Genesis of EdenABSTRACT: Twenty years ago (King 1978) I proposed the biocosmological thesis that the form of life's origin and evolution is a cosmological interactive process defined in the cosmic symmetry-breaking at the origin of the universe. With the passage of time, the pendulum has shifted from the improbability of life as a random molecular accident to an awareness that central biomolecules may be cosmologically abundant products of the clouds forming young stars leading to an RNA-era in which both catalysis and replication emerged from one cosmologically dervied molecule RNA. . This paper unveils the non-linear quantum foundations of biocosmology as the founding science of life.
Keywords : cosmology symmetry-breaking, molecular evolution, chaos, complex system, neurodynamics, quantum non-locality, transaction, consciousness.
CONTENTS 2002 edition
Part 1:
Could biological structures such as tissues, and organisms be cosmological interactive structures as fundamental as stars and galaxies to the cosmic design? The conventional objections are obvious. Life is a fragile insignificance among the immense energies of black holes, galaxy formation and the big-bang. Its tiny entropy-reducing photosynthetic energy budget and fragile chemical bonds are insignificant on the cosmic scale. Biological structures are genetically coded in a vast variety of ways by specific nucleic acid sequences. Biological evolution is a stochastic process combining random mutation and selective advantage, many of whose manifestations are opportunistic. Nevertheless many features of life as we know it on Earth may be the product of cosmic factors determining the laws of nature which make life possible.
Although traditional chemistry, despite its quantum foundations, treats molecules as arbitrary building blocks which can be arranged in almost any combination using suitable reagents and conditions, there is clear evidence for optimality of many prebiotic and biological molecules, giving life as we know it a cosmological basis as a culminating interactive structure.
This paper explains how and why the origins of chemical life, major aspects of biological evolution and the elaborate emergent structures of tissues, from biomolecules up to cellular organelles and even to the doors of perception of the conscious brain, are a fractal interactive consequence of the non-linear laws of nature established at the cosmic origin. This reverses the Copernican revolution, putting life and with it ourselves back to centre stage in the cosmic arena.
Biology is a product of the twisted laws of nature dervied from cosmic symmetry-breaking. The rich diversity of structure in molecular systems is made possible by the profound asymmetries developing at the cosmic origin, between the nuclear forces, gravity and electromagnetism. The diversity of the elements and their asymmetric charge structure, with clusters of negatively charged electrons orbiting a massive nucleus containing all the positive charges in a concentrated nuclear 'droplet', is made possible only through the divergence of symmetry of the four fundamental forces. Without these asymmetries there would be only one or two simple atoms and none of the richness of the almost unlimited variety of molecular structures which can be generated by the over one hundred complex atoms occurring in nature as we know it. Chemical bonding is a consequence of the non-linear inverse square law of electromagnetic charge interaction in space-time. This non-linearity also gives rise to a succession of weak bonding interactions, generating the complex non-periodic secondary and tertiary structures of proteins and nucleic acids.
GENERATING A COMPLEX, TWISTED UNIVERSE
The four fundamental forces of nature - the strong and weak forces mediating nuclear binding and neutron decay respectively, along with electromagnetism and gravity are believed to have emerged from a single superforce, perhaps a form of higher-dimensional string, or membrane theory, in twelve, or so dimensions, immediately after the big bang, fig 3(a). The higher-dimensional space, containing a single generalized superforce compactified most of its dimensions to sub-particulate scales, leaving the four dimensions of space-time and broke symmetry to form the different forces we see today, in much the way a ferromagnet is polarized at minimum energy, breaking symmetry in space, so that at the lowest energy, all domains point in one direction. The forces nevertheless do appear to converge at extremely high energies - the unification temperature.
The strong force is a secondary effect of the colour force between the three red, green and blue quarks comprising a proton or neurtron in much the same way that molecular bonding is a secondary consequence of the formation of atoms. The colour force has three colours and three anti-colours instead of two charges. It also comes in two ground flavours so that the proton and neutron are a composite of up and down flavours uud and udd as well as three different colours. The quarks' charges of u = +2/3 and d = -1/3 thus generate precisely the integral charges of the proton and neutron. The weak force has become very short range because it is mediated by massive particles, which are believed to gain the required extra degree of freedom by assimilating another concealed particle, the mysterious Higg's boson (Georgi 1981, t'Hooft 1980, Veltman 1986).
