A New Physics Theory of Life (2014)
At least from the way it&#x27;s presented in the article, I don&#x27;t see how this makes any sense at all. Maybe someone else here can explain it better?<p>Because the idea the article presents is that if you have matter that is being bombarded with energy (e.g. electromagnetic radiation) and is in an environment where it can dissipate heat (like the ocean), that this leads to self-organization of that matter to more efficiently convert the energy to dissipated heat, and that this could explain the early evolution of life.<p>Key quote:<p>&gt; <i>&quot;Particles tend to dissipate more energy when they resonate with a driving force, or move in the direction it is pushing them, and they are more likely to move in that direction than any other at any given moment. This means clumps of atoms surrounded by a bath at some temperature, like the atmosphere or the ocean, should tend over time to arrange themselves to resonate better and better with the sources of mechanical, electromagnetic or chemical work in their environments,” England explained.</i><p>But there&#x27;s zero explanation of <i>why</i>. It&#x27;s not like the matter has some goal of dissipating the energy or becoming resonant in order to do so. It seems far more likely that the matter just absorbs or reflects or transmits the energy, and that it heats up to the extent that it absorbs it (and maybe melts a bit or something, e.g. becomes <i>even less</i> structured). But I don&#x27;t understand what principle would lead the matter to become &quot;resonant&quot; or structure itself to &quot;more efficiently&quot; absorb and dissipate the energy. Clumps of atoms <i>don&#x27;t care</i>, do they?<p>It&#x27;s like the article is relying on some new physical principle of &quot;desire to dissipate energy efficiently&quot; in non-living matter but without naming or justifying it. Can someone else point out what that principle might be, or if there is one at all? I&#x27;ve gone through all the links in previous submissions and can&#x27;t find any mention of it. Or am I misunderstanding or missing something here?