A World Beyond Physics

The Emergence and Evolution of Life

Stuart Kauffman

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Hardback

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English

Oxford University Press
15 May 2019

Philosophy; Mathematics & Sciences; Philosophy of science; Evolution; Developmental biology

How did life start? Is the evolution of life describable by any physics-like laws? Stuart Kauffman's latest book offers an explanation-beyond what the laws of physics can explain-of the progression from a complex chemical environment to molecular reproduction, metabolism and to early protocells, and further evolution to what we recognize as life. Among the estimated one hundred billion solar systems in the known universe, evolving life is surely abundant. That evolution is a process of ""becoming"" in each case. Since Newton, we have turned to physics to assess reality. But physics alone cannot tell us where we came from, how we arrived, and why our world has evolved past the point of unicellular organisms to an extremely complex biosphere.

Building on concepts from his work as a complex systems researcher at the Santa Fe Institute, Kauffman focuses in particular on the idea of cells constructing themselves and introduces concepts such as ""constraint closure."" Living systems are defined by the concept of ""organization"" which has not been focused on in enough in previous works. Cells are autopoetic systems that build themselves: they literally construct their own constraints on the release of energy into a few degrees of freedom that constitutes the very thermodynamic work by which they build their own self creating constraints. Living cells are ""machines"" that construct and assemble their own working parts. The emergence of such systems-the origin of life problem-was probably a spontaneous phase transition to self-reproduction in complex enough prebiotic systems. The resulting protocells were capable of Darwin's heritable variation, hence open-ended evolution by natural selection. Evolution propagates this burgeoning organization. Evolving living creatures, by existing, create new niches into which yet further new creatures can emerge. If life is abundant in the universe, this self-constructing, propagating, exploding diversity takes us beyond physics to biospheres everywhere.

By: Stuart Kauffman
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 145mm, Width: 213mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 295g
ISBN: 9780190871338
ISBN 10: 0190871334
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 15 May 2019
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Stuart Kauffman is a medical doctor, theoretical biologist, and complex systems researcher. He has held professorships at the University of Chicago and University of Pennsylvania and was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in evolutionary biology in 1987. He is the author of multiple seminal works including The Origins of Order (1993) At Home in the Universe (1996), Investigations (2002), and Humanity in a Creative Universe (2016).

Reviews for A World Beyond Physics: The Emergence and Evolution of Life

""makes for stimulating reading . . . [Kauffman's] prose is reader-friendly and thought-provoking . . . I highly recommend Kauffman's book to anyone interestedin the ongoing scientific enterprise to model the transition from physical to living systems."" -- Ragnar van der Merwe, University of Johannesburg, Metascience ""This is a delightful little book that considers the classic question, ""What is life?"" -- P. K. Strother, CHOICE ""A World Beyond Physics is a well-written and thought provoking book. It should prove a worthwhile read for anyone with an undergraduate knowledge of biology and physics who is interested in amore philosophical take on the origins, complexities, and evolution of life."" -- Rebekah Hall, Mathematical & Statistical Sciences and Daniel A. Charlebois, Physics, University of Alberta, The Quarterly Review of Biology ""For persons with the requisite scientific background, the book will be very rewarding to read...The book has many applications to the science and theology interchange..."" -- Jay R. Feierman, European Society for the Study of Science and Theology News and Reviews