Complementing this picture at the quantum field theory level is a description on the cosmic scale in which a central theme is inflation. Although recently questioned by difficulties finding enough dark matter to halt the universe's slide towards hyperbolic expansion (Krauss 1999, Bucher and Spergel 1999), inflation concepts remain central to understanding how symmetry-breaking of the forces may have generated the expanding universe we know. In summary, a seed universe in the symmetrical state, below the unification temperature is in an unstable high-energy false vacuum, like a super-cooled liquid which could freeze to form a polarized magnet. The false vacuum in the Higg's field causes a gravitational repulsion representing the negative energy difference between temperature and that required to maintain the Higgs field. Under this 'antigravity', the empty universe, expands exponentially, smoothing quantum irregularities to structures on the scale of galaxies (Guth & Steinhardt 1984). The breakdown of the false vacuum (in 10-39 sec) halts this inflationary phase, releasing a shower of high-energy particles as latent heat, forming the hot expanding universe under attractive gravitation we are familiar with. The gravitational potential energy gained almost exactly equals the kinetic energy of the particles, making the generation of the universe possible from a quantum fluctuation. Indications are that the universe will continue to expand suggesting a hyperbolic inflation or fractal cosmic inflation (Linde 1992), in which the active tips of the universe are permanently inflating, to leave behind non-inflating bubble universes such as ours.
What interests us here are the interactive consequences of this symmetry-breaking differentiation, because it leads to all the complex structures we see around us today. Cosmology is traditionally pre-occupied with alpha and omega - initial and final causes - the origin and fate of the universe. But there is another perspective in which life and its complexity is as central to cosmology, fomring the central non-linear interactive processes that make the universe the complex one we know and exist within, during the vast epochs of its mature evolution.
Although life may be created and annihilated during the evolution of the universe from alpha to omega, just as the creation and anihilation of virtual particles are essential to quantum field theory, the biological forms and processes can have a cosmic origin as generic structures and a cosmic significance as culminating interactive complexity (fig 1). Although fragile, on the cosmic scale of energies, the complexity of life is the supreme culmination in complexity of the interactive quantum process initiated in the quantum symmetry-breaking.
The interaction between the wave-particles emerging from the cosmic origin results in distinct effects on microscopic and cosmic scales. On the cosmic scale we find fractal structures - galaxy clusters, star and planetary formation, mediated by gravity, through contraction, heating and the ignition of the strong nuclear force, producing the energy of stars and the secondary photosynthetic energy of visible light. On the quantum scale we find integration of quarks to protons and neutrons then atomic nuclei in stars, then supernovas in the formation of chemical elements, and finally molecules, in the lower energetics of second generation sun-like stars. Quantum interaction of fermions reaches its full interactive complexity only in the molecular assemblies of biochemistry and finally, in tissues, organs and organisms, the brain being the most complex global expression of chemical non-linearities so far known, forming "the three-pound universe" (Hooper ad Teresi).
The hierarchical process leading to molecular complexity involves all the forces in sequence. Quarks are bound by colour force gluons into composite particles, such as the proton p+ and neutron n. These then interact by the strong force, via the nucleosynthesis pathway, to form the elementary nuclei. The nucleosynthesis pathway generates over a hundred atomic nuclei from the already composite proton and neutron. Parity between protons and neutrons is mediated by weak decay and is slightly broken at lowest energies to balance filling nuclear quantum levels with increasing electromagnetic repulsion of the positive protons, fig 6(b). Nucleosynthesis is a complex process catalytically moderated by several of the isotopes of lighter elements such as carbon and oxygen. Subsequently the weaker electromagnetic force interacts, firstly by formation of atoms through aggregation of electrons around nuclei and then by secondary interaction of complete atoms to form molecules. Molecular bonding is a non-linear quantum interaction, which is never fully resolved and thus perpetuates in a sequence of stages through successive strong and weak bonding interactions, making possible the complex tertiary structures of biomolecules.
Generation of the chemical nuclei requires a cosmic cycle through the supernova explosion of a short-lived hot star, generation of heavier elements like gold possibly involving the collapse of twin neutron stars after supernova formation (Rosswog). In the second phase, these elements are drawn into a lower energy long-lived sun-like star, the lighter elements associated with terrestrial biology occur in relatively high abundance as a result of nucelosynthesis dynamics, fig6(a), and can become concentrated on mid-range planets. The final re-entry of the forces occurs through irradiation of molecular systems from photons emitted by stellar thermal radiation, representing the final re-interaction of the residual lower energy electromagnetic bosons with their fermionic counterparts in the electromagnetic orbitals of molecules. The typical coupling of the 5000oC surface temperature of sun-like stars provides photonic energy suitable for energizing weak-bonded molecular structures, without destroying them. A pivotal environment in which this final negentropic low-energy re-entry occurs in abundance are the surfaces of rocky planets in the temperature belt where water is liquid. The variety of planetary systems so-far discovered demonstrates the capacity of the universe to explore through chatoic non-linearities in gravitational orbits, a diverse array of planetary surfaces, ensuring the phase space of potential molecular environments is well explored on a cosmic scale (fig 5).
