The Origin of Life: How Atoms Learned to Cooperate

Abstract: In my talk I will outline the relationship between Shannon information and fitness. I will then talk about one of the benefits of organisms living in groups: information sharing. I will then talk about the physics of natural; selection. How selection acts in general dynamical systems to convert free energy into functional information, just as it does in biology. What free energy can be acted on by selection, and how much of it is needed? The answer, surprisingly has to do with cooperating atoms.