Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe

by Brian Greene

Of course, the molecules don’t know anything. Their behavior is governed by the blind, mindless, unschooled laws of physics. But the question remains: How do they consistently and reliably carry out a stunningly intricate series of complex chemical processes? It’s a question that harks back to my paraphrasing of Schrödinger’s primary query in What Is Life?: The jostling and careening of molecules within a rock are governed by the laws of physics. The jostling and careening of molecules within a rabbit are also governed by the laws of physics. How do they differ? We have now seen that the rabbit’s particles are guided by an additional influence—the rabbit’s internal archive of information, its cellular software. Importantly, critically, vitally: This information does not supersede the laws of physics. Nothing does. Instead, much as a water slide doesn’t supersede the laws of gravity but through its shape guides riders along a specific trajectory they would otherwise not follow, the rabbit’s cellular software is carried by chemical arrangements that through their shape, structure, and constituents guide various molecules along trajectories that they, too, would otherwise not follow.