In a somewhat obscure but influential book called Energy Flow in Biology, published in 1968, Yale University biochemist Harold Morowitz wrote a memorable and prescient statement: “The energy that flows through a system acts to organize that system.” Like Prigogine, Morowitz believed that life’s essential feature was the process of metabolism, as it is what sustains the organism’s structure and function by allowing free energy—extracted from sunlight or food—to continuously flow through the system, revitalizing it. In his mind, explaining the origin of life begins with explaining the origin of metabolism.

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