Assembling and copying life into existence?

A book review of Sara Imari Walkers book: Life as no one knows it

Assembling and copying life into existence a monumental task becamethe focus of this extraordinary collaboration between a journeyman Physicist from Arizona State University and her lead teammate, Lee Cronin, from Glasgow University. Together, they embarked on an ambitious journey to tackle the three most challenging problems in science simultaneously.

As a prelude to the second half of the book, they dedicated the entire first half to a comprehensive analysis of these three formidable challenges. It was a courageous and intrepid endeavor that laid the foundation for their exploration.

Regarding the hard problem of matter, or the enigmatic origin of the first particle of matter in the universe, they opted for a cautious approach. Instead of attempting to provide a definitive answer, they rested their laurels on the agnostic truism that abiotic evolutionary selection alone can lead to existence.

While this approach may have its merits, it did not resonate with me as the most satisfying solution to the hard problem of matter.

However, their reasoning was undeniably compelling. They argued that regardless of the specific mechanism through which the first particle entered the universe, there is no inherent loss of generality. Consequently, one origin story is as valid as another, and there is no need to expend energy on a particular origin hypothesis.

One compelling reason to confront this problem head-on is to acknowledge the undeniable evidence that supports the standard model of physics as the most likely explanation for the origin of the first particle of matter. This model posits that the first particle emerged from a bonded matter-antimatter pair, as predicted by Nobel Laureate Paul Dirac's renowned equation.

Furthermore, Dirac's equation also provided a crucial clue to understanding the nature of the vacuum. It revealed that the vacuum is not devoid of matter but is teeming with virtual particles that constantly pop in and out of existence. It is plausible that these virtual particles were the catalyst for the initial breakaway of the original particle.

Recent experiments conducted at CERN have further corroborated this idea. CERN has directly confirmed that the bonded pairs referenced in Dirac's equation do indeed break away and float into the universe as individual units of matter.

Finally, as if the above weren't enough evidence that the first particle of matter likely entered the world through Dirac's equation, the clumpiness of the universe, as evidenced by its baby picture captured by the COBE satellite in 1989, further supports this hypothesis. This imbalance of matter in the early universe also strongly suggests Dirac's breakaway particle hypothesis.

I felt compelled to emphasize this point because later, when the author delves into the other two challenging problems, the standard model of physics faces significant scrutiny. Therefore, its crucial to acknowledge and credit the contributions of Dirac's theory upfront.

Moving on to the second challenging problem, the question of how matter transforms into subjective experience, legitimate cracks begin to emerge in the standard model of physics.

The chemistry and physics of mind, or the correlates of consciousness, have not provided much progress in understanding how and where these experiences arise.

However, a general idea emerges from this analysis: in each of the three challenging problems, the experimenter is disadvantaged by their inability to adopt an interior vantage point of the substance in question. For instance, we lack knowledge of what matter, consciousness, or life truly looks like from the inside out. Consequently, our assumptions are often very inaccurate.

The author rightly points out that scientific progress has been achieved only when we rely on measurable phenomena and their impact on the world rather than on scientific vantage points.

In the second half of the book, the author addresses the third challenging problem, the hard problem of life the whys and hows of life armed not only with an attempt to perceive life from the inside out but also in terms of its measurable impact on the world at large.

This approach leads directly to a tool invented by Lee Cronin called assembly theory. Assembly theory is primarily a conceptual framework experimentally validated through spectroscopy. A spectroscope is used to measure the breakability and building-up capacity of any molecule anywhere in the universe.

Assembly theory delves into the question of how easily a specific molecule can be broken down into its most fundamental constituent parts. Alternatively, it explores the minimum pathway required to rebuild such a molecule once it has been broken down.

This generalizable measurement, intrinsically unique to life, is known as the assembly index. It quantifies the complexity of any object selected and constructed by evolution across the universe.

Its companion measure, the copy number, similarly records the lineage of any object in the universe.

In reality, live objects are objectified as information that possesses a lineage, a narrative, and a history. This information is recursively recorded with every evolutionarily selected step in the construction of a buildable object.

These researchers demonstrate that among the various aspects of life that we previously believed to be unique, only the assembly index and the copy number uniquely identify life as a natural kind in the universe.

In essence, evolutionary selection and the two measures of assembly theory, the assembly index and the copy number, are the key factors that distinguish life as a natural kind in the universe.

However, to accurately account for life within the standard model of physics, it necessitates an update to the model to incorporate selection, information, the assembly index, and the copy number as fundamental properties of physics.

In short, the current, Euclidean, Newtonian, Maxwellian, and Einsteinian model of the large-scale universe lacks the necessary components to fully incorporate life. Currently, the model is limited to accounting for inert matter, but it fails to account for the living entities that can formulate theories about the universe.

To accurately locate and comprehend life in the universe, we must expand the current paradigm of physics to include six dimensions, rather than the current four.

This expansion involves adding the assembly index and the copy number to the existing quadruple coordinate system.

Living organisms have a lineage or history through information. They are complex, recursively built objects whose complexity has evolved over time through selection. Assembly theory incorporates this evolutionary story into the existence of every living organism, recognizing that it is part of the larger universe, which itself is a living organism. This is profound and Nobel Prize-winning stuff! Ten stars!