Life
Definition
Although it is rather controversial whether the term “life” will ever fit into a definition, it could be conceived as “autonomy in evolution”: a complex network of self-reproducing autonomous agents whose individual (far-from-equilibrium, metabolic) organization is instructed by material records generated through an open-ended, historical process, in which that complex (collective-ecological) network evolves. In a minimal – and more operational – sense, this involves that any living system should be ultimately based on the dynamic intertwinement of a semi-permeable boundary (membrane), an energy transduction apparatus, and, at least, two complementary types of macromolecules: (enzyme-like) catalysts and (gene-like) templates.
Overview
In spite of its multifarious meanings and the intrinsic difficulty it has shown over the years to become a well-defined unanimous generalization, the concept “life” can still be regarded as a proper scientific target, with its own specific...
Keywords
Synthetic Biology Natural Kind Artificial Life Living Form Cooperative RelationReferences and Further Reading
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