Abiogenesis and the Second Law of Thermodynamics
395
The work, standpoints and citations mentioned above have provided fodder for
diverse scrutinizing investigations regarding the conceivability of abiogenesis [12,
13]. The authors in Ref. [12] re-evaluated the concept of chemical evolution, finding that the thermodynamic costs of work, linked to changes in the configurational
entropy associated with polymerization of DNA and proteins, might be sufficient and
commensurate with the second law of thermodynamics.
3 Then again after disputing a number of views, e.g. self-organization and autocatalytic activity in non-linear
irreversible processes, thermal synthesis involving proteinoids, condensing agents
and mineral catalysis, they concluded that the coupling mechanism of selection and
the sorting out of a specifically informed macromolecule from a random set was
rendered in absentia. Furthermore, they resolved that bonding preferences between
various amino acids do not play a significant role in coding the protein questioning
the conventional notion of explaining the complexity of life as a result of open system
dynamics of mass flow.
Nevertheless, advanced developments in physical chemistry and chemical physics
have pushed forward the development and understanding of non-equilibrium phenomena, deliberating on issues such as time irreversibility, entropy production, subdynamics, self-organisation and complexity etc., in order to find a universal natural
law that also takes in biology, see e.g. the prize-winning work of Prigogine [14] on
complex systems and dissipative structures. The work of the Brussels-Austin School
holds an ambitious foundation already displayed in its outline, i.e. to present classical mechanics, CM, and quantum mechanics, QM, within a common super-operator
Liouville construction. Its rationale inaugurates a time reversible, fine-grained preparation, which in CM means the study of complete trajectories, with the objective to
violate time reversal symmetry, the latter expressed by an equivalent non-unitary
transformation that generates irreversible probabilistic behaviour without positing
any decisive approximations. The generality of this perspective leads to various realizations [15] and interpretations [16]. Recently a self-referential tenet, that we will
return to in more detail, has been proposed and demonstrated to adhere by fiat to
authentic teleonomic principles, attained by so-called Complex Enough Systems
[17], CES’s, that do not contradict the objectivity of physical laws.
To take the examination, implied by the title, into account it is first necessary to
identify what characterizes a biological system in relation to ordinary matter and to
appraise whether currently established natural laws are sufficient, or not, to guarantee chemical evolution from organic compounds to living organisms. Although
similar criticisms have been argued and defended in quite some detail [17], the
issues at stage motivate a profound evaluation. The argument will be organized as
follows. First some observations are made regarding the views established in Refs.
[14, 18], see also Eigen [19], that some systems, obeying non-linear laws driven far
from equilibrium with ordering appearing spontaneously, may potentially account
for a similar sort of self-organization and complexity that is a focal point in the
evolution of living systems. In particular the fundamental question of reversible
3 According to the reviewer [13], the book comes as a real surprise to those comfortable with the
view that the scientific problems of abiogenesis are mostly resolved.
395
The work, standpoints and citations mentioned above have provided fodder for
diverse scrutinizing investigations regarding the conceivability of abiogenesis [12,
13]. The authors in Ref. [12] re-evaluated the concept of chemical evolution, finding that the thermodynamic costs of work, linked to changes in the configurational
entropy associated with polymerization of DNA and proteins, might be sufficient and
commensurate with the second law of thermodynamics.
3 Then again after disputing a number of views, e.g. self-organization and autocatalytic activity in non-linear
irreversible processes, thermal synthesis involving proteinoids, condensing agents
and mineral catalysis, they concluded that the coupling mechanism of selection and
the sorting out of a specifically informed macromolecule from a random set was
rendered in absentia. Furthermore, they resolved that bonding preferences between
various amino acids do not play a significant role in coding the protein questioning
the conventional notion of explaining the complexity of life as a result of open system
dynamics of mass flow.
Nevertheless, advanced developments in physical chemistry and chemical physics
have pushed forward the development and understanding of non-equilibrium phenomena, deliberating on issues such as time irreversibility, entropy production, subdynamics, self-organisation and complexity etc., in order to find a universal natural
law that also takes in biology, see e.g. the prize-winning work of Prigogine [14] on
complex systems and dissipative structures. The work of the Brussels-Austin School
holds an ambitious foundation already displayed in its outline, i.e. to present classical mechanics, CM, and quantum mechanics, QM, within a common super-operator
Liouville construction. Its rationale inaugurates a time reversible, fine-grained preparation, which in CM means the study of complete trajectories, with the objective to
violate time reversal symmetry, the latter expressed by an equivalent non-unitary
transformation that generates irreversible probabilistic behaviour without positing
any decisive approximations. The generality of this perspective leads to various realizations [15] and interpretations [16]. Recently a self-referential tenet, that we will
return to in more detail, has been proposed and demonstrated to adhere by fiat to
authentic teleonomic principles, attained by so-called Complex Enough Systems
[17], CES’s, that do not contradict the objectivity of physical laws.
To take the examination, implied by the title, into account it is first necessary to
identify what characterizes a biological system in relation to ordinary matter and to
appraise whether currently established natural laws are sufficient, or not, to guarantee chemical evolution from organic compounds to living organisms. Although
similar criticisms have been argued and defended in quite some detail [17], the
issues at stage motivate a profound evaluation. The argument will be organized as
follows. First some observations are made regarding the views established in Refs.
[14, 18], see also Eigen [19], that some systems, obeying non-linear laws driven far
from equilibrium with ordering appearing spontaneously, may potentially account
for a similar sort of self-organization and complexity that is a focal point in the
evolution of living systems. In particular the fundamental question of reversible
3 According to the reviewer [13], the book comes as a real surprise to those comfortable with the
view that the scientific problems of abiogenesis are mostly resolved.