2012/04/10 by Gargi Mitra-Delmotte, Mitra-Delmotte, Gargi, A. N. Mitra +1
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) #FOS: Biological sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Origins and Evolution of Life #Other Quantitative Biology (q-bio.OT) #Plant and Biological Electrophysiology Studies #physics.bio-ph #q-bio.OT
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1204.2525
54 pages, pdf file
openalex publication_date 2012/04/10 · arxiv created 2012/08/21 · arxiv updated 2012/08/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Instances of critical-like characteristics in living systems at each organizational level as well as the spontaneous emergence of computation (Langton), indicate the relevance of self-organized criticality (SOC). But extrapolating complex bio-systems to life's origins, brings up a paradox: how could simple organics--lacking the 'soft matter' response properties of today's bio-molecules--have dissipated energy from primordial reactions in a controlled manner for their 'ordering'? Nevertheless, a causal link of life's macroscopic irreversible dynamics to the microscopic reversible laws of statistical mechanics is indicated via the 'functional-takeover' of a soft magnetic scaffold by organics (c.f. Cairns-Smith's 'crystal-scaffold'). A field-controlled structure offers a mechanism for bootstrapping--bottom-up assembly with top-down control: its super-paramagnetic components obey reversible dynamics, but its dissipation of H-field energy for aggregation breaks time-reversal symmetry. The responsive adjustments of the controlled (host) mineral system to environmental changes would bring about mutual coupling between random organic sets supported by it; here the generation of long-range correlations within organic (guest) networks could include SOC-like mechanisms. And, such cooperative adjustments enable the selection of the functional configuration by altering the inorganic network's capacity to assist a spontaneous process. A non-equilibrium dynamics could now drive the kinetically-oriented system towards a series of phase-transitions with appropriate organic replacements 'taking-over' its functions.