Version 1
: Received: 12 June 2024 / Approved: 13 June 2024 / Online: 13 June 2024 (07:51:59 CEST)
How to cite:
Solé, R.; Kempes, C. P.; Corominas-Murtra, B.; De Domenico, M.; Kolchinsky, A.; Lachmann, M.; Libby, E.; Saavedra, S.; Smith, E.; Wolpert, D. Fundamental Constraints to the Logic of Living Systems. Preprints2024, 2024060891. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.0891.v1
Solé, R.; Kempes, C. P.; Corominas-Murtra, B.; De Domenico, M.; Kolchinsky, A.; Lachmann, M.; Libby, E.; Saavedra, S.; Smith, E.; Wolpert, D. Fundamental Constraints to the Logic of Living Systems. Preprints 2024, 2024060891. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.0891.v1
Solé, R.; Kempes, C. P.; Corominas-Murtra, B.; De Domenico, M.; Kolchinsky, A.; Lachmann, M.; Libby, E.; Saavedra, S.; Smith, E.; Wolpert, D. Fundamental Constraints to the Logic of Living Systems. Preprints2024, 2024060891. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.0891.v1
APA Style
Solé, R., Kempes, C. P., Corominas-Murtra, B., De Domenico, M., Kolchinsky, A., Lachmann, M., Libby, E., Saavedra, S., Smith, E., & Wolpert, D. (2024). Fundamental Constraints to the Logic of Living Systems. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.0891.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Solé, R., Eric Smith and David Wolpert. 2024 "Fundamental Constraints to the Logic of Living Systems" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.0891.v1
Abstract
It has been argued that the historical nature of evolution makes it a highly path-dependent process. Under this view, the outcome of evolutionary dynamics could have resulted in organisms with different forms and functions. At the same time, there is ample evidence that convergence and constraints strongly limit the domain of the potential design principles that evolution can achieve. Are these limitations relevant in shaping the fabric of the possible? Here, we argue that fundamental constraints are associated with the logic of living matter. We illustrate this idea by considering the thermodynamic properties of living systems, the linear nature of molecular information, the cellular nature of the building blocks of life, multicellularity and development, the threshold nature of computations in cognitive systems, and the discrete nature of the architecture of ecosystems. In all these examples, we present available evidence and suggest potential avenues towards a well-defined theoretical formulation.
Biology and Life Sciences, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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