Abstract
Life is an epiphenomenon for which origins are of tremendous interest to explain. We provide a framework for doing so based on the thermodynamic concept of work cycles. These cycles can create their own closure events, and thereby provide a mechanism for engendering novelty. We note that three significant such events led to life as we know it on Earth: (1) the advent of collective autocatalytic sets (CASs) of small molecules; (2) the advent of CASs of reproducing informational polymers; and (3) the advent of CASs of polymerase replicases. Each step could occur only when the boundary conditions of the system fostered constraints that fundamentally changed the phase space. With the realization that these successive events are required for innovative forms of life, we may now be able to focus more clearly on the question of life’s abundance in the universe.
Highlights
What are these constraints, and how do they apply to the particularities of living systems? We will argue here that it is the closure of cycles of constraints that allow for life, and that at least three such closures have resulted in life as we know it on Earth
reflexively autocatalytic and food-generated (RAF) happened at the point when monomers condensed to such an extent that a threshold in the polymer length distribution was crossed, which simultaneously altered the boundary conditions for the length distribution itself and for the catalytic functionality repertoire, pushing out phase space and leading to autocatalytic closure
Life may be common in the universe, or quite rare. To reach this level of complexity, a chemical system must have met by chance a series of requirements, including diversity, abundance, catalytic prowess, and the capacity to form self-closing cycles: collective autocatalytic sets
Summary
Life is only known to exist on Earth. It is useful to consider whether life is a deterministic outcome of matter and energy, analogous to the existence of stars. This is the question of “biocosmology.” Star formation and evolution are phenomena that originate from probabilistic events (self-gravitational compression of random, compact knots of molecular clouds) and are guided by a set of thermodynamic constraints. As the universe grows immeasurably, epiphenomena on the scope of stars, planets, and life originate in ever-smaller corners of an ever-expanding phase space.
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