What Is Life?: Scientific Approaches and

What Is Life? Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by 124.197.69.96 on 12/11/12. For personal use only.
What is Life?
Philosophical Positions
Scientific Approaches and
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Series on the Foundations of Natural Science and Technology
What is Life?
Scientific Approaches and Philosophical Positions
Editors
Hans-Peter Durr
Max-Planck-Institut fur Physik, Munchen, Germany
Fritz-Albert Popp
International Institute of Biophysics, Neuss, Germany
Wolfram Schommers
Institute of Nanotechnology, Karisruhe, Germany
World Scientific
New Jersey
Published by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. P 0 Box 128, Farrer Road, Singapore 912805 USA ofice: Suite lB, 1060 Main Street, River Edge, NJ 07661 UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
WHAT IS LIFE? Scientific Approaches and PhilosophicalPositions Series on the Foundations of Natural Science and Technology Vol. 4
Copyright 0 2002 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, includingphotocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.
For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to photocopy is not required from the publisher.
ISBN 981-02-4740-0
Printed in Singapore by World Scientific Printers (S) Pte Ltd
Foreword
From early history until now, the mean survival time of mankind has increased from less than twenty years up to more than 70 years. The mystical and imaginative answers about life that our ancestors had have been corrected during these centuries and been substituted for, in particular by the ideas of modern science. The new answers have brought with them fascinating new tools with increasing accuracy and admirably detailed and specific knowledge. One is invited to conclude that this indisputable correlation between survival rate and scientific progress reflects a causal relationship as is evident, for instance, in the remarkable medical progress made after the discovery of bacteria and viruses and the resultant protection from infections that was generated. Modern gene technology awakes in us the hope that the further prolongation of lifespan has no limits at all. It is interesting, nevertheless, that skepticism about mainstream science comes up. This is explained by the loss of devotion to human feelings, by, for example, the standardization of therapeutic concepts of modern apparatus medicine. Rather often people point to the decrease in quality of life whatever this may mean. Marked changes include the dramatic increase of costs in modern heath care, the continuing futility of the fight against old diseases such as rheumatism and cancer, as well as against rather modern diseases, such as allergies and AIDS, not to mention the race against increasing resistances of bacteria, and the dramatic appearance of psychic diseases, frustrations and depressions, environmental stress, and bad nutrition. Environmental pollutions and the nonsustainability of human
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Foreword
life on the earth contribute dramatically to eroding the quality of life for all life. All these daily events invite us to reconsiderations and a careful analysis of our situation. These and related problems of our time teach us that despite gigantic technical progress we do not understand enough about what we call life. All the efforts at solving these central problems of human development should focus on an objective analysis instead of on ideology or an inquisitory, but superior, attitude. In addition, it is necessary to avoid useless criticism of modern science and technique, but, on the contrary, to take into account most modern scientific knowledge, in order to ask first the most essential questions, before any decisive final answers can be expected. This goal is one of the most essential areas of inquiry at the International Institute of Biophysics (IIB), which invites outstanding representatives of natural sciences and scholars in the humanities from all over the whole world to work, prepare for, and solve just these important questions of our time. The IIB has established its center now at the Cultural Island in Hombroich (Neuss, Germany), in order to work effectively on the problems of an integrative biophysics, where the following conditions are fulfilled in an optimal way: This research requires today interdisciplinary cooperation. The work should be free of bureaucratic enforcements, and it should involve the most outstanding scientists from all over the whole world. The most modern scientific knowledge should be available to all the participants. The research should take place in an atmosphere of tolerance and mutual understanding. The environment should foster the unfolding of creativity. In 1998 a first intensive workshop about fundamental questions of life took place among biologists, physicians, and physicists of the IIB, and outstanding scientists at German universities. The participants agreed that the purely molecular point of view (Is Biology the Physics of yesterday?) narrows the field of view and inquiry and is not sufficient for a good perspective or unfolding of insights about the manifold essential interactions
Foreword
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of living systems. This is not to criticize or blame the fascinating progress of molecular biology. It shall not claim that the wholistic approach gives us more profound knowledge about life than biochemistry does. However, this remark shall help us to understand that the impressive technical progress of molecular biology is not a guarantee for a better understanding of life. Rather, the blind spot that arose in the transition from the wholistic imaginations of ancient times to the modern atomistic approach of understanding living systems could quite well develop into a field which demands intensive attention. Actually, decisive progress in LifeSciences can be obtained in the future with probably only a symbiotic cooperation between molecular biology and integrative sciences. In these efforts, quantum theory and electrodynamics must not be neglected. However, the question is still open whether present-day physics is sufficient for explaining life completely. All these agreements between scientists were confirmed by a further workshop at Insel Hombroich in the fall of 1999. Some biochemists and physicists of the IIB together with experts from German research institutes and universities discussed again the famous Schrdinger question What is Life?. The manifold and original ideas, proposals, and viewpoints of the engaged participants which are printed in this book shall not cover the fact that in all contributions there were surprising agreements in essential points, such as a unanimity about the fundamental role of long-range interactions in living systems, necessary for control and regulation of the extremely complex organization of not only the structure, but also the dynamical processes. The view of the whole should not be lost in a system that makes its mark as a whole. Provided that these links are not neglected, new, surprising, and highly exciting answers are to be found to up-to-now not understood biological phenomena such as cell division, differentiation, bio-functions, , all the way up to well-being, sickness, information, consciousness, and evolution. This series of contributions has been ordered in such a way that the contents start with rather general considerations and then focus more and more on special questions. The reader can certainly read the book diagonally.
