ABSTRACT
The second chapter discusses possible trajectories from abiotic to biotic way of being. Dissipative structures, together with memory structures certainly played a role. It is assumed that energy, material supply, and the scaffolding of processes originated from planetary resources, and presumably took place either in tiny cavities in water-percolated rocks, or at the oceanic bottom. The principal driving force of today ’s biosphere, the Sun, played little, if any, role. Indeed, analyses of biochemical pathways suggest that photosynthesis is but an extension of respiratory pathways that evolved in chemolithotrophic organisms. The chapter further discusses the ‘metabolism first ’ vs ‘code first ’ hypotheses, i.e., the role of mineral scaffolds and organometallics in the origin of life versus the hypothesis of RNA world, ribosomes and the origin of codes with first cells. Inevitably it touches also the problem of energy supplementation (redox and photochemical reactions), the chirality enigma and consequent emancipation of organic structures from the rocks.
