Why is Life? Life as a Verb, Not a Noun
Event description
- Science
- Sustainability
Living systems are thermodynamically open but closed in their organization. In other words, even though their material components turn over constantly, a material-independent property persists, which we might call organization. In this talk, we will approach this problem from a philosophical and mathematical perspective. We will propose a minimal algebraic model that recovers some properties we deem fundamental for organization to persist in a natural system, and discuss how the emergence of living systems from non-living ones requires a mix of historical contingency and organizational closure. In essence, if we think of living systems as dynamical systems, out of equilibrium, then we need to reframe the classic, physics-inspired question of “what is life?”, and ask instead “Why is life?”
Pedro Márquez-Zacarías
Pedro is a theoretical biologist interested in the organization principles of living systems at various scales, from cells to ecosystems. He completed a Ph.D. at Georgia Tech studying experimental and theoretical systems to understand major evolutionary transitions, particularly the transition to multicellularity from single celled organisms. Additionally, he worked on the understanding of complex social interactions in microbial communities. He is currently an Omidyar Complexity Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute, where he studies models of self-organization in living systems, models of community assembly in microbial ecology, as well as historical and computational linguistics.
https://www.santafe.edu/people/profile/pedro-marquez-zacarias
Additional information
Event contact
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
Noon to 1:00 p.m.