{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T17:22:20Z","timestamp":1777483340680,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2014,7,21]],"date-time":"2014-07-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1405900800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Information"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Biological systems represent a unique class of physical systems in how they process and manage information. This suggests that changes in the flow and distribution of information played a prominent role in the origin of life. Here I review and expand on an emerging conceptual framework suggesting that the origin of life may be identified as a transition in causal structure and information flow, and detail some of the implications for understanding the early stages chemical evolution.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/info5030424","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2014,7,21]],"date-time":"2014-07-21T11:43:19Z","timestamp":1405942999000},"page":"424-439","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":46,"title":["Top-Down Causation and the Rise of Information in the Emergence of Life"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"5","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5779-2772","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sara","family":"Walker","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA"},{"name":"School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe AZ, USA3 Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, WA, USA\u00a0"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2014,7,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Deutsch, D. 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