TITLE: Autocatalytic Sets and the Origin of Life

SUMMARY: The origin of life is one of the most fundamental, but also one of the most difficult problems in science. Despite differences between various proposed scenarios, one common element seems to be the emergence of an autocatalytic set or cycle at some stage. However, there is still much disagreement as to how likely it is that such self-sustaining sets could arise spontaneously. This disagreement is largely caused by the lack of mathematical models that can be formally analyzed.

In this talk, after a brief introduction to the origin of life problem itself, I will introduce a formal framework of chemical reaction systems and autocatalytic sets, and then present both theoretical and computational results which indicate that the emergence of autocatalytic sets is highly likely, even for very moderate (and plausible) levels of catalysis. Furthermore, I will present a new way to identify and classify autocatalytic subsets, which elucidates possible mechanisms for evolution and emergence to happen in such sets.

Finally, I will end with some speculation on how this formal framework might be extended to areas beyond the origin of life, and possibly be applied to living cells, entire ecologies, and perhaps even the economy.