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Cited by 97Origins and Evolution of LifeRNA and protein synthesis mechanismsEvolution and Genetic Dynamics

The cosmological model of eternal inflation and the transition from chance to biological evolution in the history of life

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Koonin, Eugene V·2007·Biology Direct
DOI 10.1186/1745-6150-2-15PMC PMC1892545
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Recent developments in cosmology radically change the conception of the universe as well as the very notions of "probable" and "possible". The model of eternal inflation implies that all macroscopic histories permitted by laws of physics are repeated an infinite number of times in the infinite multiverse. In contrast to the traditional cosmological models of a single, finite universe, this worldview provides for the origin of an infinite number of complex systems by chance, even as the probability of complexity emerging in any given region of the multiverse is extremely low. This change in perspective has profound implications for the history of any phenomenon, and life on earth cannot be an exception. HYPOTHESIS: Origin of life is a chicken and egg problem: for biological evolution that is governed, primarily, by natural selection, to take off, efficient systems for replication and translation are required, but even barebones cores of these systems appear to be products of extensive selection. The currently favored (partial) solution is an RNA world without proteins in which replication is catalyzed by ribozymes and which serves as the cradle for the translation system. However, the RNA world faces its own hard problems as ribozyme-catalyzed RNA replication remains a hypothesis and the selective pressures behind the origin of translation remain mysterious. Eternal inflation offers a viable alternative that is untenable in a finite universe, i.e., that a coupled system of translation and replication emerged by chance, and became the breakthrough stage from which biological evolution, centered around Darwinian selection, took off. A corollary of this hypothesis is that an RNA world, as a diverse population of replicating RNA molecules, might have never existed. In this model, the stage for Darwinian selection is set by anthropic selection of complex systems that rarely but inevitably emerge by chance in the infinite universe (multiverse). CONCLUSION: The plausibility of different models for the origin of life on earth directly depends on the adopted cosmological scenario. In an infinite universe (multiverse), emergence of highly complex systems by chance is inevitable. Therefore, under this cosmology, an entity as complex as a coupled translation-replication system should be considered a viable breakthrough stage for the onset of biological evolution. REVIEWERS: This article was reviewed by Eric Bapteste, David Krakauer, Sergei Maslov, and Itai Yanai.

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  • Deep constraints also limit the possible kinds of evolutionary laws ruling the biosphere.

    “This section concludes with an idea suggested by several previous works [61,376,410]: deep constraints also limit the possible kinds of evolutionary laws ruling the biosphere.”

    From Fundamental constraints to the logic of living systems (2024) · cites this paper as [410]

    In “Objections, implications, and falsification” (page unavailable), Koonin says biological evolution narrows the available historical trajectories to those compatible with Darwinian evolution. That supports a constraint on evolutionary outcomes, but the passage does not say that deep constraints limit which kinds of evolutionary laws can govern the biosphere. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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Authors
Koonin, E. V.
Affiliations
National Institutes of Health (US)
Corresponding author
Koonin, Eugene V
ORCID
Koonin, Eugene V
Venue
Biology Direct
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2007
Volume
2
Issue
1
Pages
15
ISSN
1745-6150 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/1745-6150-2-15
PMC
PMC1892545
OpenAlex
W2143512585
Cited by
97
References
76
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 2
FWCI
2.19
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Biology Direct (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
Keywords
eternal inflation, multiverse, origin of life, RNA world, ribozymes, translation systems, natural selection, anthropic selection, history of life

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