I've thought long and hard about this, and I've concluded there's no difference in the nature of quarks, particles, atoms, molecules, complex molecules (like pr

I've thought long and hard about this, and I've concluded there's no difference in the nature of quarks, particles, atoms, molecules, complex molecules (like protein and DNA), cells, multicell organisms, ecosystems and societies, and so on. It's the same set of phenomena repeating at higher and higher scale. The particles we see are in constant flux of a number of their parameters, and we can see how environmental changes disturb this balance. Aggregate states of matter represent this very neatly. Just like flocks of birds fly together to protect themselves form harsh phenomena, gas condenses into liquids when temperature drops enough that standalone gas molecules become unstable. It's a long topic, and I'm kind of brushing over it superficially. Particles may reproduce themselves in even more literal sense than you describe, because we've some evidence to believe no particle truly "exists" in time, it's a phenomena that keeps recreating itself through interaction of lower level parts and forces, much like we're in constant air/food/water exchange with our environment. Our cells change, but seemingly we stay. Is an electron really the "same electron" from one moment to the next, or is it more like a swirl in a constantly moving river water?