Free Will: Egnor shows neurological proof - PART ONE (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, January 01, 2021, 04:49 (1423 days ago) @ David Turell

Whatever life is it requires a constant source of energy:

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6524/38?utm_campaign=toc_sci-mag_2020-12-31

"While he accepts the importance of molecular genetics and Darwinian evolution, England is more interested in the macroscopic, plainly visible hallmarks of life: self-replication, ordered and functionally specialized structures, and the ability to harness energy sources and to predict and respond to the environment. He argues that each of these capacities can be understood through physical processes that occur in ordinary, lifeless materials when driven by an energy source.

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"The book builds up to a discussion of recent theoretical work by England and his collaborators, which argues that matter—living or not—will, in some circumstances, evolve over time to efficiently harness specific environmental energy sources. England's theory, called dissipative adaptation, does not seek to replace Darwinian evolution. It does, however, propose that at least some distinctive features of life could arise through a nonbiological process of selection. According to this theory, chemical or physical structures that efficiently use a source of energy to reduce disorder without themselves being destroyed are more likely to catalyze the formation and growth of similar structures.

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"The distinction between living and nonliving matter is not an outcome of scientific inquiry, it is a conceptual framework that humans bring to our encounters with the world. As such, a preoccupation with the boundaries that define life is shared not only by physicists and biologists but also by those concerned with cultural traditions and religious practices. England uses images of life's boundaries from the biblical Book of Exodus, where staffs turn into serpents and a bush burns without being consumed, to evoke the fuzzy line between living and nonliving matter. Such references help explain, in memorable and human terms, the physics of this elusive boundary.

"It is rare for modern science to engage ancient religious texts; these traditions are more often nonoverlapping magisteria (2), if not fundamentally incompatible. Every Life Is on Fire shows that scripture can enrich our scientific interest in living systems, providing an ethical, moral, and even spiritual context. For the reader willing to brave metaphorical land mines, there is much to be learned by exploring the border regions, whether between physics and biology, between science and religion, or between life and lifeless matter.

Comment: There is more to life than just matter. The metaphysical and the source of energy to be absorbed are equally important. Just matter is one portion of the considerations. Teh materialists view is half baked.