The down to earth pole of understanding the complexity of life

Keywords: Geology, Microbiology, Biosphere, Evolution, Complexity science, Phenomenology, Plate tectonics

Abstract

This paper argues that the down-to-earth pole of the understanding of the complexity of life is made up by a threefold factor, namely the interplay of geology, microbiology, and evolution. It is such intertwining that provides the ground for life as we know it. This paper claims that the origins of life are contemporarily the origin of the biosphere as a living system. Dualism must be overcome at all costs; hence, there is not physics, say, geology on the one hand, and biology on the other hand. On the contrary, both make up a highly integrated complex system. The approach suggested in this paper conveys a phenomenological endeavor as a non-substantive comprehension of life and the living systems. Life, it can be safely said, is non-causal, and a self-organizing and autopoietic phenomenon. An evolutionary view of life implies hence after an open-ended understanding. At the end the paper explores the consequences of such a take.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
References

Bethke JH, Ma HR, Tsoi R, Cheng L, Xiao M, You L., (2023). “Vertical and horizontal gene transfer tradeoffs direct plasmid fitness”, in: Mol Syst Biol., Feb 10;19(2): e11300. doi: 10.15252/msb.202211300. Epub 2022 Dec 27. PMID: 36573357; PMCID: PMC9912019

Bobay, L.-M., Traverse, C. C., and Ochman, H., (2015). “Impermanence of bacterial clones”, in: PNAS, July 20, 112 (29) 8893-8900; doi: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1501724112

Born, M., (2013). The Restless Universe. Dover Publications

Buchanan, M., (2010). “Horizontal and vertical: the evolution of evolution”, in: New Scientist, 20 January; available at: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527441-500-horizontal-and-vertical-the-evolution-of-evolution/

Cavicchioli, R., Ripple, W.J., Timmis, K.N. et al., (2019). “Scientists’ warning to humanity: microorganisms and climate change”, in: Nat Rev Microbiol 17, 569–586. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-019-0222-5

Chaisson, E. J., (2001). Cosmic Evolution. The Rise of Complexity in Nature. Harvard University Press

Craw, R. C., Grehan, J. R., Heads, M. J., (1999). Panbiogeography. Tracking the History of Life. Oxford University Press

Cook, R., (1995). Micrographia. The Classics of Science Library

Cuvier, G., (2009). Essay in the Theory of the Earth. Cambridge University Press

Daniel R. Colman, D. R., Lindsay, M. R., Amenabar, M. J., Boyd, E. S., (2019). “The Intersection of Geology, Geochemistry, and Microbiology in Continental Hydrothermal Systems”, in: Astrobiology, 19(12) 1505-1522; doi: 10.1089/ast.2018.2016

Dartnell, L. (2019). “The hunt for life beyond Earth”, in: Biochemist, 40(6), 4–4; doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/bio04006004

Gould, S. J., (2007). Punctuated Equilibrium. The Belknap Press

Darwin, C., (1995). The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. The Classics of Science Library

Gould, S. J., (2002). The Structure of Evolutionary Theory. Belknap Press

Gould, S. J., (1990). Wonderful Life: Burgess Shale and the Nature of History. W. W. Norton & Co.

Gould, S J. and Eldredge, N., (1977). “Punctuated Equilibria: The Tempo and Mode of Evolution Reconsidered”, in: Paleobiology, 3 (2), 115-151; available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2400177

Hands, J., (2017). Cosmosapiens. Human Evolution from the Origin of the Universe. Overlook Duckworth

Impey, C., (2011). How It Ends. From You to the Universe. W. W. Norton & Company

Jacob, F., (1986). Le jeu des possibles. LGF

Kébé, F., (2019). La lune est un roman. Histoire, mythes et légendes. Slatkine et Cie.

Kieffer, S. W., (2013). The Dynamics of Disaster. W. W. Norton & Company

Kolter, R., (2021). The History of Microbiology-A Personal Interpretation. Annual Review of Microbiology. Annual Reviews Inc. doi: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-micro-033020-020648

Kyburg, Jr., H. E., and Teng, C. M., (2001). Uncertain Inference. Cambridge University Press

Leakey, R. E., Lewin, R., (1996). The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of Life and the Future of Mankind. Anchor

Linewaever, C. H., Davies, P. C. W., and Ruse, M., (Eds.), (2013). Complexity and the Arrow of Time. Cambridge University Press

Lin, W., Kirschvink, J. L., Paterson, G. A., Bazylinski, D. A., Pan, Y., (2020). “On the origin of microbial magnetoreception”, in: National Science Review. Oxford University Press; doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwz065

Lyell, C., (1997). Principles of Geology. Vol. I-III. The Classics of Science Library

Lorenz, E., (1995). The Essence of Chaos. The University of Washington Press

Maldonado, C. E., (2023) “Cinco tesis (y cinco conjeturas) acerca de la complejidad del origen y la naturaleza de la vida”, en: Revista de Investigación en Ciencias de la Complejidad y Economía”, 1 (1), 37-54, doi: https://doi.org/10.48168/RICCE.v1n1p37

Received: 2023-12-28
Published: 2023-12-29
How to Cite
Maldonado, C. E. (2023). The down to earth pole of understanding the complexity of life. Iberoamerican Journal of Complexity and Economics Sciences, 1(2), 39-55. https://doi.org/10.48168/ricce.v1n2p39