It was reading Peter Hoffmann’s 2012 book Life’s Ratchet that drove home the role of determinism in biological processes, which he characterizes as a ratchet, a process that filters random behavior into a particular “purposeful” direction. Since Hoffmann is a biophysicist, his presentation is heavily guided by the physical principles of energy conversion, thermodynamics, and entropy, which makes for a fresh approach to a traditionally biological subject. The startling thing Hoffmann’s book introduced me to was the subject of molecular machines or motor proteins. These were amazing engines that harnessed the chemical and physical energy within a cell to act like miniature workers hauling materials around and constructing other molecules. The intelligent design crowd would go bonkers. See Chemical Determinism – Motor Proteins

(Update 8/24/2025)  Origin of Life — Probably Not by Chance 

A recent article by Michael Marshall in the online newsletter Aeon, “Life Happened Fast,” offers tantalizing support for the idea that the evolution of life may be driven less by chance than supposed, which is the idea behind Hoffmann’s book, Life’s Ratchet.  This is the crux of the argument:

These strands of evidence amount to a complete rewriting of the early history of life on Earth. Instead of life beginning shortly after the Late Heavy Bombardment 3.8 billion years ago, it may have arisen within 100 million years of the planet’s formation. If so, what does that tell us about how it happened?

The most immediate implication is that our ideas cannot rely on the power of chance at all. There have been a great many hypotheses about the origins of life that relied on a coincidence: say, a one-in-a-billion collision between two biological molecules in the primordial soup. But if life really formed within 0.1 billion years of the planet’s birth, ideas like this are absolutely untenable. There just wasn’t time.

The bulk of the article offers evidence for why ideas about the timeframe for the origin of life on earth need to be revised, and why, therefore, theories about the origin of life need to be revamped, especially about its dependency on chance.  New theories are not yet offered, but the situation certainly suggests that some type of determinism needs to be added to the mix.  Fascinating times.

See the article Life Happened Fast.