The prophet Elisha vs Yoda: who had the highest midi-chlorian count?
Some of us, for whom the first Star Wars movies were a significant aspect of their youth, may have made more than a few furtive efforts during school trying to move objects using the Force. Luke could juggle swamp rocks, and Yoda could lift an X-wing. Surely I could move a pencil, especially during the bleaker moments of study hall, when time had ceased operating? But regrettably, no; I could not. Still, it was preferable to school work.
Yoda didn’t invent these exercises in telekinesis. It’s written in the Old Testament that Elisha, who was a disciple of Elijah, had a similar skill. The story is thus: Elisha was out one day with a guild of prophets, “sons of the prophets”, they were called.
An aside: a ‘guild of prophets’ is a funny organization to consider. Were there unlicensed prophets operating outside of the guild, recklessly forecasting the future without a single credential to their name? I like to imagine this band as a group of young guys for whom ‘I knew you were going to say that’ was their most common retort. Alas, unfortunately the term likely just refers to a group of priests.
Anyways, one of these prophets was chopping on a log and his axehead flew off the handle into the river. He immediately exclaimed, “Oh no, it was borrowed!” One must appreciate that this inconsequential detail (in the long run, at least) has been preserved for almost three thousand years. It suggests that, despite all our progress, loaning your tools to the neighbor has always been, and likely will always be, a fool’s practice. Fortunately Elisha was there, and throwing a stick into the river, he caused the axe to float to the surface. Yoda just needed to stretch out his hand to make Luke’s X-wing rise from the waters, but he was also holding a stick in the scene. I’m sure there is a significance in the conservation of the “stick” motif. For that matter, Yoda was a member of a guild of prophets, and his guild wore robes too. The similarities are striking, though before we declare that Yoda=Elisha we should acknowledge that there does not appear to be a Star Wars mirror to the biblical story of Elisha siccing two bears onto a pack of kids that were mocking his baldness.
Elisha’s miracle was granted via “gratia gratis data”, grace freely given to someone such that they can help others. Yoda explained his power differently, his came from ‘The Force’.
Presumably Elisha did this this miracle (the floating axe, not the one with the angry bears) via the grace of God, specifically through what’s termed in the church as “gratia gratis data”, grace freely given to someone such that they can help others. Yoda explained his power differently, his came from ‘The Force’. What the Force actually was… well that was a mystery. As is grace, for that matter.
I like mystery. The thought of a universe which can be wholly understand through reason seems sterile and flat. A universe big enough that only infinite wisdom can encompass it gives me enough elbow room to stretch my imagination.
Nonetheless and despite my sentiments about the enigmatic, if we forward ourselves twenty years after the first Star Wars movie, the mystery of the Force is swept away in the Star Wars prequel, The Phantom Menace: it’s all down to your midi-chlorian count.
Midi-chlorians are “a microscopic lifeform that reside within all living cells and communicates with the Force.” More midi-chlorians, the more force you can muster. According to an animated Star War series that I have yet to see, the Midi-chlorians hail from a planet near the galactic center where there is so much Force is spews out of geysers. Somebody should secure the bottling concession.
The creator of Star Wars, George Lucas, derived the name for the fictional ‘midi-chlorian’ from the actual ‘mitochondrion’, which are tiny organelles found in almost all eukaryotes, that is, in most everything living except the bacteria. In fact we’re now pretty sure that mitochondria used to be bacteria, and somehow got incorporated into our ancestral cells some two billion years ago and have been with us ever since. Mitochondria communicate with ATP (a chief source of chemical energy in cells) and not the Force, but the similarity is clear. They’re in all (most) cells, and we need them to live.
A new genus of bacteria, believed to be related to the ancestral form of mitochondria, has been named ‘midichloria’.
Inspired by the movies—no, scratch that, ‘inspired’ is far too strong a word for any effect inflicted by movies as insipid as the Star Wars prequels. Parroting the movie, a new class of bacteria (on Earth) has been named ‘midichloria’. These are a genus of bacteria believed to be related to the ancestral form of mitochondria. Midichloria (these earthly ones) can live inside of mitochondria, and may have a symbiotic relationship with the host cell. We know of other types of very tiny bacteria, some of which are over fifty fold smaller than even the very tiny midichloria, so it’s possible this nesting could go down another level, like a cellular matroska doll. There could be bacteria that live inside the midichloria that are living inside the mitochondria that are living inside our cells. Hopefully not, as this cell inside of a cell inside of a cell arrangement entails a very vertical relationship, I’m not in favor hierarchy. Hasta la victoria siempre, and what not, whether you’re a person or a single cell.
