47.2 · Evolutionary Biologist · Biology does not Reduce to Physics

‘I thought life was a special case in a lifeless physical world. The more I learn, I believe that biology is more general, and physics is a special case.

‘Most people will say that there’s a law to predict every quark and gluon, which lets you predict molecules, so cells, so human bodies, so all of society, economy, history, art, culture. This idea that everything can be reduced to physics is now bizarre to me. Physics did not emerge to explain what life is or does. Many biological things can only be explained at the biology level, not a simpler level. Physics tools are being imported into biology, which I think is the wrong idea. Physics is a hammer, and we’re looking for nails. We need to see life directly and develop new theory. The wrong tools give you the wrong questions. “What is life?” assumes that life is a thing