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How biological codes break causal chains to enable autonomy for organisms.

Keith D Farnsworth1

  • 1School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, 19 Chlorine Gardens, Belfast BT95DL, UK.

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Biological codes are essential for life's autonomy, enabling adaptation and evolution by controlling information flow and causal relations. This allows organisms to maintain independence and respond selectively to their environment.

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CausationCell signallingGenetic codeReplicator theorySemioticTransducer

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Area of Science:

  • * Systems biology
  • * Theoretical biology
  • * Biophysics

Background:

  • * Autonomy in biological systems requires independence from external control, encompassing both internal structure and regulatory mechanisms.
  • * Understanding autonomy necessitates examining how biological entities process information and interact with their environment through cause-and-effect relationships.

Purpose of the Study:

  • * To explain the critical role of biological codes in achieving both constitutive and cybernetic independence.
  • * To elucidate how information translation via codes enables adaptation and evolution.
  • * To demonstrate how molecular codes organize causal relations for organismal existence.

Main Methods:

  • * Analysis of information theory and causality in biological systems.
  • * Examination of biological codes (genetic, cellular, histone) as information translators.
  • * Conceptual framework integrating Aristotelian causation with biological regulation.

Main Results:

  • * Biological codes translate information, extending or restricting its causal influence.
  • * Life employs codes for causal isolation, exemplified by the genetic code's role in separating replication from information storage.
  • * Cellular boundaries use coding to transform external stimuli into internal signals, enabling selective responses.

Conclusions:

  • * Molecular codes are fundamental to life, enabling selective causal isolation and organization of molecular interactions.
  • * The capacity for adaptation and evolution is intrinsically linked to the information-processing capabilities afforded by biological codes.
  • * Life's existence is a testament to the power of codes in managing complex causal chains within organisms.