Addy Pross

So a very, very simple template mechanism, just like, you know, you can make, if you've got a rubber stamp, you can make copies of what's on that stamp just by stamping bits of paper many times. So that was a dramatic discovery. And it came about just a little after the discovery of DNA as the very important molecule of life. as I hope we'll get to as we proceed.

So a very, very simple template mechanism, just like, you know, you can make, if you've got a rubber stamp, you can make copies of what's on that stamp just by stamping bits of paper many times. So that was a dramatic discovery. And it came about just a little after the discovery of DNA as the very important molecule of life. as I hope we'll get to as we proceed.

It's been made to be more important than it really is, but we'll come back to that in a moment. Well, in several moments. So... But the problem was once replicating molecules were allowed to replicate like RNA, something dramatic happened, which was very exciting. The replication process showed that the molecule could evolve. In other words,

It's been made to be more important than it really is, but we'll come back to that in a moment. Well, in several moments. So... But the problem was once replicating molecules were allowed to replicate like RNA, something dramatic happened, which was very exciting. The replication process showed that the molecule could evolve. In other words,

The replication didn't always come about perfectly, but there was a mutation. A slightly different replicating molecule was formed by mistake. The replication didn't work perfectly. And therefore, there was a process of evolution. Now, this was very exciting. So you start off with a replicating molecule. It makes copies of itself, and it evolves.

The replication didn't always come about perfectly, but there was a mutation. A slightly different replicating molecule was formed by mistake. The replication didn't work perfectly. And therefore, there was a process of evolution. Now, this was very exciting. So you start off with a replicating molecule. It makes copies of itself, and it evolves.

And the feeling was, wow, we've discovered the origin of life, the beginning of evolution, except there was one problem. When it evolved, it didn't evolve towards something that was living. All that happened was the replicating molecule became shorter and shorter and shorter. It started out with something like 5,000 segments and ended up with something like 500 segments.

And the feeling was, wow, we've discovered the origin of life, the beginning of evolution, except there was one problem. When it evolved, it didn't evolve towards something that was living. All that happened was the replicating molecule became shorter and shorter and shorter. It started out with something like 5,000 segments and ended up with something like 500 segments.

And the reason was very simple. The 500-segment molecule replicated faster than the longer molecule. So the shorter molecule out-replicated the longer one. But that was going from complexity to simplicity as opposed to the other way, which is what we want. And that's been holding up that way of thinking about life, well, for 50, 60 years. So that hasn't been the way to get there.

And the reason was very simple. The 500-segment molecule replicated faster than the longer molecule. So the shorter molecule out-replicated the longer one. But that was going from complexity to simplicity as opposed to the other way, which is what we want. And that's been holding up that way of thinking about life, well, for 50, 60 years. So that hasn't been the way to get there.

There was the metabolism idea that you get the organization coming about first. But already quite a few years ago, a physical chemist in Israel, Schneer Lifson, said there's a problem with the metabolism first idea. And the problem is you're asking people. disorganized matter to become organized. Now, the second law doesn't like that. The second law likes organized matter to become disorganized.

There was the metabolism idea that you get the organization coming about first. But already quite a few years ago, a physical chemist in Israel, Schneer Lifson, said there's a problem with the metabolism first idea. And the problem is you're asking people. disorganized matter to become organized. Now, the second law doesn't like that. The second law likes organized matter to become disorganized.

So you can't start off life with a counter thermodynamic process and that in a sense has run out into difficulties because of that simple issue. What this new dynamic kinetic state idea does is to overcome the metabolism problem, the fact that you're organizing, because if you get energy coming in, the rules change. I like to say that the rules governing balls rolling down a hill are

So you can't start off life with a counter thermodynamic process and that in a sense has run out into difficulties because of that simple issue. What this new dynamic kinetic state idea does is to overcome the metabolism problem, the fact that you're organizing, because if you get energy coming in, the rules change. I like to say that the rules governing balls rolling down a hill are

are different to the rules governing cars driving along a road and up a hill. Different rules. So once nature spontaneously, in some way, managed to form a dynamic, kinetically stable system, an important step towards the creation of life came about. But we need one more element for that to happen. And this is where we're struggling experimentally.

are different to the rules governing cars driving along a road and up a hill. Different rules. So once nature spontaneously, in some way, managed to form a dynamic, kinetically stable system, an important step towards the creation of life came about. But we need one more element for that to happen. And this is where we're struggling experimentally.

The DKS system that you make has to be replicative in order to undergo change so that it will become more, I was about to say stable, but more persistent, stable in the kinetic sense. And that, we've only started working with these sorts of systems, so to make a system that is both DKS stable and replicative, we're not there yet.

The DKS system that you make has to be replicative in order to undergo change so that it will become more, I was about to say stable, but more persistent, stable in the kinetic sense. And that, we've only started working with these sorts of systems, so to make a system that is both DKS stable and replicative, we're not there yet.

My comment here is the guy that figures that out, there's a Nobel Prize waiting for him.

My comment here is the guy that figures that out, there's a Nobel Prize waiting for him.