ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an origins-of-life model that springs from studies on the formation of the genetic code, specifically, the origins of the association between genes and proteins. It is argued that life is the ontogenetic and evolutionary process instantiated by living beings, and that living beings are metabolic flow systems that self-construct on the basis of memories, and adapt/evolve on the basis of constitutive plasticity. The evolutionary flow is universal and includes the biologic and metabolic. The chapter identifies the series of cellular structures and functions that construct the metabolic flow and guarantee its nonstop activity. These serial mechanisms configure a suite of molecular sinks that are also the activities of the living. The development of cellular reproduction, which is the last component of the sink system, is also the initiator of the next stage, where Darwinian processes are added to Self-Organization. It is considered that other aspects of living activities and life processes are evolutionary additions to the cellular basics. The final section of the chapter examines an apparent convergence between models attempting to describe the origins of the three large realms: the quantum, the cosmic, and life.
