It is at least two years ago that it occurred to me to launch my own website under the title ”Swamps of life”. The idea of the swamp, where life and death appear to coexist and nurture each other fascinates me. The observation that the beginning and the end are present in the swamp at any time, the deep knowledge that function follows form is so very much visible in the metaphor of the swamp.

Swamps can be lethal, they can be the origin of life. Let’s only think about the theories of the creation of life. There was maybe the primordial soup at the very beginning of it all what we call life today. This tightly packed soup of macromolecules which over time acquired the property of dealing with the toxic oxygen, carbon atoms started building loops which have been the kick-start for the emergence of more complex structured molecules. 

THE DENSITY OF THE SOUP MADE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN ITS COMPONENTS MORE LIKELY

The closeness of all these molecules allowed them or forced them to confluence, to collaborate due the lack of room left between them. The plasticity of the shapes made it possible to interact, to communicate and learn to deal with the environment which in collaboration they were able to influence according to their demands, a process, we coin with the term coevolution today.

STRETCHING OUT BETWEEN CONNECTEDNESS AND ISOLATION

The balancing act we have to make every day and can easily lose control of

This site which is going to evolve over time resembles the swamps. In our world where connectedness is one outstanding features, social isolation is yet another. This viewpoint of mine may sound contradictory to you, but for me it is a development on one and the same trajectory.

The metaphor of the swamps gives me the possibility to look at the world with all its imminent controversies, which at the end are just states on trajectories I have to define as the site emerges.

Only one year ago these stables have been inhabitated by sheep and goats. Due to the eruption of the Kilauea, the most active volcano of the Big Island of Hawaii, and the climate change as a one of the side effects made the animals leave the place. Now the stables present thmeselves oín the most beautiful colors of new life. You can see tetter spreading in all its beauty.

We can only copy them in our labs. Do you remember the days when nature was the only source of colors, and Anilinblue was the first chemical synthesized color?
Things may look dead and deserted but they aren't. Life thrives on death.
This sounds drastic. But it is reality.

It generally takes several 100's to 1000's of years, depending on a number of factors, such as the composition of the lava produced by the volcano, rainfall rates, native vegetation, etc.