What Is Life?...we need to look at the smallest part

What Is Life? In order to answer this question, we need to look at the smallest particles

Paul Davies

Scientists have a formal definition of information as the reduction in uncertainty or ignorance resulting from an observation as, for example, the outcome of a coin toss is inspected.. But in quantum systems the uncertainty is not just the result of human ignorance: it is inherent in it, a basic feature of nature. Thus information lies at the very heart of quantum physics.

In recent years scientists have found tantalising hints that life is exploiting quantum effects in some specific cases, including photosynthesis and bird navigation. The controversial subject of quantum biology is attracting much attention. Most intriguing from my point of view are the experiments of Gabor Vattay of Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, who has found evidence that many key molecules used by life have unusual finely-tuned quantum properties. One explanation is that evolution has selected these properties for reasons of chemical efficiency. But a more intriguing possibility is that the special characteristics of these molecules relates to the transfer and organisation of information – a hidden quantum code – and that it is at the level of these large organic molecules that the new principles I have been advocating are manifested.

The next frontier of science lies at the intersection of nanotechnology, quantum physics, chemistry and biology. It is here, where physics meets life, that unexpected new phenomena will be discovered, and Schrödinger’s 75 year old question will finally be answered.

What Is Life? In order to answer this question, we need to look at the smallest particles

Paul Davies

"How on Earth can a haphazard mish-mash of chemicals spontaneously organise itself into a system that stores digital information and processes it using a mathematical code? Barring a stupendously improbable freak accident, there are only two possible answers. The first is some sort of divine intervention – intelligent design. The second is a fundamentally new type of organising principle at work in complex systems."

Is this a false dichotomy?

"How on Earth can a haphazard mish-mash of chemicals spontaneously organise itself into a system that stores digital information and processes it using a mathematical code? Barring a stupendously improbable freak accident, there are only two possible answers. The first is some sort of divine intervention – intelligent design. The second is a fundamentally new type of organising principle at work in complex systems."

Is this a false dichotomy?

Yes. To posit a "fundamentally new organizing principle" begs the question of the origin of such a principle.  This constitutes an entire newly discovered layer of complicated design in physics, to add to the exquisite fine tuning of the laws of physics for the existence of life as we know it. It's not sufficient to say it is simply implicit in the Universe. In our experience complicated designed things with clear purpose are always the product of intelligence (namely our own), so what is the intelligent source behind this new aspect of nature? It surely can't be simply the matter and energy of the physical universe defined by the usual physical laws and randomness and determinism. 

Of course, to avoid the obvious teleological implications materialists will then trot out their favorite unscientific and unobservable "explanation" - the Multiverse. Out of a zillion universes with random physics parameters ours (due to the anthropic principle - the fact that we are here) just must be the one that hit all the necessary parameters exactly.