the current, observationally successful picture of how the Universe developed, there is an origami anal-

ogy that is helpful in understanding the formation of the “cosmic web” arrangement of galaxies. The cos-

mic web is the cellular, foam-like arrangement of galaxies in the Universe; they line the edges of vast voids.

The analogy to origami only goes so far, though. First, the cosmological origami sheet

is stretchy, unlike in paper origami. Second, the cosmological sheet is three-dimen-

sional, folding up in six dimensions, unlike 2D paper-origami sheets that fold up in 3D.

The analogy to origami only goes so far, though. First, the cosmological origami sheet

is stretchy, unlike in paper origami. Second, the cosmological sheet is three-dimen-

sional, folding up in six dimensions, unlike 2D paper-origami sheets that fold up in 3D.

In Einstein’s theory of gen-

eral relativity, gravity comes

about through the distortion

that matter and energy pro-

duce in a four-dimensional

spacetime “sheet.” Gravity

also causes another kind of

sheet that pervades space to

distort and fold: the three-di-

mensional cosmological “ori-

gami” sheet of dark matter.

OU

R

univ

erse

w

as

shap

ed

by

orig

ami.

Gra

vity

to

ok

a pr

imor

dial

pa

per

shee

t

and

fold

ed

it to

fo

rm

gala

xies

, th

us

brin

ging

lig

ht

and

life

to

the

cosm

os.

This

orig

inal

take

on

the

crea

tion

myt

h is

mor

e th

an ju

st e

mpt

y m

etap

hor.

One

ast

roph

ysic

ist i

s

disc

over

ing

how

orig

ami c

an te

ll us

a fe

w th

ings

abo

ut h

ow g

alax

ies

are

crea

ted,

why

they

tend

to

spin

in u

niso

n – a

nd h

ow in

thei

r ear

ly d

ays t

hey m

ay h

ave b

een

nest

ed w

ithin

vast

, dar

k pol

ygon

s.

UN

IV

ER

SE

Everything is made of folds - the earth, our DNA, illness and health in the folding and unfold-ing of protein molecules, the human brain, the uni-verse, our clothes, the folding and unfolding of our memories, met-aphors and dreams ....

Everything is made of folds - the earth, our DNA, illness and health in the folding and unfold-ing of protein molecules, the human brain, the uni-verse, our clothes, the folding and unfolding of our memories, met-aphors and dreams ....

Everything is made of folds - the earth, our DNA, illness and health in the folding and unfold-ing of protein molecules, the human brain, the uni-verse, our clothes, the folding and unfolding of our memories, met-aphors and dreams ....

Everything is made of folds - the earth, our DNA, illness and health in the folding and unfold-ing of protein molecules, the human brain, the uni-verse, our clothes, the folding and unfolding of our memories, met-aphors and dreams ....

Art im

itates nature as tissue paper patterns the shape of living tissue. The fine wrinkles and frag-

ile creases of some artist’s m

odel depict the brain’s intricate ordering and delicate construction.

Nature also im

itates art. The development of the nervous system

begins with a tiny lay-

er of cells, and as they grow, they undergo an elaborate sequence of foldings that cul-

minate

in the

structure of

the brain.

The resem

blance to

origami

is evident

as ear-

ly as the beginning of the third week of hum

an life. Like a crease in a piece of paper, a

narrow groove know

n as the primitive streak appears on the surface of the em

bryonic ectoderm.

BR

AI

N

Everything is made of folds - the earth, our DNA, illness and health in the folding and unfold-ing of protein molecules, the human brain, the uni-verse, our clothes, the folding and unfolding of our memories, met-aphors and dreams ....

Everything is made of folds - the earth, our DNA, illness and health in the folding and unfold-ing of protein molecules, the human brain, the uni-verse, our clothes, the folding and unfolding of our memories, met-aphors and dreams ....

Everything is made of folds - the earth, our DNA, illness and health in the folding and unfold-ing of protein molecules, the human brain, the uni-verse, our clothes, the folding and unfolding of our memories, met-aphors and dreams ....

