Entangled Reality
Biochemistry

The Biochemistry of Life

Life is not “just chemistry.” It is chemistry organized into systems that store information, build molecular machines, and hold off equilibrium. This section maps what we know, what we can model, and where the origin-of-life story still depends on missing mechanisms.

Quick / Standard / Deep explanations on every page
Two entry paths (Origins vs. Evolution)
Phase 2 focus: translation & protein synthesis

Path 1 — How could life begin?

Origins route

Start here if you want the central origin-of-life bottlenecks: how code, catalysis, and a stable internal environment could come together before modern selection is available to refine anything.

1
The Origin of the Genetic Code — A Causality Dilemma
Code depends on enzymes; enzymes depend on code. Translation is the choke point.
2
Prebiotic Protection vs. Innovation
Why “safe enclosures” help survival but restrict chemical exploration.
3
Why Functional Proteins Are Hard to Discover by Chance
Folding, chaperones, cytosol constraints, and circular dependencies.
4
Phase 2 — What Would a Real Demonstration Look Like?
Simulations, stepwise convergence, and what counts as explanatory power.

Path 2 — How does evolution work (once life exists)?

Evolution route

Start here if your main question is selection: what it can explain, what it cannot, and why “progress” language often confuses the origin problem with the diversification problem.

1
Cumulative Selection and the Missing Phase 2
Cumulative selection is powerful—after reproduction and heredity already exist.
2
Why Enzyme Evolution Has Gatekeeping Constraints
Expression, regulation, toxicity of intermediates, and pathway dependence.
3
Phase 2 — Demonstration Standard
Where both routes converge: what would actually validate a mechanism?

How the “workflow” will work for subsequent pages

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