In computers, the "power" of the machine is measured in BIT handling capacities. In biological organisms, the "awareness" potential is reflected in the number and variety of integrated IMP complexes. Since the quantity of IMPs is directly linked to "surface area," awareness becomes a factor of shared membrane surfaces in the multicellular organisms.

Consider that surface area relationship in regard to vertebrate brain evolution. First vertebrate brains are small, smooth spheres. As one ascends the evolutionary ladder, the brains become larger and more surface area is subsequently derived from infoldings of the brain’s surface that produce the characteristic sulci (grooves) and gyri (folds) of more advanced brains. Interestingly, when considering awareness in terms of brain surface, humans are in second place since porpoise and dolphin brains have a larger surface area.

It is proposed that similar to unicellular protozoans, human beings represent another evolutionary endpoint, the highest level of development for a multicellular biological structure. In a series of events redundant to those that occurred in the previous two cycles of evolution, human evolution continued through a process of assembly and integration of individuals into a multi-"cellular" community. In this community known as humanity, each person's role is analogous to that of a single cell in the human construct. In the global view of the Earth as a living organism (Gaia), humans are the IMP equivalents in the Earth's surface membrane. Humans, as receptors and effectors, assemble and integrate into patterned networks (community) in the Earth's envelope wherein they receive environmental "signals" and serve as switching mechanisms of the planet's membrane gates.

These studies reveal that past and future evolution can be mathematically modeled in the structure and elaboration of the cell membrane. The best way to organize two-dimensional membrane surface area into a three-dimensional cell space is to employ fractal geometry.

In Nature, most inorganic and organic structures express an "irregular" pattern. However, within the apparent chaos of the irregularities, one finds that the irregular structures are "regularly" repeated (i.e., they show a form of order). For example, the pattern of branching in a tree’s twig is often the same pattern of branching that is observed on the tree’s trunk. The pattern of branching of a major river is identical to the pattern of branching observed along its smaller tributaries. The pattern of branches along the bronchus is a reiteration of the pattern of airway branches along the smallest bronchioles. Similar images of reiterated branching patterns in the body are revealed in the arterial and venous blood vessels and peripheral nervous system.