[Proceedings IAU] It is argued that a central challenge to the task of developing a foundational model for life lies within the implicit propositions of the Western scientific view.
These propositions constrain thinking about the concept of life.
Three implicit boundary conditions in particular – life as a property of a system, life as a purely biological phenomenon, and life as a binary concept – are identified, and it is suggested to replace them with three operational principles – synonymity of ’life’ with ’processes of change’; the foundation of change upon interaction; the recursion and integration of change over boundary conditions.
Re-evaluating Boundary Conditions of the Concept of Life, Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union (open access)
Astrobiology,
