第二章_代谢与能动性

Chapter 2: Metabolism, Material Constraints, and Survival—The Starting Point of Agency

The most fundamental difference between life and non-life lies in:

Life maintains metabolic order and resists entropy increase.

Metabolism is not just the colloquial concept of "eating." On a physical level, it means:

• The continuous exchange of energy and matter through an open system
• Maintaining a local low-entropy structure under the thermodynamic constraints of global entropy increase
• This is precisely what Prigogine's theory of "dissipative structures" describes: an open system far from equilibrium maintaining order through energy dissipation

The existence of metabolism equips life with the most rudimentary prototype of agency:

• Distinguishing the inside from the outside (the establishment of boundaries)
• Maintaining boundaries (the stability of structure)
• Resisting dissolution (combating entropy increase)
• Actively acquiring resources in the environment (interaction with the environment)

Here, we propose our first assertion:

Agency originates first from metabolic structures, rather than a mysterious "mind."