生命的不可简化结构。DNA中的生命机制和信息是边界条件，在它们之上还有一系列边界。

Life's irreducible structure. Live mechanisms and information in DNA are boundary conditions with a sequence of boundaries above them.

作者信息

Polanyi M

出版信息

Science. 1968 Jun 21;160(3834):1308-12. doi: 10.1126/science.160.3834.1308.

DOI:10.1126/science.160.3834.1308

Abstract

Mechanisms, whether man-made or morphological, are boundary conditions harnessing the laws of inanimate nature, being themselves irreducible to those laws. The pattern of organic bases in DNA which functions as a genetic code is a boundary condition irreducible to physics and chemistry. Further controlling principles of life may be represented as a hierarchy of boundary conditions extending, in the case of man, to consciousness and responsibility.

摘要

机制，无论是人为的还是形态学的，都是利用无生命自然规律的边界条件，其本身不能简化为这些规律。DNA中作为遗传密码起作用的有机碱基模式是一种不能简化为物理和化学的边界条件。生命的进一步控制原则可能表现为一系列边界条件的层级，就人类而言，这种层级延伸到意识和责任。