The mystery of living things

On the emergence of life

How did purposeful, self-aware matter come into existence in a universe made of inanimate matter? Since Schrödinger’s powerful posing of the question “What is Life?” over 70 years ago, we are still no closer to answering it, or even understanding how such complex living things came into being in the first place. Addy Pross highlights the many mysteries still surrounding the emergence and nature of life in a material universe.

 

You've posited that the Darwinian paradigm, traditionally associated with biological evolution, can also be extended to inanimate matter, suggesting that abiogenesis and biological evolution are a singular process. Could you elucidate the intricacies of this theory, especially in light of critiques that emphasize a clear demarcation between life and non-life? 

Since its inception evolutionary theory has been formulated as a biological theory, even though it has generally been acknowledged (even by Darwin himself) that life most likely emerged from inanimate matter. But that inanimate connection was reaffirmed in the 1960s when Sol Spiegelman discovered that certain molecules – dead matter for sure – could replicate and evolve, just like living things. The evolutionary process, it appeared, did indeed begin in chemistry. Yet, frustratingly, that transition from chemistry to biology has remained shrouded in mystery. How did simple, purposeless, molecular replicators become transformed into complex, purposeful aggregates? Does evolution have a direction, a driving force? A comprehensive theory of evolution encompassing both chemical and biological phases has still to be formulated, though an outline of such a theory may be beginning to emerge.

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All living things are not just complex molecular aggregates. They exist in an energized, activated state that is maintained through the continual input of material and energetic resources.

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How does this perspective reconfigure our conventional beliefs about life's origins?

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