15“9x6” b2726 Self and the Phenomenon of Life: A Biologist Examines Life from Molecules to Humanity153. Self and the Beginning of Life.......................................
Chapter 3 of Life
When a lump of matter expresses a “goal,” self, and therefore life, is formed.Overview: Although simple organic molecules are abundant in the universe,
the origin of life is mired in controversy. How life started is both a problem of
chemistry and of organization. Three components have to be simultaneously
present: (1) a privileged internal environment for efficient metabolism and
discrete information transfer; (2) an enzyme-based metabolism that harnesses
energy for building an enclosed environment, and for making information-
carrying molecules; (3) a mechanism for information transfer from one genera-
tion to the next and from the genes to enzymes. Life emerged when all the three
conditions were met. The birth of life was likely to be arduous and tumultuous,
but once formed, life propelled itself along a course of no return. The birth of
life is also the birth of self. Self, defined as a natural system that seeks its own
perpetuation, is the driving force of evolution. It is the axis around which life
evolves in response to natural selection.
“Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?” These
are the words inscribed by Paul Gauguin in his famous Tahiti painting,
now hung in Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. Indeed, finding out how we
originated is always daunting and tantalizing. Each religion has its own
story of how humans were created, or how life comes from reincarna-
tions of endless series of previous lives. Mythologies abound in tribal
societies regarding the origin of mankind.
In everyday life, we bump into living things of some sort whenever
we move around. Life is so prevalent and abundant on Earth that, until