OF STRANGE OBJECTS

Chapter I

The Central Question

How do we distinguish between natural and artificial objects? What makes living beings so uniquely strange in the universe?

Criteria for Detecting Artifacts

Regularity
Repetition
Geometric Simplicity

"By means of the first one would seek to make use of the fact that natural objects... almost never present geometrically simple and straightforward structures"

🎯 TELEONOMY
The property of being endowed with a purpose or project. Living beings exhibit goal-directed behavior and structures that appear designed for specific functions. Every organism pursues the fundamental project of preserving and multiplying its species.
🔄 INVARIANT REPRODUCTION
The ability to reproduce and transmit information corresponding to their own structure. Living beings maintain their complex organization across generations through precise replication mechanisms, preserving their structural standard unchanged.
🏗️ AUTONOMOUS MORPHOGENESIS
The capacity for self-construction from within. Unlike artifacts shaped by external forces, living beings build their macroscopic structure through internal, autonomous processes guided by molecular interactions.
Microscopic
Interactions
→
Molecular
Recognition
→
Autonomous
Assembly
→
Complex
Organisms

The Paradox of Invariance

Living beings seem to violate the Second Law of Thermodynamics by maintaining and reproducing highly ordered structures. However, this apparent paradox dissolves when we recognize that organisms are open systems that increase local order while increasing overall entropy in their environment.

The Fundamental Insight

Living beings are distinguished by their teleonomic character - they act projectively and pursue purposes. This creates an epistemological contradiction with the postulate of objectivity that denies purpose in nature. The resolution of this paradox lies at the heart of modern biology.

🔬 The Scientific Challenge
Science must explain how purposive, goal-directed behavior emerges from purely physical and chemical processes. The answer lies in understanding the molecular basis of life's three fundamental properties and how they interact to create the appearance of design without a designer.