Closure to efficient causation, computability and artificial life

JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL BIOLOGY

卷:263

Article

Cardenas, Maria Luz¹  Letelier, Juan-Carlos²  Gutierrez, Claudio³  Cornish-Bowden, Athel¹  Soto-Andrade, Jorge⁴ 

[1] CNRS, Unite Bioenerget & Ingenierie Prot, F-13402 Marseille 20, France

[2] Univ Chile, Fac Ciencias, Dept Biol, Santiago, Chile

[3] Univ Chile, Dept Ciencias Computac, Santiago, Chile

[4] Univ Chile, Fac Ciencias, Dept Matemat, Santiago, Chile

关键词: (M,R) systems;    Metabolic circularity;    Robert Rosen;    Definitions of life;    Autopoiesis;    Autocatalytic sets;    Chemoton;    Impredicativity;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jtbi.2009.11.010

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The major insight in Robert Rosen's view of a living organism as an (M, R)-system was the realization that an organism must be closed to efficient causation'', which means that the catalysts needed for its operation must be generated internally. This aspect is not controversial, but there has been confusion and misunderstanding about the logic Rosen used to achieve this closure. In addition, his corollary that an organism is not a mechanism and cannot have simulable models has led to much argument, most of it mathematical in nature and difficult to appreciate. Here we examine some of the mathematical arguments and clarify the conditions for closure. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free