How Life (and Death) Spring from Disorder by
Philip Ball
“Biological systems
don’t defy physical laws, of course — but neither do they seem to be predicted
by them. In contrast, they are goal-directed: survive and reproduce. We can say
that they have a purpose — or what philosophers have traditionally called a
teleology — that guides their behavior….
The teleology and
historical contingency of biology, said the evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr,
make it unique among the sciences. Both of these features stem from perhaps
biology’s only general guiding principle: evolution. It depends on chance and
randomness, but natural selection gives it the appearance of intention and
purpose. Animals are drawn to water not by some magnetic attraction, but
because of their instinct, their intention, to survive. Legs serve the purpose
of, among other things, taking us to the water.
Mayr claimed that
these features make biology exceptional — a law unto itself. But recent
developments in nonequilibrium physics, complex systems science and information
theory are challenging that view.”