TOP-DOWN / As Above, Below

A new paradigm is emerging; consider the following recent article published at Cornell University³³.  It is titled the Algorithmic Origins of Life.  (Algorithm is a euphemism for intelligence).

Although it has been notoriously difficult to pin down precisely what it is that makes life so distinctive and remarkable, there is general agreement that its informational aspect is one key property, perhaps the key property. The unique informational narrative of living systems suggests that life may be characterized by context-dependent causal influences, and in particular, that top-down (or downward) causation -- where higher-levels influence and constrain the dynamics of lower-levels in organizational hierarchies -- may be a major contributor to the hierarchal structure of living systems.

Whatever is meant by “top-down” causation, the presence of the qualifier “top-down” distinguishes it from “normal” causation.  In other words, physical and chemical laws are excluded. These leave intelligent, information producing, causes.  Plain and simple.

Here we propose that the origin of life may correspond to a physical transition associated with a shift in causal structure, where information gains direct, and context-dependent causal efficacy over the matter it is instantiated in.

A shift in causal structure!!!  Must I say more? Mind over matter.

Such a transition may be akin to more traditional physical transitions (e.g. thermodynamic phase transitions), with the crucial distinction that determining which phase (non-life or life) a given system is in requires dynamical information and therefore can only be inferred by identifying causal architecture.

We discuss some potential novel research directions based on this hypothesis, including potential measures of such a transition that may be amenable to laboratory study, and how the proposed mechanism corresponds to the onset of the unique mode of (algorithmic) information processing characteristic of living systems.

Also

"When we describe biological processes we typically use informational narratives – cells send out signals, developmental programs are run, coded instructions are read, genomic data are transmitted between generations and so forth," Walker said. "So identifying life's origin in the way information is processed and managed can open up new avenues for research."

"Chemical based approaches have stalled at a very early stage of chemical complexity – very far from anything we would consider 'alive.' More seriously they suffer from conceptual shortcomings in that they fail to distinguish between chemistry and biology."

“Chemical based approaches have stalled at a very early stage of chemical complexity… very far from anything we would consider ‘alive’.

"To a physicist or chemist life seems like 'magic matter,'" Davies explained. "It behaves in extraordinary ways that are unmatched in any other complex physical or chemical system. Such lifelike properties include autonomy, adaptability and goal-oriented behavior – the ability to harness chemical reactions to enact a pre-programmed agenda, rather than being a slave to those reactions."

Masked beneath the language – terms like ‘algorithmic’ essentially mean Intelligent.  What else could it mean? Non-chemical origins mean something other than or in addition to!  A force above the law. Unless intelligence is woven into a magical sub-division of Universal laws! Which leads to the same result… (i.e. conclusion of intelligent Universe).