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Spontaneous Order and the Origin of Life
"This is a serious, excellent piece of science writing ... Bratman's prose captures the core idea and gives a faithful rendering for a non-specialist audience" - Eric Smith, PhD. Coauthor of The Origin and Nature of The Emergence of the Fourth Geosphere.
Metabolism-First is a theory that claims life arose out of energy-driven organic chemistry in ancient hydrothermal vents. From this perspective, life is not a lucky accident but a logical consequence of early Earth conditions. Like many other processes driven by a flow of energy, the origin of life exemplifies the phenomena of spontaneous order.
Metabolism-First views the biosphere as a feature of Earth as a whole, a companion to the hydrosphere, lithosphere and atmosphere. Just as ordinary phase transitions change the properties of a liquid or gas, the biosphere can be viewed as emerging through a series of phase transitions operating on chemical reaction networks.
A key concept of the theory is autocatalysis, the property of some chemicals to amplify their own rate of formation. Autocatalysis plays the same role in "chemical evolution" as Darwinian selection does in the standard theory of evolution. Additional key concepts include phase transformations, modularity and dissipative adaptation. The text includes a glossary and an annotated bibliography.
This book emits ideas as if through a firehose. It will appeal only to those who enjoy an intellectual challenge.
Metabolism-First is a theory that claims life arose out of energy-driven organic chemistry in ancient hydrothermal vents. From this perspective, life is not a lucky accident but a logical consequence of early Earth conditions. Like many other processes driven by a flow of energy, the origin of life exemplifies the phenomena of spontaneous order.
Metabolism-First views the biosphere as a feature of Earth as a whole, a companion to the hydrosphere, lithosphere and atmosphere. Just as ordinary phase transitions change the properties of a liquid or gas, the biosphere can be viewed as emerging through a series of phase transitions operating on chemical reaction networks.
A key concept of the theory is autocatalysis, the property of some chemicals to amplify their own rate of formation. Autocatalysis plays the same role in "chemical evolution" as Darwinian selection does in the standard theory of evolution. Additional key concepts include phase transformations, modularity and dissipative adaptation. The text includes a glossary and an annotated bibliography.
This book emits ideas as if through a firehose. It will appeal only to those who enjoy an intellectual challenge.
348 pages, Paperback
Published October 23, 2021
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23 people want to read
About the author
Steven Bratman
31 books2 followers I spent many years writing books on evidence-based evaluation of alternative medicine, but only now, late in life, have I found what feels like my calling. These days, I write fairly difficult popular science books on biology-related topics for those who like to be intellectually challenged. My previous claim to fame was inventing the word "orthorexia nervosa."
I grew up as something of a child prodigy under the false belief that I was talented in mathematics. After graduating with a math degree, I returned to college to do pre-med and go to medical school (to make a living). It was then that began to notice that I loved biology; but I thought nothing of it. Now, retired, after raising a family, I seem to have at last found my way to doing what I love.
I grew up as something of a child prodigy under the false belief that I was talented in mathematics. After graduating with a math degree, I returned to college to do pre-med and go to medical school (to make a living). It was then that began to notice that I loved biology; but I thought nothing of it. Now, retired, after raising a family, I seem to have at last found my way to doing what I love.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 17, 2023
very interesting and insightful book
The explains many concepts such as phase trnsformation, auto catalysis and the concept of biosphere and many others. The idea of deterministic development of the biosphere is a key issue and it is to be subject of ongoing research.the author address the current limitations to prove and establish this concept.
The explains many concepts such as phase trnsformation, auto catalysis and the concept of biosphere and many others. The idea of deterministic development of the biosphere is a key issue and it is to be subject of ongoing research.the author address the current limitations to prove and establish this concept.
April 28, 2022
The story of the coming to be of the biosphere - what a grand thing, that science can detail these emergent flows and their compounding complexity.
September 29, 2024
Intellectually magnificent – A scientific masterpiece – written for easy reading, but with very high integrity
I can’t recommend this wonderfully interesting and seminal book enough. “Spontaneous Order and the Origin of Life (Origins)” by Steven Bratman is a rare discovery -- an intellectual feast, full of challenging ideas, novel perspectives and grand unifying principles. A book required an immense effort – written with exquisite, nuanced and balanced wording but for easy reading and comprehension, book itself is well structured. A book written with an extraordinary effort to make complex interdisciplinary topics accessible (almost like a textbook) to nonspecialists interested in a fundamental question – the origin of life. I purchased a Kindle copy and two paper copies (as presents).
