OUR VISION
Did you know, there is no entry for life in the Oxford Dictionary of Biology?
This is peculiar since life is the central quantity of the living world. Without life there would be no biology because there would be no cells, organisms or evolution. Without life, there would be no you or me.
So far, every human being has passed through this universe without knowing where they came from, because science is completely in the dark about the origin of life. Even if you believe in God, and that God was responsible for the origin of life, you still do not know how God did it. Do you?
My name is Philip Rushton, I have a PhD in theoretical condensed matter physics and I have worked at the US National Security Agency (NSA) where I had Top Secret security clearance.
For the past two decades I have worked as an independent researcher investigating the question, what is life? I set up RUSHTON RESEARCH because I think I have found the answer. I am now looking for one person - to prove me wrong.
Unlike evolution (this is not a dig at evolution by the way, it just so happens to be a very appropriate example) my theory is truly scientific in the Popperian sense - it makes numerous falsifiable claims and various predictions.
It doesn't matter who you are. You do not have to be a professional scientist, philosopher, computer scientist, mathematician or engineer. You could be a talented layperson.
All I ask is to be proven wrong. If this happens I will shut down this website, clear my desk and do something else with my life.
However, if nobody can prove me wrong, the chances of my framework being correct, stack up over time. The popularity of my solution will grow, and eventually it will become the accepted answer to life within the scientific community.
So what? Well, next comes the fun part: the biggest paradigm shift in the history of biology since Darwin's theory of evolution will take place. Strictly speaking, it will be the first paradigm shift in biology since Darwin because biology has never experienced a paradigm shift - it's been Darwin all the way.
Why will the answer to life lead to a paradigm shift in biology? Because evolution will cease to be the central concept in biology. That title will pass from evolution, to life.
You see, life precedes evolution. Life existed before any evolution took place. Since evolution requires organisms, and organisms are made from cells which are, in turn, sustained and produced by life.
The biology of today is a "dead biology", because life plays no part. Life is assumed, but not understood. In contrast, I foresee that the biology of the future will be one centred on life. This makes the biology of today essentially the geocentrism of our time - we see the living world revolving around evolution (Earth) instead of life (Sun).
Do not get me wrong, I am not claiming evolution is wrong. What I am claiming is that the living world has a more fundamental principle than evolution - it is life itself. If you thought the future of biology until the end of the world will be nothing but footnotes to Darwin, think again.
You may be tempted to think that biology has done pretty well so far without life. Has it? What about the origin of the genetic code? Genetic information? Transcription? Translation? The Central Dogma of molecular biology? Homochirality? Why three domains of life?
These huge questions in biology cannot be explained by evolution, and these are just the tip of the iceberg. The point is, biology is a massively incomplete science - without the answer to life. It is like physics without quantum mechanics.
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For whatever biology will be tomorrow, it will not be merely an extrapolation of what it is today.
— Robert Rosen, Professor of Biophysics (Life Itself, 1991)
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This is not merely my opinion either. Evolutionists themselves have predicted a monumental shift in biology that will occur as a result of understanding life. Take Franklin Harold for example.
Harold was professor of cell biology at Colorado State University and a staunch evolutionary biologist. In his wonderful book The Way of the Cell, Harold prophesies: "The problem of the origin of life may turn out to be the most consequential in the history of science".
Generations of very knowledgeable and intelligent scientists have sought the answer to life, without success. Do I claim to have discovered something they did not? Have I seen something they did not see? Yes, and yes.
Who do I think I am? One thing is for sure: I am no genius. It was only a matter of time before someone discovered the answer to life. Agreed? If you disagree, this can only be for one reason: the answer lies beyond science, in mysticism.
Either way, while science has explored innumerable avenues to pin down life, there is one that has not been explored: the answer. Which brings me to my discovery.
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Life is other physics
— Erwin Schrödinger (What is Life?, 1943)
It is a well-known fact that every object in this universe obeys the laws of physics. Not only is it impossible to violate the laws of physics, it is also impossible for any object to obey less physics. What about more physics?
What if an object obeyed some other physics in addition to the conventional (universal) laws of physics? Since the universal laws of physics are obeyed in full, there is no scientific reason preventing the existence of such an object.
However, an object with extra physics would be fundamentally distinct from every other object in the universe - precisely because it is governed by extra physics of its own. Do such exotic objects exist though?
Not only do they exist, they are not rare either, at least not on this planet. Your body alone contains roughly 10 trillion (10,000,000,000,000) of them! These objects are, of course, biological cells.
The building blocks of cells are large, complex molecules called proteins. Physics and chemistry alone are not enough to make cellular proteins, since the molecular structure of proteins require information for their construction.
The information to make proteins is not located within the laws of physics, rather it is located within a molecule: DNA.
The information to produce proteins must be communicated from DNA into proteins, this cannot happen without the information being transformed via a code - the genetic code - performed by a third molecule: RNA.
Organisms are made from cells, cells are made from proteins and proteins are made by the DNA-RNA-Protein communication system which acts in addition to the laws of physics and chemistry. The DNA-RNA-Protein system is life itself. Because without it, there would be no proteins, no cells, no organisms and no you or me.
Is this really life, or just one particular manifestation of life here on Earth? Could life be something vastly different on the other side of the universe? These are great questions; I have an equally great answer for them.
DNA, RNA and Protein are not merely three types of molecules which just so happen to communicate with each other. They possess a unique communication architecture which can be derived from pure logic.
I call this the Canonical Communication Architecture or CCA, since it is the architecture that arises when there is nothing but communication. The CCA can therefore be said to be the prototypical communication architecture.
The DNA-RNA-Protein system is the physical embodiment of the CCA. Life is therefore the CCA "clothed" with matter. Life could in principle be clothed with different matter, but the CCA remains unchanged.
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What is life? Life is the physical embodiment of a unique, universal communication architecture which can be derived from pure logic, I call it the Canonical Communication Architecure or CCA. I think it may be a law of the universe, it is at least the law of life itself.
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— Philip Rushton, Rushton Research
The CCA is derived from pure logic, it does not depend on any particular (it's job is to inform matter itself), therefore the CCA is a truly universal law of life.
All life in the universe whether here on Earth or on the other side of the universe without exception, will - indeed must - physically realise the CCA.
Conversely, nothing which is not alive will embody the CCA. That is, the CCA is only found in living things. The CCA therefore constitutes a sharp division between life and non-life.
There is much debate in scientific circles about what is actually alive and what is not. You might think this is obvious but there are ambiguous cases that make it difficult to tell the difference: viruses are the classic example, but what about a micro-organism is complete suspended animation and is it possible for machines to be alive?
The truth is, there is no ambiguity at all: either an object is governed by the CCA (in addition to the laws of physics) and it is alive, or it is not.
This is my theory, but am I right, or wrong? If I were a rich man, I would offer a substantial cash prize to anyone who successfully proves me wrong. That is how confident I am.
To engage with my theory seriously, you will need to read the papers I have written which can be found here. If you think you can prove me wrong, send me a message using the form below.
Whether you are trying to prove me wrong or not, you can use the same form to ask me any questions, or simply to make contact with me.
If you would like to become part of RUSHTON RESEARCH and continue the exciting research opened up by this discovery, please contact me.
Can you prove me wrong?