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Foreword
For those, however, who like to keep the links of surprise and new ideas and essential agreements, who like to find the common kernel in different forms of expression and disciplines from different authors, and who dont want to lose the central theme and the whole view, we recommend reading the contributions in the order that they are presented. The authors do not intend to make a quantum jump forward toward knowledge about life for this the time is certainly not ripe but they are inclined to offer this book as a reference and nod to the great importance of this field for the future evolution of mankind. And finally, the book shall reflect its contents: Seriously written, but always good for surprise, highly variable, but always based on wellaccepted scientific knowledge, controversal in some respects, but uniform in the stream of argumentation, transferring new knowledge, but nevertheless open to evaluation. Cest la vie! We are greatly indebted to Heinrich Mller and Karl Schweisfurth for understanding our motivation and for the generous hospitality that we enjoyed at Insel Hombroich. This volume is an extension of the book Elemente des Lebens published in German by the GRAUE EDITION (Editors: Prof. Dr. Walter Sauer and Dr. Dietmar Lauermann).
Hans-Peter Drr
Fritz-Albert Popp Wolfram Schommers Insel Hombroich, December 2000
Contents
Foreword List of Contributors Chapter 1 All the Colors of a Rainbow in a Worm or: What is Life? Reinhard Eichelbeck Chapter 2 Life A Problem Inherent in the Research Context Franz-Theo Gottwald Chapter 3 Truth and Knowledge Wolfram Schommers The Formative Powers of Developing Organisms Lev V. Beloussov Chapter 5 Electromagnetic, Symbiotic and Informational Interactions in the Kingdom of Organisms Gunter M. Rothe Chapter 6 Dead Molecules and the Live Organism Roeland Van Wijk
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Chapter 4
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Contents
Chapter 7
Inanimate and Animate Matter: Orderings of Immaterial Connectedness The Physical Basis of Life Hans-Peter Drr
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Chapter 8
Communication Basis of Life Lebrecht von Klitzing
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Chapter 9
Can Biological Effects Emerge from Inorganic Nano-Systems? Michael Rieth and Wolfram Schommers
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Chapter 10
Substantial and Non-Substantial Structure in Living Systems Jiin-Ju Chang (Jinzhu Zhang)
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Chapter 11
On the Essence of Life A Physical but Nonreductionistic Examination Hans-Jrgen Fischbeck
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Chapter 12
Coherent Excitations in Living Biosystems and Their Implications: A Qualitative Overview G. J. Hyland
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Chapter 13
Biophotonics A Powerful Tool for Investigating and Understanding Life Fritz-Albert Popp
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Chapter 14
Biophoton and the Quantum Vision of Life R. P. Bajpai
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Chapter 15
Quantum Mechanics, Computability Theory and Life John Swain
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Contents
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Chapter 16
BoseEinstein Condensation of Photons, Does it Play a Vital Role in the Understanding of Life? Eberhard Mller
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Index
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List of Contributors
R. P. Bajpai Institute of Self-Organising Systems and Biophysics North Eastern Hill University Shilling 793022 India L. V. Beloussov Department of Embryology Moscow State University Moscow Russia J.-J. Chang (Jinzhu Zhang) Institute of Biophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100101 China H.-P. Drr Max-Planck-Institut of Physics Werner-Heisenberg-Institut Fhringer Ring 6 D-80805 Mnchen Germany
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R. Eichelbeck Seerichterstr. 17 D-86911 Diessen Germany H.-J. Fischbeck Evangelische Akademie Mhlheim an der Ruhr Uhlenhorstweg 29 D-45479 Mhlheim/Ruhr Germany F.-Th. Gottwald Schweisfurth-Stiftung Sdliches Schlossrondell 1 D-80638 Mnchen Germany G. J. Hyland University of Warwick Department of Physics Coventry, CV4 7AL UK L. von Klitzing Universittsklinikum Lbeck Klin.-Experimentelle Forschungseinrichtung Ratzeburger Allee 160 D-23538 Lbeck Germany E. Mller Evangelisches Studienwerk Villigst Iserlohner Str. 25 D-58239 Schwerte Germany
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F.-A. Popp International Institute of Biophysics Kappellener Strasse D-41472 Neuss Germany M. Rieth Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe Institute of Nanotechnology P.O. Box 3640 D-76021 Karlsruhe Germany G. M. Rothe Institut fr Allgemeine Botanik Johannes-Gutenberg-Universitt Saarstr. 21 D-55099 Mainz Germany W. Schommers Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe Institute of Nanotechnology P.O. Box 3640 D-76021 Karlsruhe Germany J. Swain Department of Physics Northeastern University Boston, MA 02115 USA
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R. Van Wijk Department of Molecular Cell Biology Utrecht University Padualaan 8 3584 CH Utrecht The Netherlands

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What Is Life? Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by 124.197.69.96 on 12/11/12. For personal use only.

Scientific Approaches and

This page intentionally left blank

Series on the Foundations of Natural Science and Technology

Printed in Singapore by World Scientific Printers (S) Pte Ltd

Fritz-Albert Popp Wolfram Schommers Insel Hombroich, December 2000

Communication Basis of Life Lebrecht von Klitzing

On the Essence of Life A Physical but Nonreductionistic Examination Hans-Jrgen Fischbeck

Biophoton and the Quantum Vision of Life R. P. Bajpai

Quantum Mechanics, Computability Theory and Life John Swain

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