Message After Wedding Ceremony

What is life?, a question answered two Chilean biologists may

Today we Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, two giant biologists have laid many foundations of modern science (sorry they are generally little known to the other Chileans). They apparently made the inevitable question: What is life?
Once the questions started to look what are the characteristics that allow us to distinguish between living and non-living (if they get to philosophize, they will realize that it is not a trivial question.) Thus, discovered a property that is inherent in the phenomenon of life (although there are other systems with this property, as discussed below. However, it is a hallmark of life), this is the autopoiesis.
Autopoiesis is basically the ability of a system of "build itself" to maintain an inner balance that allows you to have a constant organization. In the words of Maturana:

"Living beings are networks of molecular productions that produced molecules with their interactions generate the same network that produces"

To explain this more clearly, I will quote some words from his book: "Machines and Living Beings: Autopoiesis, the organization of the Living ":

" When we were finishing the book the idea of \u200b\u200bmaking a computer model. What I wanted was to use the computer to generate equivalent processes to molecular processes, such that if you let them operate without any reference to all in a unique dynamic neighborhood relations, is a network of processes that constitute an autopoietic system. Much talked about this, until one day (November 1971), in the morning I arrived at the laboratory with a picture that I have yet, representing a particle dynamics in the form of a small set of "synthetic chemical reactions and lysis " that if it took place at the right pace (at the right temperature) would give rise spontaneously as a result, not included as an aspect of process design "molecular", an autopoietic unity in a two-dimensional space, as a computer screen. What we had to do was a computer program to generate these particles with their interactions and transformations in graphic space. If we did, I said, with appropriate rhythms, arise spontaneously dimensional autopoietic units in that space. Since I do not know programming, Francisco with another friend, Ricardo Uribe Berenguer, they could do, and we agree with Francisco that he would first author in the publishing (Varela, Maturana and Uribe, 1975) (see Figure 1).
The dynamics of reactions was proposed as follows: Sean

particles A, B, and M, and let her run the following: 1 .-

2B + A => M + A

2 .- M + M =>
MM MM + M => MMM

3 .- M => 2B

4 .- MMMMM is permeable to the passage of B.

5 .- The M chain is flexible and movable, and can close on itself.

Fig. 1

In conducting the program arose spontaneously in an autopoietic unity in the space of computer graphics. My purpose in this modeling was to show a generative relationship that gave rise to an autopoietic unity as something new in a completely different level domain of operation of its components. At the same time wanted to show that an autopoietic unity was simply the result of spontaneous organization of a set of elements in a particular composite unity as a result of the operation of their properties without any of these to predict what would happen. Anything new that comes as a result of a dynamic generative, arises as a historical novelty, and is inherently new. "

Thanks to this concept of autopoiesis, we can better understand that things are alive and that things do not, however, there are many autopoietic systems that are not alive, such an enterprise (organization remains domestic and "build itself").
Basically, we now know that not all autopoietic systems are living systems, but all living systems are autopoietic systems!, more specifically, living systems are molecular autopoietic systems.