A new theory sheds light on the emergence of life’s complexity
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Re: A new theory sheds light on the emergence of life’s complexity
#2>“Red,” for instance, is a translation of the phrase “620-750 nanometer wavelength.”
only sometimes.
Re: A new theory sheds light on the emergence of life’s complexity
#3Here's a better article without the theological nonsense: https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-thermodynamics-theory-o...
Re: A new theory sheds light on the emergence of life’s complexity
#4Very interesting! I wonder that if they are expecting to use dissipative mechanisms in small system how would they be able to control thermal noise and reproducibility of the calculations?
Re: A new theory sheds light on the emergence of life’s complexity
#5Not new.
Seems like a repost. Also: "This article was originally published in our “Adaptation” issue in March, 2016." Someone is really pushing this guy's scientific (or literary) branding.
Re: A new theory sheds light on the emergence of life’s complexity
#6Heard this before.
What do y'all think of this twist on "atheism vs intelligent design" debate? A wild swing from "life is improbable" to "life is almost certain".
I think there's some major flaw in this reasoning. Otherwise, how do you explain Drake's equation? How come every planet we have seen so far doesn't have any form of complex life on it so far as we know?
Here's what I think the flaw is: the more a planet heats up, the more it can radiate into space as infrared radiation. Obviously an equilibrium can be achieved without a constant increase in complexity.
Re: A new theory sheds light on the emergence of life’s complexity
#7This theory reminds me a lot of the folding funnel. It used to be thought of as a paradox that a protein could fold in mere minutes if it needed to explore each possible configuration before arranging into its "correct" configuration. This paradox was solved with the theory of the folding funnel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding_funnel) which states that the potential energy surface is not flat, but rather it is 3 dimensional funnel with points where it is practically impossible to go backwards. The nascent protein does not explore the entire potential energy surface, instead it just folds into relatively few transition states before assuming its final form.
Re: A new theory sheds light on the emergence of life’s complexity
#8The next step will be the realization that asymmetry of direction towards self organization on all levels, coded as energy consumption/dissipation efficiency, is a built in property of our reality, and life and counsciousness as we understand then are not random accidents.
Quarks -> protons/neutrons, nucleus+electrons -> atoms, atoms -> molecules, molecules -> proteins, proteins -> cells, cells -> organisms, organisms -> ecosystems, stars -> galaxies, galaxies -> clusters, etc.
Re: A new theory sheds light on the emergence of life’s complexity
#9>“Red,” for instance, is a translation of the phrase “620-750 nanometer wavelength.” only sometimes.
Do you mean only sometimes, as in only when talking about electromagnetic waves? Or something else?
Re: A new theory sheds light on the emergence of life’s complexity
#10Heard this before. What do y'all think of this twist on "atheism vs intelligent design" debate? A wild swing from "life is improbable" to "life is almost certain". I think there's some major flaw in this reasoning. Otherwise, how do you explain Drake's equation? How come every planet we have seen so far doesn't have any form of complex life on it so far as we know? Here's what I think the flaw is: the more a planet h…
I don't think we have enough data to be sceptical about the presence of certainty of life on other planets. We've only found ~3,700 planets other than Earth - and only ~20 of those are near the size of Earth[0]. We couldn't even see those planets directly until very recently, so it doesn't seem certain (to me, a layman) that we could even identify Earth as having life, at the same resolutions. That's assuming that we would recognize life, if we saw it. (Side note: Children of Men is a book I recently read that touches on this topic. )
I'll admit that I am very optimistic about the presence of advanced life on planets other than Earth, so this is definitely influencing my outlook.
[0] https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/science/2016/05...