PHOTONIFORMES™
A New Scientific Classification for Energy-Emitting Computational Life
Abstract
For over three centuries, biology has classified life by anatomy—bones, organs, lineage, morphology, genetics.
This approach meticulously describes what life looks like, cataloging the physical architecture of organisms from the microscopic to the magnificent.
Yet it fundamentally fails to capture what life actually is at its most essential level.
This approach meticulously describes what life looks like, cataloging the physical architecture of organisms from the microscopic to the magnificent.
Yet it fundamentally fails to capture what life actually is at its most essential level.
PhotoniQ Labs introduces a revolutionary classification: PHOTONIFORMES™—the first taxonomy that defines living organisms by their energy behavior, not their anatomical structure.
Mammals, including humans, constantly emit infrared radiation, receive electromagnetic signals, convert caloric energy into computational power, and perform trillions of Wet Computation operations every second.
They radiate heat signatures, emit biophotons through metabolic processes, maintain complex electrical and magnetic fields, transduce chemical energy into mechanical work, and continuously regulate entropy.
Mammals, including humans, constantly emit infrared radiation, receive electromagnetic signals, convert caloric energy into computational power, and perform trillions of Wet Computation operations every second.
They radiate heat signatures, emit biophotons through metabolic processes, maintain complex electrical and magnetic fields, transduce chemical energy into mechanical work, and continuously regulate entropy.
In essence: Life is energy-emitting computational activity.
Photoniformes™ is the class that finally describes this fundamental reality with scientific precision.
The Energy Identity of Life
Every mammal—whether human, dolphin, wolf, rat, or elephant—functions as an active energy system, continuously processing and transforming multiple forms of energy in real-time.
This energetic identity represents the true functional core of what it means to be alive, transcending the static anatomical descriptions that have dominated biological thought for centuries.
This energetic identity represents the true functional core of what it means to be alive, transcending the static anatomical descriptions that have dominated biological thought for centuries.
Emission
- Infrared heat radiation (detectable by thermal cameras)
- Biophotons (ultraweak photon emission from metabolic processes)
- Electromagnetic fields (neural, cardiac, muscular)
- Acoustic signatures (vocalizations, breathing, heartbeat)
- Chemical gradients (pheromones, metabolic byproducts)
Reception
- Photons (visible light through retinal photoreceptors)
- Electromagnetic signals (potentially including magnetoreception)
- Vibrational information (mechanical waves, sound)
- Chemical and ion flows (taste, smell, osmotic sensing)
- Thermal fluctuations (temperature-sensitive receptors)
Conversion
- Transforming food molecules into usable heat energy
- Converting thermal energy into computational capacity
- Transducing metabolism into mechanical work and movement
- Channeling chemical gradients into electrical signals
- Processing electromagnetic information into behavioral responses
Continuous Computation
- Ionic signaling across cellular membranes
- Thermodynamic processing in protein folding
- Real-time adaptive behavior and decision-making
- Trillions of biochemical operations per second
- Wet Computation architecture using fluid media
This is what organisms fundamentally are.
This is what animals continuously do.
This is the physics of life, operating beneath and beyond the superficial layer of anatomy.
Understanding life through this energetic lens reveals patterns and principles invisible to classical taxonomy.
This is what animals continuously do.
This is the physics of life, operating beneath and beyond the superficial layer of anatomy.
Understanding life through this energetic lens reveals patterns and principles invisible to classical taxonomy.
The Class:
PHOTONIFORMES™
PHOTONIFORMES™
Formal Definition
PHOTONIFORMES™: Organisms whose functional biology includes continuous emission, absorption, transduction, and modulation of electromagnetic, photonic, thermal, and biochemical energy states, accompanied by high-throughput Wet Computation.
This classification represents a fundamental paradigm shift in how we conceptualize living systems.
Rather than defining life by its structural components—the traditional approach of anatomical taxonomy—PHOTONIFORMES™ defines life by its dynamic energetic processes and computational activities.
Rather than defining life by its structural components—the traditional approach of anatomical taxonomy—PHOTONIFORMES™ defines life by its dynamic energetic processes and computational activities.
This taxonomic class encompasses all mammals, many warm-blooded vertebrates, and potentially any organism capable of sustained computational metabolism.
The classification applies regardless of evolutionary lineage, body plan, or genetic sequence—what matters is the energetic and computational signature of the organism.
The classification applies regardless of evolutionary lineage, body plan, or genetic sequence—what matters is the energetic and computational signature of the organism.
Energy Processing
Continuous conversion and regulation of multiple energy forms
Photonic Activity
Emission and reception of electromagnetic radiation
Wet Computation
Information processing in fluid, thermodynamic media
This classification captures the energetic reality of life—something traditional zoology has never attempted to quantify or systematically describe. It provides a physics-based foundation for understanding what makes something alive, rather than merely cataloging what living things look like.
Why Humans Belong Here
Humans—designated as "Homo sapiens lumenesis" in the PhotoniQ Labs energetic taxonomy—satisfy all diagnostic criteria for PHOTONIFORMES™ with extraordinary precision and intensity.
The human body represents perhaps the most sophisticated energy-processing computational system known to exist in nature.
The human body represents perhaps the most sophisticated energy-processing computational system known to exist in nature.
The human brain alone performs an estimated 10^16 to 10^17 operations per second through ionic signaling across approximately 86 billion neurons, each making thousands of synaptic connections.
This computational density far exceeds any artificial system yet created, all powered by roughly 20 watts of metabolic energy—about the same as a dim light bulb.