Everything is made of folds - the earth, our DNA, illness and health in the folding and unfold-ing of protein molecules, the human brain, the uni-verse, our clothes, the folding and unfolding of our memories, met-aphors and dreams ....

Myriads of paper folds would be needed to model the microscopic interior of the brain. Replicat-

ing the manifold twists and turns of 100 billion neurons sharing 160 trillion synapses would chal-

lenge the most nimble-fingered origamist. This level of structural intricacy, though impressive,

is less remarkable than the brain’s functional capacity. From a folded sheet of neurons emerge

such high-level cognitive faculties as perception, language, abstract reasoning, and creative

expression. From this grey matter also comes the skill to guide hands to fold paper into pre-

cise geometric shapes that transform ideas into visual metaphors and delight the imagination.

Myriads of paper folds would be needed to model the microscopic interior of the brain. Replicat-

ing the manifold twists and turns of 100 billion neurons sharing 160 trillion synapses would chal-

lenge the most nimble-fingered origamist. This level of structural intricacy, though impressive,

is less remarkable than the brain’s functional capacity. From a folded sheet of neurons emerge

such high-level cognitive faculties as perception, language, abstract reasoning, and creative

expression. From this grey matter also comes the skill to guide hands to fold paper into pre-

cise geometric shapes that transform ideas into visual metaphors and delight the imagination.

The Baroque does not refer to an essence,

but rather to an operative function, to a

characteristic. It endlessly creates folds. It

does not invent the thing: there are all the

folds that come from the Orient – Greek,

Roman, Romanesque, Gothic, classical

folds… But it twists and turns the folds,

takes them to infinity, fold upon fold, fold

after fold. The characteristic of the Baroque

is the fold that goes on to infinity. And from

the beginning it differentiates them along

two lines, according to two infinites, as if

the infinite had two levels: the coils of mat-

ter, and the folds in the soul. Below, matter

is amassed according to an initial type of

fold, then organized according to a second

type, insofar as its parts constitute organs

“differently folded and more or less devel-

oped”. Above, the soul sing the glory of

God by running along its own folds, though

without succeeding in entirely develop-

ing them, “for they reach into the infinite”

The Baroque does not refer to an essence,

but rather to an operative function, to a

characteristic. It endlessly creates folds. It

does not invent the thing: there are all the

folds that come from the Orient – Greek,

Roman, Romanesque, Gothic, classical

folds… But it twists and turns the folds,

takes them to infinity, fold upon fold, fold

after fold. The characteristic of the Baroque

is the fold that goes on to infinity. And from

the beginning it differentiates them along

two lines, according to two infinites, as if

the infinite had two levels: the coils of mat-

ter, and the folds in the soul. Below, matter

is amassed according to an initial type of

fold, then organized according to a second

type, insofar as its parts constitute organs

“differently folded and more or less devel-

oped”. Above, the soul sing the glory of

God by running along its own folds, though

without succeeding in entirely develop-

ing them, “for they reach into the infinite”

Binaries such as inside/outside and

surface/depth operate with an either/

or logic: it’s one or the other. The

fold, however, allows for the oper-

ation of and: it’s both this and that.

There’s a distinction between what

I feel and what I say, sure. But they

are intimately bound up and rarely

opposed. They are different planes

of a common event: the event of me.

I am a series of folds within an ori-

gami universe. Of course, this is

not to say that there aren’t tears

in the surface of things. But there

is no nothing nor is there an out-

side. The universe is a plenum, full

of itself. A tear is a kind of fold, too.

Texts from

The Huffington Post. N.p., 2012. Web. 7 May 2016.

Battersby, Stephen. “How To Make An Origami Universe”. New Scientist. N.p., 2016. Web. 7 May 2016.

Deleuze, Gilles. The Fold. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993. Print.

“Grey Matters: The Origami Brain: From Neural Folds To Neuroethics”. The center for Bioethics. N.p., 2016. Print.

“JHU Cosmologists Touted For Work On ‘Origami Universe’”. The Hub. N.p., 2012. Web. 7 May 2016.

Images from the author. Photographs has been taken over Twin Peaks, Misfits and Breaking Bad photo-grams.