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Kauffman, Stuart A.
Subjects
Life -- Origin.
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Kauffman, Stuart A.
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A world beyond physi...
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576.83 K21w
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Kauffman, Stuart A.
Life -- Origin.
MARC Display
A
world
beyond
physics
: the
emergence
and
evolution
of
life
/ Stuart A. Kauffman.
by
Kauffman, Stuart A.
Oxford University Press, 2019.
Call #:
576.83 K21w
Subjects
Life
-- Origin.
ISBN:
9780190871338 (hc)
Description:
xii, 151 p. ; 22 cm.
Bibliography:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:
"How did
life
start? Is the
evolution
of
life
describable by any physics-like laws? Stuart Kauffman's latest book offers an explanation-beyond what the laws of
physics
can explain-of the progression from a complex chemical environment to molecular reproduction, metabolism and to early protocells, and further
evolution
to what we recognize as
life
. Among the estimated one hundred billion solar systems in the known universe, evolving
life
is surely abundant. That
evolution
is a process of 'becoming' in each case. Since Newton, we have turned to
physics
to assess reality. But
physics
alone cannot tell us where we came from, how we arrived, and why our
world
has evolved past the point of unicellular organisms to an extremely complex biosphere. Building on concepts from his work as a complex systems researcher at the Santa Fe Institute, Kauffman focuses in particular on the idea of cells constructing themselves and introduces concepts such as 'constraint closure.' Living systems are defined by the concept of 'organization' which has not been focused on in enough in previous works. Cells are autopoetic systems that build themselves: they literally construct their own constraints on the release of energy into a few degrees of freedom that constitutes the very thermodynamic work by which they build their own self creating constraints. Living cells are 'machines' that construct and assemble their own working parts. The
emergence
of such systems-the origin of
life
problem-was probably a spontaneous phase transition to self-reproduction in complex enough prebiotic systems. The resulting protocells were capable of Darwin's heritable variation, hence open-ended
evolution
by natural selection.
Evolution
propagates this burgeoning organization. Evolving living creatures, by existing, create new niches into which yet further new creatures can emerge. If
life
is abundant in the universe, this self-constructing, propagating, exploding diversity takes us
beyond
physics
to biospheres everywhere."--Publisher.
Holds:
0
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Location
Collection
Call No.
Item type
Status
J. D. Shatford Memorial Public Library
Adult Nonfiction
576.83 K21w
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