3 replies to this topic

[dryoung]

Does anyone have any non-living models that demonstrate order being created from within a disordered system (as occurs with living organisms)?

i.e., DNA replication is able to assemble disordered amino acids. Are there other systems that can do this?

[kevin]

Tim Tyler has a pretty good compendium of notional annotations regarding abiogenesis from clay.

http://originoflife.net/

[dryoung]

Thank you. That answered my question, and then some. Referenced Cairns-Smith's work has fascinating implications that I will continue to ponder.

[kevin]

glad I could help.. it was coming across his site that really got me thinking about the possibility that rather than simply an increasing disorder which we try to resist, evolving informational complexity is as much part of the universe as any other process. This leads one to begin to entertain the thought that at the most basic levels in physics there are forces which push a system towards order as long as there is available free thermal energy to push atoms and molecules around.