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The capabilities of chaos and complexity
1The Gene Emergence Project, The Origin of Life Science Foundation, Inc. 113-120 Hedgewood Dr. Greenbelt, MD 20770-1610 USA.
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
|April 1, 2009
Summary
Chaos and complexity may organize early life forms, but true evolution requires a heritable digital system for regulation and optimization. Further research is needed to understand prescriptive information in biological systems.
Area of Science:
- Origin of Life studies
- Theoretical Biology
- Systems Chemistry
Background:
- Investigates the potential for chaos and complexity to drive the organization of early life, such as a Peptide or RNA World.
- Questions the extent to which protolife could evolve without a heritable, mutable digital system for instruction and regulation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To define and distinguish chaos, complexity, self-ordering, and organization.
- To explore the formal versus physicodynamic components of these phenomena.
- To determine if spontaneous chaos and complexity can lead to functional, optimized biological systems.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual analysis and definition of key terms: chaos, complexity, self-ordering, organization, and system.
- Exploration of cause-and-effect relationships and mechanisms of action.
- Consideration of Prigogine's dissipative structures in the context of self-organization.
Main Results:
- Chaos and complexity can generate self-ordered phenomena but may lack the capacity for pragmatic benefit or functional selection.
- The spontaneous emergence of prescriptive information and control in biological systems remains an open question.
- The study highlights the limitations of purely physicodynamic processes in achieving complex biological organization.
Conclusions:
- Protometabolism and early protolife may arise from chaos and complexity, but significant evolutionary leaps require a symbolic, heritable system.
- A potential new biological law may be needed to explain the derivation of prescriptive information and control.
- The transition from self-ordered dissipative structures to bona fide organization requires further investigation.
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