Evolution requires selection. Molecular/chemical/preDarwinian evolution is no exception. One molecule must be selected over another for molecular evolution to occur and advance. Evolution, however, has no goal. The laws of physics have no utilitarian desire, intent or proficiency. Laws and constraints are blind to “usefulness.” How then were potential multi-step processes anticipated, valued and pursued by inanimate nature? Can orchestration of formal systems be physico-chemically spontaneous? The purely ph
Natural science explores the roles of the four known forces of physics, statistical mechanics, mass/energy phase changes, mass transfer, and the application of the laws of physics and chemistry to most any problem. But there is one problem a purely physico-chemical approach does not and logically cannot address: abiogenesis’ pursuit and acquisition of functionality. The laws of motion do not perceive, value or pursue “usefulness.” The physics definition of “work” has absolutely nothing to do with utility. P
“The First Gene: The Birth of Programming, Messaging and Formal Control” is a peer-reviewed anthology of papers that focuses, for the first time, entirely on the following difficult scientific questions: *How did physics and chemistry write the first genetic instructions? *How could a prebiotic (pre-life, inanimate) environment consisting of nothing but chance and necessity have programmed logic gates, decision nodes, configurable-switch settings, and prescriptive information using a symbolic system of codo