A recent monograph on the kinetics of the liquid state as applied to transport (1) and an application of that monograph to hydrodynamic and diffuse flow in small channels (down to 15 Â) (2) have led my colleagues and me to some new ideas on the nature ofthe forces organiz- ing the living state. In this highly speculative note, we would like to outline our view ofthe total reach ofthese ideas. While the outline may be wrong in some of its details, we believe the theme rich enough to deserve a hearing. Thesis 1.—There are three simple well-known states of matter and a number of complex correlated states. The three simple states are the gaseous, liquid, and solid states. The complex states may be the vitreous, the living, the geochemical, and the plastic-elastic state. We wish to focus on the living state, which we believe to be a complex liquid-plastic state. Thesis 2.—Within a current outlook, interaction in physics is limited to not more than four basic forces: the gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear, and weak. Of these, possibly only two, the gravitational and electromagnetic, may be fundamental. A fundamental question of concern to the origin and character of life is whether these forces are sufficient to account for life and its self-organizing capability or whether new themes must be developed to deal with that state. We opt for the beliefthat life processes can be described by the known forces of physics and propose now to give that belief particular form. Thesis 3.—Both the deviations from the ideal gas state (that is, descrip- tions that are immediately true for all real gases) and the transport properties of fluids are intimately tied up with the nature and spatial range of intermolecular forces. The forces are fairly well known (elec- trostatic and quantum mechanical exchange), being repulsive at a few tenths to 1 Â and attractive at levels greater than 1 Â. Nuclear forces, not interactive with intermolecular chemical forces, are expressed as ?General Technical Services, Inc., Upper Darby, Pennsylvania 19082. While this effort is the continued inertia) reaction to earlier ONR, NASA, and U.S. Army studies, I acknowl- edge fiscal support from no agency ofgovernment or industry, only to those friends whose intellectual support and interest make this continued effort worthwhile. For in science, we are a community.