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Life is a diverse and ubiquitous phenomenon on Earth,
characterized by fundamental features distinguishing living bodies
from nonliving material. Yet it is also so complex that it has long
defied precise definition. This book from a seasoned biologist
offers new insights into the nature of life by illuminating a
fascinating architecture of dualities inherent in its existence and
propagation. Life is connected with individual living beings, yet
it is also a collective and inherently global phenomenon of the
material world. It embodies a dual existence of cycles of
phenotypic life, and their unseen driver - an uninterrupted march
of genetic information whose collective immortality is guaranteed
by individual mortality. Although evolution propagates and tunes
species of organisms, the beings produced can be regarded merely as
tools for the survival and cloning of genomes written in an
unchanging code. What are the physical versus informational bases
and driving forces of life, and how do they unite as an integrated
system? What does time mean for individuals, life on the global
scale, and the underlying information? This accessible examination
of principles and evidence shows that a network of dualities lies
at the heart of biological puzzles that have engaged the human mind
for millennia.
Life is a diverse and ubiquitous phenomenon on Earth, characterized
by fundamental features distinguishing living bodies from nonliving
material. Yet it is also so complex that it has long defied precise
definition. This book from a seasoned biologist offers new insights
into the nature of life by illuminating a fascinating architecture
of dualities inherent in its existence and propagation. Life is
connected with individual living beings, yet it is also a
collective and inherently global phenomenon of the material world.
It embodies a dual existence of cycles of phenotypic life, and
their unseen driver - an uninterrupted march of genetic information
whose collective immortality is guaranteed by individual mortality.
Although evolution propagates and tunes species of organisms, the
beings produced can be regarded merely as tools for the survival
and cloning of genomes written in an unchanging code. What are the
physical versus informational bases and driving forces of life, and
how do they unite as an integrated system? What does time mean for
individuals, life on the global scale, and the underlying
information? This accessible examination of principles and evidence
shows that a network of dualities lies at the heart of biological
puzzles that have engaged the human mind for millennia.
What are life and death? Is it possible to understand their essence
and give clear definitions? Countless books and articles have been
devoted to trying to answer these intriguing questions. However,
there are still no definite and generally accepted answers. The
intrigue remains. And meanwhile, human attempts to vanquish
death and achieve immortality continue apace. This book is an
attempt to answer the eternal questions about life and death by
analyzing, synthesizing, and rethinking the known facts that
characterize life. The material here should be of particular
interest, as it contains many hypotheses, philosophical
generalizations, and well informed speculations. What is most
important for life - matter, energy, or information? How are
individual lives and the phenomenon of life in general related?
What serves what – does the genome serve the cell or does the
cell serve the genome? What is the value of life and death? Can we
become immortal? The inquisitive reader will find original answers
to these and other exciting questions in the pages of this
stimulating book.
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