The Anthropic cosmological principle introduces the existence of observers as a boundary condition, effectively imposing the existence of life as a cosmological constraint. It asserts that fundamental properties of the universe may have been selected by the fact that only with such constraints on the laws of nature would there be a (complex biological) observer to witness the universe and examine its laws (Barrow and Tipler). Forms of many-universes or many-histories cosmology likewise allow for a spectrum of possible universes, only some of which would have laws of nature which would permit the complex interactive states we associate with living systems. Some cosmologies suggest selection principles may regenerate the universe as a whole, and predispose it to the complexity we find evident (Smolin).
A key approach which seeks to define the laws of nature uniquely derives from super-symmetric string theories. In supersymmetry, each half-integer spin matter-forming fermion (e.g. electron, proton, neutrino, fig 4) is matched by a force/radiation-generating integer spin boson (e.g. Higgs, photon, Zo, gluon, graviton, fig 4). In string theories point particles become resonant loops, strings or membranes in higher dimensional space as distance shrinks, avoiding the infinite singularity of point particles. Consistent super-'brane' theories (Green 1985, 1986, Mukerjee 1996, Duff 1998) require a large number of dimensions, between 10 and 26 in which all but four dimensions (space-time) curl up on microscopic scales. Despite millions of possible compactifications, none has so far been defined which matches our particles and forces. Regardless of the fine details of the ultimate theory resolving the origins of the universe in unification, the formof the forces as we know them is consistently described as a conseuqence of symatry-breaking.
THE ABUNDANTLY FECUND UNIVERSE
As time passes, more and more evidence is accumulating that, the universe and its galactic gas clouds are abundant in organic chemicals, from the simplest molecules to sugars, amino acids and nucleic acid bases. Since Fred Hoyle coined the term "wooden universe" based on infra-red spectral data indicative of carbohydrate emission, there has been an awareness of the potential of galactic gas clouds to be cosmically abundant sources of prebiotic molecules.
Radio-telescope data as early as 1974 (Buhl) demonstrated clouds of multiple-bonded HCN and H2C=O spanning the region in the Orion nebula where several new stars are forming, fig 7. These are key precursors of complex polymerization pathways discussed below. Glycine has also been found in interstellar gas and adenine is an abundant product in simulations of collapsing interstellar gas clouds containing a dozen elements including hydrogen, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen (Chakrabadi 2000). Along with amino-acids, all of A, U, G, and C have been detected in carbonaceous chondrites (Hua et. al. 1986), such as the Murchison meteorite. These also contain amphophilic membrane forming products (Deamer and Pashley 1989). Cometary impacts are believed to have coated the Earth in a rich endowment of organics from the earliest stages of solar system evolution when impact rates were high.
Glycolaldehyde has recently been detected by Jan Hollis (2000) in a cloud of gas and dust 2 light years across of a type from which new stars are formed. He notes "Interstellar clouds are spread throughout the galaxy and you often find the same molecule in many different clouds. Since these organic molecules are so widespread, it may mean that pre-biotic chemical evolution is an ongoing process." Glycoaldehyde can combine with other carbohydrate molecules to produce ribose.
A team led by David Deamer, Jason Dworkin, Scott Sandford and Louis Allamandola has also formed complex organic molecules under the harsh condition sof outer space. The main ingredients of interstellar ices are simple chemicals frozen together. Mostly water, some ammonia, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and methanol. The team froze a mixture of these chemicals into a thin solid ice at temperatures close to absolute zero (-441°F/ -263°C) under extreme vacuum and exposed this to harsh ultraviolet radiation that mimics the radiation in space produced by neighboring stars. Instead of finding a handful of molecules only slightly more complicated than the starting compounds, hundreds of new compounds were produced in every mixed ice studied. The types of compounds produced are strikingly similar to many infalling meteorites and interplanetary dust particles. Thus much of the organic material found on the Earth in its earliest years probably had an interstellar heritage." (Dworkin et. al. 2001).
The capacity of complex organic molecules generated in space to enter Earth's atmosphere intact has also been confirmed. Jeffrey Bada has found evidence that "mother lodes' of buckyballs, football-shaped molecules made up of carbon atoms, have fallen intact to Earth from outside the Solar System from Sudbtlry, Ontario, where a meteoroid the size of Mount Everest crashed 2 billion years ago. They were loaded with helium, an element rare on Earth, but abundant in inter-stellar space. The single impact site contained about 1 million tons of extra-terrestrial buckyballs. If complex buckyballs could fall on earth without burning up so could complex organic molecules (Cohen 1996).