the capricious character of nature大自然的反复无常的性格.pdfVIP

Life 2012, 1, 165-169; doi:10.3390/life2010165 OPEN ACCESS life ISSN 2075-1729 /journal/life Communication The Capricious Character of Nature Jaana Keto 1 and Arto Annila 1,2,3,* 1 Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Fi-00014 Helsinki , Finland; E-Mail: jaana.keto@helsinki.fi 2 Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Fi-00014 Helsinki, Finland 3 Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, Fi-00014 Helsinki, Finland * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: arto.annila@helsinki.fi; Tel.: +358-9-191-50629; Fax: +358-9-191-50639. Received: 1 December 2011; in revised form: 22 December 2011 / Accepted: 4 January 2012 / Published: 11 January 2012 Abstract: The on-going whole genome sequencing and whole cell assays of metabolites and proteins imply that complex systems could ultimately be mastered by perfecting knowledge into great detail. However, courses of nature are inherently intractable because flows of energy and their driving forces depend on each other. Thus no data will suffice to predict precisely the outcomes of e.g., engineering experiments. All path-dependent processes, most notably evolution in its entirety, display this capricious character of nature. Keywords: evolution; free energy; natural selection 1. Introduction Did you know that during 2008 in Britain 78.7 per cent of 11- to 15-year-olds visited a library and that 64 self-propelled railroad coaches were imported to the UK? These and numerous other statistical