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Quantitative Biology > Populations and Evolution

arXiv:2401.09514 (q-bio)
[Submitted on 17 Jan 2024]

Title:Is the Emergence of Life an Expected Phase Transition in the
Evolving Universe?

Authors:Stuart Kauffman, Andrea Roli
Download a PDF of the paper titled Is the Emergence of Life an
Expected Phase Transition in the Evolving Universe?, by Stuart
Kauffman and Andrea Roli
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    Abstract:We propose a novel definition of life in terms of which
    its emergence in the universe is expected, and its ever-creative
    open-ended evolution is entailed by no law. Living organisms are
    Kantian Wholes that achieve Catalytic Closure, Constraint
    Closure, and Spatial Closure. We here unite for the first time
    two established mathematical theories, namely Collectively
    Autocatalytic Sets and the Theory of the Adjacent Possible. The
    former establishes that a first-order phase transition to
    molecular reproduction is expected in the chemical evolution of
    the universe where the diversity and complexity of molecules
    increases; the latter posits that, under loose hypotheses, if the
    system starts with a small number of beginning molecules, each of
    which can combine with copies of itself or other molecules to
    make new molecules, over time the number of kinds of molecules
    increases slowly but then explodes upward hyperbolically.
    Together these theories imply that life is expected as a phase
    transition in the evolving universe. The familiar distinction
    between software and hardware loses its meaning in living cells.
    We propose new ways to study the phylogeny of metabolisms, new
    astronomical ways to search for life on exoplanets, new
    experiments to seek the emergence of the most rudimentary life,
    and the hint of a coherent testable pathway to prokaryotes with
    template replication and coding.

Subjects: Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE); Biological Physics
          (physics.bio-ph)
Cite as:  arXiv:2401.09514 [q-bio.PE]
          (or arXiv:2401.09514v1 [q-bio.PE] for this version)
          https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2401.09514
          Focus to learn more
          arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite

Submission history

From: Stuart Kauffman [view email]
[v1] Wed, 17 Jan 2024 15:22:32 UTC (1,654 KB)
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    Expected Phase Transition in the Evolving Universe?, by Stuart
    Kauffman and Andrea Roli
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