Mitochondria are of special interest to geneticists because of their prevalence in all higher life forms and their common origin. This means that by sequencing their genomes and comparing the variations found between different organisms, we can gauge their relatedness. This has allowed the creation of family trees of diverse species, and within the human population these genetic differences have been used to trace migration patterns of groups of people across human history:
A common feature of many science fiction stories that cover multiples worlds is the similarity of aliens to one another. This could either be due to a common origin of all life, convergent evolution (the development of similar features due to similar adaptive pressures), or a limited makeup budget. The presence of midi-chlorians in all life in the Star Wars universe would argue for the former; life developed on one planet and then spread across the galaxy. Therefore a galactic midi-chlorian genome project would presumably allow the same feat in the Star Wars galaxy as mitochondrial sequencing has allowed in ours. How are all the Star Wars species related to one another Are ewoks related to wookiees? Sand people to jawas? Anakin and Watto? Probably not that latter one, but inquiring minds want to know.
A galactic midi-chlorian genome project can describe how life in Luke’s galaxy is interrelated, and how it spread across his galaxy as well.
The galactic midi-chlorian genome project may also allow an answer to how such similar life was spread across Luke’s galaxy. Most mutations that accumulate in species over time are thought to be neutral, they don’t affect how the organism functions to any degree. These neutral mutations often accumulate at a relatively steady pace, allowing the identity of a ‘molecular clock’. That is, by comparing accumulated genetic changes between several species we can make estimates of not only how they are related, but when they diverged from each other. Mitochondria, and therefore presumably midi-chloria, are very well suited for this type of analysis because of their comparatively simple genetic structure.
A galactic molecular clock on midi-chloria diversity could therefore tell us whether life spread across Luke’s galaxy as extremely small organisms, probably not much larger than bacteria, or at later stages. The idea that the origin of life on one planet may have occurred on another is called panspermia, and there are several proposed mechanisms for how it could occur. Radiopanspermia proposes that very small (bacterial) life could be propelled between stars by the pressure of light. This wouldn’t be quick, and the life would have to be capable of withstanding many, many, many years of bombardment by radiation (that’s how it’s moving, after all), but this mechanism could conceivably allow life to spread between stars.
Larger cells, or clumps of cells, could disperse through lithopanspermia, in which life is transported aboard comets or meteorites. This method is of potential relevance for the transmission of life between planets within planetary systems. Early in the history of our own solar system it’s thought that there was more planetary bombardment than we currently endure, and thus possibly a fair bit of sharing of material between planets, especially in the direction of planets farther from the sun towards planets closer to the sun. As Mars may have had a hospitable surface before Earth did, it’s not at all far-fetched to suppose that we might all be Martians. That is, life developed on Mars, got lifted off on a piece of rock when a meteor hit Mars, and then landed on Earth. However this method probably doesn’t work for large scale transmission between stars. It also entails planetary conditions that makes housing insurance rates quite unfavorable, though it keeps the roofers employed.
The other method is directed panspermia, meaning that someone deliberately spread life between planets. In that case, the gloves are off in terms of what size life form could be dispersed. Whatever fits in your spaceship could be moved from planet to planet. In the Star Trek series, which takes place in our future (in contrast, remember, Star Wars happened ‘a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away’, so our origins might be distinct, despite the American accents and Luke’s 70’s hair style), Spock states that directed panspermia might explain some aspects of Vulcan prehistory, though an astrobiologist on the starship Enterprise insists that human life evolved on Earth. Therefore, by determining when all the galaxy’s lifeforms diverged, we can determine which panspermia method spread all the midi-chlorian containing life across Luke’s galaxy. This would have some fairly profound implications to all the galaxy’s denizens. Ewok theology might be completely upended; an understanding that they are all part of a galactic brotherhood of species might stop the them from making xylophones of the heads of Storm Troopers.
The galactic midi-chlorian genome project should next be brought to our galaxy, pending success in Luke’s. Do we have midi-chlorians too? Are we related to Vulcans, like Spock thinks, or did we evolve independently? Is my inability to levitate a pen because my midi-chlorian count is low, or did I just not try hard enough? Getting back to Elisha and his band of prophets, is the ability to receive the grace of God to perform miracles, whether levitating axes or X-wings, related to one’s midi-chlorian count?
Some might argue this would take some of the mystery out of the notion of grace, but maybe there will always be mystery enough. Plus, it would make membership into Elisha’s band more straightforward. Back in his day it was probably subject to lots of cronyism and a disposition for miracles with flair. Midi-chlorian counts may not be democratic, in fact in ensures a degree of nepotism, but at least it’s objective.