What is Life?

The following sections are included:

• Foreword

• Contents

• List of Contributors

What is life? The probably most brilliant answer to this question was given by the German philosopher Friedrich Engels: "Life," he said, "is the state of being of proteins." And whoever wants to spare himself further reflections may safely settle down on this certainly not exhaustive, but at least irrefutable, explanation. Whoever wants to know and express more about life than this kind of truism, has to expect a task compared to which the twelve labours of Heracles seem trivial…

The following sections are included:

• Premeditations on Cognitive Logic and the Philosophy of Language

• Dependence of Life View Upon Explanations About "Life"

• Post-Materialistic Natural Science: Towards Holistic Research into Life

• References

The following sections are included:

• Can Life be Understood from Itself?

• Result

• Gods, Demigods and Moody Fairies

• Knowledge and Truth

• Is Man Able to Recognize the Absolute Truth?

• Can Celestial Objects Solve Differential Equations?

• Scientific Realism

• Pictures of Reality
  • A transformed reality
  • The equations of motion describe the structures in the picture!

• On the Mathematical Formulation

• Summary and Final Remarks

• References

The following sections are included:

• What Does it Mean to Explain Development?

• Lessons from a Descriptive Embryology, with Some Discourse About Symmetry Theory

• Lessons from Experimental Embryology: Regulation and Driesch's Law

• Developmental Variability: The Whole is More Precise Than Its Parts

• The First Outlines of a Morphogenetic Field and an Excursion into Self-Organization Theory

• Modern Versions of Morphogenetic Fields

• What is Life from the Point of View of a Developing Embryo?

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Electric Fields in Biological Systems
  • Electric fields in higher plants
    • The pH-stat-system
    • The proton motive force
    • The energy charge
    • Potassium channels and the generation of membrane potentials in plants
    • Influence of electrical signals emerging from the roots on photosynthesis and transpiration of leaves
    • Biophysical and biochemical reactions during wound healing
  • The electrostatic field of men and women
  • Healing electromagnetic fields
  • The electromagnetic field as ordering principle

• The Symbiotic Origin of Eukaryota

• Blue Prints of Life

• Informative Fields

• Outlook

• Acknowledgment

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Manifestations of Life

• Protoplasm, the Basic Living Substance

• The Significance of Fluid Movements for Protoplasmic Life

• Water and Protoplasmic Organization

• Energy Mobilization in the Living Organization

• Specific Proteins Protect Life

• Concluding Remarks

• References

The following sections are included:

• Overview

• Introductory Remarks

• Eddington's Parable

• The Opening of the Classical Framework by Modern Physics

• The Consequences of Modern Physics for the World We Know

• Matter and Its Animation

• Possible Significance for Current Biology

• Conclusion

• References

For all the times, one of the most important questions is that of life. Depending on the individual and surrounding situation the reply to "What is Life?" is different. In area of wars and other catastrophes the answer is more in the direction of survive, but not so in the affluent society, where it seems extremely difficult to give a definition of "Life"…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Molecular Dynamics
  • Basic information
  • Time evolution of molecular dynamics systems
  • Interaction potential for AI

• Metastable Cluster-States
  • Model calculations
  • Interpretation of the transition
  • Structure and dynamics
  • Analogies

• Bifurcation Phenomena

• Conclusion and Final Remarks

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Biological Structure and Intrinsic Fields

• Long-Range Interaction and Coherence in Living Systems

• Biophoton Emission from Living Systems

• Interactions Between Living Systems and the Environment

• Growth Regulation and Carcinogenesis

• Discussion and Conclusion

• Acknowledgment

• References

The following sections are included:

• Life — No Wonder?

• Life as a Phenomenon of Self-Organization

• What Does Information Mean in Connection with Life?

• Life as a Communication Phenomenon

• Causality, Finality, and the Structure of Time

• Life from a Quantum-theoretical Viewpoint

• Appendix. A Simple Model for Quantum Coherence

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Fröhlich's Coherent Excitations
  • The original dynamic coherent excitation
  • Subsequent developments and elaborations
  • From dynamic to static coherent excitations
  • Further considerations

• Electromagnetic Implications of the Finite Size of the Systems Supporting Biocoherence
  • Prediction of a new frequency-specific, long-range interaction
  • Radiative possibilities
  • Possible connection with biophoton emission
  • Sensitivity to an external vector potential

• Implications of Coherent Excitations for Biology
  • Generalities
  • A novel application — a model for brainwaves

• Experimental Support for Biocoherence
  • Raman studies
  • Non-thermal response of living systems to ultra-weak microwave radiation
  • Rationalisation in terms of dynamic coherent excitations
  • Evidence in support of the predicted frequency-selective, long-range interaction
  • Evidence in support of the predicted static coherent excitation — the metastable ferroelectric state
  • Difficulties in experimental corroboration

• Quantum Coherence in Water

• Conclusions and Outlook

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Basic Experimental Results

• Essentials of Interpretation

• A Hamiltonian that Keeps Coherent States Coherent

• Thermodynamics of the Biophoton Field

• Non-Substantial Communication in Biological Systems

• Objections

• Evolutionary Aspects

• Note Added in Proof

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• The Limitations of the Existing Framework of Molecular Biochemistry

• Features of Biophoton Signals and Vitality Scales

• Some Distinguishing Features of Quantum Systems

• Glimpses of a Quantum Vision

• References

Scientists and philosophers have long wondered about the nature of life. Interestingly some of the most powerful discoveries of the last century in both physics and logic may have some bearing on our understanding of this remarkable phenomenon: quantum mechanics, and computability theory. In this essay I examine Wigner's concern that life might actually be inconsistent with quantum mechanics. I then ask the question of whether life can reasonably be expected to have a sensible, testable definition and look to computability theory for an answer.

The following sections are included:

• Quantum Theory and Bose–Einstein Condensation

• Quantum Correlations

• Photon Condensation

• What Explicit Mechanism Makes Photons Transform?

• An Explicit Setting for Photon Condensation

• On the Physical Relevance of Photon Condensation

• Biological Relevance of Photon Condensation

• References

The following sections are included:

• Index