The approach of step by step developing the concept, with highly appropriate examples, full of author annotations and further elaborations required a huge, and much appreciated, effort; gradually building and deepening, chapter by chapter, the extraordinary and logically consistent theory of life emerging – from pre-biotic chemical evolution via auto-catalytic processes to emergence of life. Its central hypothesis is that emergence of metabolism elements (“modules”) of reverse citric cycle was deterministic and preceded life and, especially, it preceded the “RNA world/Gene world”.
I am trained in electronics, physics, and strategy evaluation – I arrived to biochemistry late and am big fan of Nick Lane (all five) and Andrew Knoll books. The origin of my discovery of the “Spontaneous Order and the Origin of Life (Origins)” book is in itself very interesting:
Recently I discovered a 2015 lecture by Prof. Eric Smith of the Santa Fe Institute titled “New Theories on the Origin of Life) -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cwvj... -- with introduction by Jerry Murdock. The brief video lecture was brilliant -- clear, measured, laconic but methodical introduction of Dr. Smith theory of biosphere as the fourth Earth geosphere. It was a short overview of a physicist’s multidisciplinary approach to life’s origin, and it was astonishing and glorious.
Obviously I looked for the source – Prof. Eric Smith (now at the Earth-Life Science Institute in Tokyo) – it was “The Origin and Nature of Life on Earth: The Emergence of the Fourth Geosphere” -- by Eric Smith and late Harold J. Morowitz (2016). The scientific book was expensive, complex, and multidisciplinary (now I have it also) so I read reviews, including by -- Steven Bratman, a physician. He was so impressed by Prof. Smith/Morowitz book that he decided to, in cooperation with Dr. Smith and obviously many other experts, to “translate” a highly scientific and complex book into a more accessible book – with a truly extraordinary success.
In summary I can’t recommend this wonderfully interesting and seminal book enough (moreover -- at only $2 Kindle version for promotion purposes)
.
I can’t recommend this wonderfully interesting and seminal book enough. “Spontaneous Order and the Origin of Life (Origins)” by Steven Bratman is a rare discovery -- an intellectual feast, full of challenging ideas, novel perspectives and grand unifying principles. A book required an immense effort – written with exquisite, nuanced and balanced wording but for easy reading and comprehension, book itself is well structured. A book written with an extraordinary effort to make complex interdisciplinary topics accessible (almost like a textbook) to nonspecialists interested in a fundamental question – the origin of life. I purchased a Kindle copy and two paper copies (as presents).
The approach of step by step developing the concept, with highly appropriate examples, full of author annotations and further elaborations required a huge, and much appreciated, effort; gradually building and deepening, chapter by chapter, the extraordinary and logically consistent theory of life emerging – from pre-biotic chemical evolution via auto-catalytic processes to emergence of life. Its central hypothesis is that emergence of metabolism elements (“modules”) of reverse citric cycle was deterministic and preceded life and, especially, it preceded the “RNA world/Gene world”.
I am trained in electronics, physics, and strategy evaluation – I arrived to biochemistry late and am big fan of Nick Lane (all five) and Andrew Knoll books. The origin of my discovery of the “Spontaneous Order and the Origin of Life (Origins)” book is in itself very interesting:
Recently I discovered a 2015 lecture by Prof. Eric Smith of the Santa Fe Institute titled “New Theories on the Origin of Life) -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cwvj... -- with introduction by Jerry Murdock. The brief video lecture was brilliant -- clear, measured, laconic but methodical introduction of Dr. Smith theory of biosphere as the fourth Earth geosphere. It was a short overview of a physicist’s multidisciplinary approach to life’s origin, and it was astonishing and glorious.
Obviously I looked for the source – Prof. Eric Smith (now at the Earth-Life Science Institute in Tokyo) – it was “The Origin and Nature of Life on Earth: The Emergence of the Fourth Geosphere” -- by Eric Smith and late Harold J. Morowitz (2016). The scientific book was expensive, complex, and multidisciplinary (now I have it also) so I read reviews, including by -- Steven Bratman, a physician. He was so impressed by Prof. Smith/Morowitz book that he decided to, in cooperation with Dr. Smith and obviously many other experts, to “translate” a highly scientific and complex book into a more accessible book – with a truly extraordinary success.
In summary I can’t recommend this wonderfully interesting and seminal book enough (moreover -- at only $2 Kindle version for promotion purposes)
.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews