At Home in the Universe

Stuart Kauffman proposes the idea that order occurs naturally and is not an unlikely occurrence as most scientific theories purport it to be. He substantiates his claim through simulations of Boolean networks. The networks can operate in either a stable regime where most of the bits are frozen, or an unstable regime where the bits fluctuate randomly and wildy over time. Most initial conditions seem to lead the network into a regime that is at the “edge of chaos”—a region that is at the boundary of the stable and the unstable regions. Kauffman takes it as the preliminary evidence that such a “dynamic order” occurs naturally in systems.

He projects the simulations of these Boolean networks to systems of interacting auto-catalytic chemical systems—consisting of active chemicals where some of the chemicals are catalysts. If one or more of the chemicals are added in a continuous (or continual) stream and some others are regularly removed, then the system starts resembling a living system. Kauffman argues that such a chemical system behaves exactly like the Boolean network. This is a strong indication that chemicals can get together and form stable “organisms”, thus plugging the biggest missing link in the theory of evolution. Moreover, at a macro level, the system of all living beings interacting through inter-dependences, also acts in a similar way. In this way the theory of order-for-free can explain evolution at multiple levels.

Evolution of complex organisms and complex living systems is not an unlikely event, but something that is almost inevitable given the right conditions. This is the reason that, according to Kauffman, we are not the unlikely or the lucky ones but we are the expected ones: “At Home in the Universe.”

Impression: Somewhat wordy and repetitive, but readable. The hypothesis of the book is very interesting.