60 Self and the Phenomenon of Life
b2726 Self and the Phenomenon of Life: A Biologist Examines Life from Molecules to Humanity “9x6”the following minimal requirements: (1) it should be enclosed by a
semi-permeable membrane; (2) it should show a net energy gain (taking
in more than dissipating); (3) it should be able to defy the second law of
thermodynamics — building up and maintaining an internal order amid
a chaotic external environment; (4) it should be able to maintain relative
stability long enough for reproduction to take place; (5) it should be able
to reproduce with a fair degree of faithfulness.^77
In more technical terms, a complete life should be all of below:
self-assembled, self-organized, self-programmed, self-contained, self-
maintained, self-optimized, self-correcting, self-propelled and, lastly, be
able to self-reproduce. If you are slightly annoyed by the litany of the
prefix “self,” it is because self and life are inseparable. The birth of life is
also the birth of self.
(Please note that at this stage self and life are almost equivalent, but
toward the end of the book when I deal with higher animals, especially
humans, the concept of self extends to include the inner aspects of our
being.)
3.23 Did Evolution Start Life?
Whereas Darwinian evolution is irrefutable when applied to the biolog-
ical world, whether evolution was a driving force leading to the emer-
gence of life is a different issue. Darwin himself insisted that his theory
applies only to the succession of life, but not to its beginning, to which
he professed ignorance.^78 Important knowledge has been accumulated
since Darwin’s time, causing some people to extrapolate evolution to
the pre-biotic era.79,80 Whether or not such extension of the Darwinian
worldview is justifiable is the subject of this section.
Biological evolution is the change of characteristics of a population
over successive generations. Charles Darwin’s seminal contribution is
to propose that such changes are the outcome of two factors: in inher-
ent variation of organisms from generation to generation, and the exter-
nal environment that allows new progenies that fit the environment to