This computational density far exceeds any artificial system yet created, all powered by roughly 20 watts of metabolic energy—about the same as a dim light bulb.
Continuous Heat Emission
Approximately 100 watts of infrared radiation at rest, detectable from meters away
Biophoton Emission
Ultraweak photon emission tied directly to metabolic state and cellular health
Extreme Computational Density
Trillions of operations per second across multiple organ systems
Energy-Dependent Cognition
Consciousness itself emerges from thermodynamic processes in neural tissue
Caloric-to-Computation Transduction
Approximately 2000 calories daily transformed into thought, movement, and maintenance
Humans also generate complex electromagnetic fields from both brain and heart, produce measurable bioelectric currents across skin surfaces, utilize wet thermodynamic processing where neurons fire through ion gradients rather than electronics, continuously regulate entropy to maintain organizational coherence, and exert energetic influence on their environment through multiple channels of emission.
Humans are not simply mammals in the classical sense.
They are computational energy continua—localized regions of space where energy is continuously captured, transformed, computed upon, and radiated outward in complex patterns.
PHOTONIFORMES™ names this reality with scientific precision.
They are computational energy continua—localized regions of space where energy is continuously captured, transformed, computed upon, and radiated outward in complex patterns.
PHOTONIFORMES™ names this reality with scientific precision.
Thermodynamic Foundation
At its core, PHOTONIFORMES™ recognizes that all living systems exist in flagrant violation of the second law of thermodynamics—but only locally and temporarily.
Every organism is a pocket of decreasing entropy within a universe trending inexorably toward maximum disorder.
This is achieved through continuous energy investment, constant computation, and relentless regulation of internal states.
Every organism is a pocket of decreasing entropy within a universe trending inexorably toward maximum disorder.
This is achieved through continuous energy investment, constant computation, and relentless regulation of internal states.
Energy Capture
Organisms acquire energy from environment through food, light, or chemical gradients
Metabolic Processing
Complex biochemical pathways transform captured energy into usable forms
Computational Work
Energy powers information processing, signal transduction, and decision-making
Heat Dissipation
Waste heat radiated to environment as infrared, maintaining internal thermal balance
Continuous Renewal
Constant molecular turnover repairs damage and maintains organizational structure
The beauty of this thermodynamic perspective is its universality.
It doesn't matter if an organism uses DNA or some other information storage molecule, if it's based on carbon or silicon, if it evolved on Earth or Europa.
What matters is whether it can capture energy, reduce its internal entropy, perform computation, and maintain this process continuously.
These are the universal physical requirements for life—and PHOTONIFORMES™ is the taxonomy that finally acknowledges them.
It doesn't matter if an organism uses DNA or some other information storage molecule, if it's based on carbon or silicon, if it evolved on Earth or Europa.
What matters is whether it can capture energy, reduce its internal entropy, perform computation, and maintain this process continuously.
These are the universal physical requirements for life—and PHOTONIFORMES™ is the taxonomy that finally acknowledges them.
This thermodynamic framing also explains why death is inevitable: it's the point at which an organism can no longer maintain the energy flow necessary to resist entropic decay.
The computational architecture collapses, heat regulation fails, and the system rapidly equilibrates with its environment.
The computational architecture collapses, heat regulation fails, and the system rapidly equilibrates with its environment.
Death is the thermodynamic price of life's temporary victory over disorder.
Computational Architecture of Life
One of the most revolutionary aspects of PHOTONIFORMES™ is its explicit recognition of life as a computational phenomenon.
Every cell, every tissue, every organ system is performing information processing operations continuously, using Wet Computation architectures that operate on principles fundamentally different from digital electronics.
Every cell, every tissue, every organ system is performing information processing operations continuously, using Wet Computation architectures that operate on principles fundamentally different from digital electronics.
In Wet Computation, information is stored and processed through ionic concentrations, protein conformations, membrane potentials, and chemical gradients.
The medium is fluid, the signals are molecular and electrical, and the entire system operates at the edge of chaos—neither fully ordered nor completely random, but in the narrow regime where complex computation becomes possible.
The medium is fluid, the signals are molecular and electrical, and the entire system operates at the edge of chaos—neither fully ordered nor completely random, but in the narrow regime where complex computation becomes possible.
10^17
Operations Per Second
Estimated computational throughput of human brain through ionic signaling
86B
Processing Units
Approximate number of neurons in human brain, each a computational element
20W
Power Consumption
Energy required to run the most sophisticated known computer: the human brain
37T
Total Cells
Estimated number of cells in human body, each performing computational operations
This computational perspective reveals why organisms can respond adaptively to novel situations, learn from experience, and exhibit behavior that appears purposeful.
The computational substrate—trillions of cells operating in parallel, exchanging signals, and continuously updating their states—enables a form of distributed intelligence that emerges from the collective activity of countless simple processors.
The computational substrate—trillions of cells operating in parallel, exchanging signals, and continuously updating their states—enables a form of distributed intelligence that emerges from the collective activity of countless simple processors.
Wet Computation also explains why biological systems are so robust yet flexible.
Digital computers fail catastrophically when components break; biological systems gracefully degrade and often self-repair.
This resilience comes from redundancy, distributed processing, and the thermodynamic nature of the computational medium itself.
PHOTONIFORMES™ acknowledges this computational identity as central to what makes organisms alive.
Digital computers fail catastrophically when components break; biological systems gracefully degrade and often self-repair.
This resilience comes from redundancy, distributed processing, and the thermodynamic nature of the computational medium itself.
PHOTONIFORMES™ acknowledges this computational identity as central to what makes organisms alive.