New theory of life's multiple origins

Date:
August 16, 2021
Source:
Santa Fe Institute
Summary:
What if life evolved not just once, but multiple times
independently? Researchers now argue that in order to recognize
life's full range of forms, we must develop a new theoretical
frame that permits 'multiple paths' to life.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
The history of life on Earth has often been likened to a
four-billion-year-old torch relay. One flame, lit at the beginning
of the chain, continues to pass on life in the same form all the way
down. But what if life is better understood on the analogy of the eye,
a convergent organ that evolved from independent origins? What if life
evolved not just once, but multiple times independently?

==========================================================================
In a new paper, published in the Journal of Molecular Evolution, Santa
Fe Institute researchers Chris Kempes and David Krakauer argue that in
order to recognize life's full range of forms, we must develop a new theoretical frame.

In their three-layered frame, Kempes and Krakauer call for researchers
to consider, first, the full space of materials in which life could be possible; second, the constraints that limit the universe of possible
life; and, third, the optimization processes that drive adaptation. In
general, the framework considers life as adaptive information and adopts
the analogy of computation to capture the processes central to life.

Several significant possibilities emerge when we consider life within the
new framework. First, life originates multiple times -- some apparent adaptations are actually "a new form of life, not just an adaptation,"
explains Krakauer - - and it takes a far broader range of forms than conventional definitions allow.

Culture, computation, and forests are all forms of life in this frame. As Kempes explains, "human culture lives on the material of minds, much like multicellular organisms live on the material of single-celled organisms."
When researchers focus on the life traits of single organisms, they
often neglect the extent to which organisms' lives depend upon entire ecosystems as their fundamental material, and also ignore the ways that
a life system may be more or less living. Within the Kempes-Krakauer
framework, by contrast, another implication appears: life becomes a
continuum rather than a binary phenomenon.

In this vein, the authors point to a variety of recent efforts that quantitatively place life on a spectrum.

By taking a broader view of life's principles, Kempes and Krakauer
hope to generate more fertile theories for studying life. With clearer principles for finding life forms, and a new range of possible life forms
that emerges from new principles, we'll not only clarify what life is,
explains Krakauer, we'll also be better equipped "to build devices to
find life," to create it in labs, and to recognize to what degree the
life we see is living.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Santa_Fe_Institute. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Christopher P. Kempes, David C. Krakauer. The Multiple Paths
to Multiple
Life. Journal of Molecular Evolution, 2021; 89 (7): 415 DOI:
10.1007/ s00239-021-10016-2 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210816102539.htm

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