Top-down causation and the rise of information in the emergence of life

Sara Walker

doi:10.3390/info5030424

Top-down causation and the rise of information in the emergence of life

Sara Walker

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

40 Scopus citations

Abstract

Biological systems represent a unique class of physical systems in how they process and manage information. This suggests that changes in the flow and distribution of information played a prominent role in the origin of life. Here I review and expand on an emerging conceptual framework suggesting that the origin of life may be identified as a transition in causal structure and information flow, and detail some of the implications for understanding the early stages chemical evolution.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	424-439
Number of pages	16
Journal	Information (Switzerland)
Volume	5
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/info5030424
State	Published - 2014

Keywords

Emergence
Origin of life
Top-down causation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Information Systems

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10.3390/info5030424

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abstract = "Biological systems represent a unique class of physical systems in how they process and manage information. This suggests that changes in the flow and distribution of information played a prominent role in the origin of life. Here I review and expand on an emerging conceptual framework suggesting that the origin of life may be identified as a transition in causal structure and information flow, and detail some of the implications for understanding the early stages chemical evolution.",

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Top-down causation and the rise of information in the emergence of life

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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