"Life is not an inherent property of matter. Life is indeed associated with matter, but it appears only under very specific conditions and, when it does, it expresses itself in very diverse and individual ways...We shall come closest to understanding the principle of life if we can discover the principles according to which life could begin...How life did begin, however, can only be understood by appeal to historical evidence." Manfred Eigen
"Being alive is being sensitive to specific cues in the environment, to transduce and amplify minute signals into definite actions. Being alive is to achieve the long-range coordination of astronomical numbers of submicroscopic, molecular reactions over macroscopic distances. It is to be able to summon energy at will and engage in extremely rapid and efficient energy transduction" Mae-Wan Ho
There are different scholars have defined life in different ways however Manfred Eigen and Mae-Wan Ho has defined life comparing living systems and their relationship to the environment. Such knowledge can only give us perception about living systems and their relationship to the environment which define about what happened, not why it did. We should seek to understand some of the organizing principles of living systems, recognizing with humility.
Reflection on the nature of life even for a short while brings to mind the awesome variety, coherence, and organization in the functioning of live organisms. Exchange of materials with the environment and adaptation to environment are also evident. While we can try to understand these interactions, and guess at how life might have evolved on Earth, we can only guess at how life did begin and survive. In the words of the Nobel Laureate Manfred Eigen, "life is historical reality."
References:
Eigen, Manfred. Steps Towards Life: A Perspective on Evolution.
Mae-Wan Ho. The Rainbow and the Worm, Singapore: World Scientific Publications, 1994. p. 10
"Being alive is being sensitive to specific cues in the environment, to transduce and amplify minute signals into definite actions. Being alive is to achieve the long-range coordination of astronomical numbers of submicroscopic, molecular reactions over macroscopic distances. It is to be able to summon energy at will and engage in extremely rapid and efficient energy transduction" Mae-Wan Ho
There are different scholars have defined life in different ways however Manfred Eigen and Mae-Wan Ho has defined life comparing living systems and their relationship to the environment. Such knowledge can only give us perception about living systems and their relationship to the environment which define about what happened, not why it did. We should seek to understand some of the organizing principles of living systems, recognizing with humility.
Reflection on the nature of life even for a short while brings to mind the awesome variety, coherence, and organization in the functioning of live organisms. Exchange of materials with the environment and adaptation to environment are also evident. While we can try to understand these interactions, and guess at how life might have evolved on Earth, we can only guess at how life did begin and survive. In the words of the Nobel Laureate Manfred Eigen, "life is historical reality."
References:
Eigen, Manfred. Steps Towards Life: A Perspective on Evolution.
Mae-Wan Ho. The Rainbow and the Worm, Singapore: World Scientific Publications, 1994. p. 10
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