Genes as monads

1. My topic here will be the monad, which is just a simple substance. By calling it ‘simple’ I mean that it has no parts, though it can be a part of something composite.

2. There must be simple substances, because there are composites. A composite thing is just a collection of simple ones that happen to have come together.

3. Something that has no parts can’t be extended, can’t have a shape, and can’t be split up. So monads are the true atoms of Nature—the elements out of which everything is made.

14. [...] within the simple substance is nothing but what we call perception. This must be carefully distinguished from awareness or consciousness.

56. [...] each simple substance has relational properties that express all the others, so that each monad is a perpetual living mirror of the universe.

 (Leibniz 1714, Monadology)