Research Perspective Volume 15, Issue 17 pp 8537—8551

Figure 6. The impossible trilemma in organism. Three phenomena support each other. “Metabolism” provides the material and energy to sustain “structure” and support “information” replication. “Information” guides and directs the “metabolism” and the “structure” of the system. The “structure” provides the framework for the existence of “information” and “metabolism”. Compromising at least one of these aspects becomes inevitable when the other two need to be sustained. For “metabolism” and “structure” to be sustained, the entropy of “information” ultimately increases as a result. For “metabolism” and “information” to be sustained, the system “structure” has to be disrupted. During the process of reproduction, germ cells abandon the soma, much like an escape pod separating from the mothership. For “structure” and “information” to be sustained, metabolism must be compromised.