Basic Autonomy as a Fundamental Step in the Synthesis of Life

In the search for the primary roots of autonomy (a pivotal concept in Varela's comprehensive understanding of living beings), the theory of autopoiesis provided an explicit criterion to define minimal life in universal terms, and was taken as a guideline in the research program for the artificial synthesis of biological systems. Acknowledging the invaluable contribution of the autopoietic school to present biological thinking, we offer an alternative way of conceiving the most basic forms of autonomy. We give a bottom-up account of the origins of "self-production" (or self-construction, as we propose to call it), pointing out which are the minimal material and energetic requirements for the constitution of basic autonomous systems. This account is, indeed, committed to the project of developing a general theory of biology, but well grounded in the universal laws of physics and chemistry. We consider that the tic theory was formulated in highly abstract terms and, in orde...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2004
• Where: ALIFE
• Authors: Kepa Ruiz-Mirazo, Alvaro Moreno
• Keywords: ALIFE 2004, ALIFE 2007, Autonomous Systems, Basic Autonomous Systems, Minimal Autonomous Systems