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A World Beyond Physics Stuart A. Kauffman (Affiliate Professor, Affiliate Professor, The Institute For Systems Biology)

A World Beyond Physics By Stuart A. Kauffman (Affiliate Professor, Affiliate Professor, The Institute For Systems Biology)

Summary

Explores the possiblity and process of evolution beyond the standard and established scientific principles.

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A World Beyond Physics Summary

A World Beyond Physics: The Emergence and Evolution of Life by Stuart A. Kauffman (Affiliate Professor, Affiliate Professor, The Institute For Systems 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.

A World Beyond Physics Reviews

A World Beyond Physics, broken into short chapters and written with infectious enthusiasm and exclamation marks, is meant as an introduction to the importance of emergence in biology. * Kevin Schilbrack, Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture *
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 *

About Stuart A. Kauffman (Affiliate Professor, Affiliate Professor, The Institute For Systems Biology)

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).

Table of Contents

PROLOGUE CHAPTER 1: The World Is Not a Machine CHAPTER 2: The Function of Function CHAPTER 3: Propagating Organization CHAPTER 4: Demystifying Life CHAPTER 5: How to Make a Metabolism CHAPTER 6: Protocells CHAPTER 7: Heritable Variation CHAPTER 8: The Games We Play CHAPTER 9: The Stage is Set CHAPTER 10: Exaptations and Screwdrivers CHAPTER 11: AWorld Beyond Physics EPILOGUE: The Evolution of the Economy

Additional information

CIN0190871334VG
9780190871338
0190871334
A World Beyond Physics: The Emergence and Evolution of Life by Stuart A. Kauffman (Affiliate Professor, Affiliate Professor, The Institute For Systems Biology)
Used - Very Good
Hardback
Oxford University Press Inc
2019-07-25
160
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - A World Beyond Physics