I took my two sons and a friend of one them. They were kids, but they will probably treasure the photographs taken with the great man until they are very old
It was an afternoon I will never forget.
At one point in the discussion, the subject turned somehow to self organizing systems and I mentioned that Stuart Kaufmann described life as "an eddy in thermodynamics."
It came as no surprise that Dyson actually knew Kaufmann personally, but indicated he had not heard that description, "life is an eddy in thermodynamics," but he nonetheless approved instantly of the description, calling it "perfect."
It is, I think, a more beautiful and probably accurate description of what life is then a description of it as a "cancer." There are those who argue that matter has no meaning without life. The argument may be metaphysical to an extent, but it seems to me it could be correct.
That issue, the fact that life is thermodynamically unstable, is, as I work through it, the central point of the Chem Rev paper cited in the OP through which I am working my way.
It's a wonderful review article by the way, very enlightening.
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