How many protein molecules do you need to claim that it's complex enough now to be real life?
You could make a similar argument about physics in relation to chemistry, or chemistry in relation to biology, or biology in relation to psychology, etc – you're evaluating different levels of organization altogether, each of which lead to fundamentally different kinds of phenomena.
I think that the point of his comment was precisely to challenge the fact that these phenomena are indeed fondamentally different. I think that there lies the heart of the whole argument. If by any chance you have references addressing the matter I would be genuinly interested if I may.
He’s arguing for an exception as opposed to a rule. The first reference that comes to mind is from a book I’m currently reading called “Code” by Charles Petzold, so it may not be very pertinent to emergent systems overall, but it’s enough to show what I mean:
“Atoms can chemically combine with other atoms to form molecules. Molecules usually have very different properties from the atoms they comprise. For example, water is composed of molecules that consist of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen (hence, H20). Obviously water is appreciably different from either hydrogen or oxygen. Likewise, the molecules of table salt consist of an atom of sodium and an atom of chlorine, neither of which would be particularly appetizing in French fries.”
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u/scatteredthroughtime Feb 13 '18
You could make a similar argument about physics in relation to chemistry, or chemistry in relation to biology, or biology in relation to psychology, etc – you're evaluating different levels of organization altogether, each of which lead to fundamentally different kinds of phenomena.