On the emergence of biology from chemistry: a discontinuist perspective from the point of view of stability and regulation

In this paper we argue that molecular evolution, and the evolution of prebiotic and early biological systems are qualitatively different processes, in which a crucial role is played respectively by structural stability and by dynamical mechanisms of regulation and integration. These different features entail also distinct modalities of interaction between system and environment that need to be taken into consideration when discussing molecular and biological evolution and selection.