Definition
Matter
Matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. In the classical macroscopic view, it includes all physical substances, but at the microscopic level, it is composed of atoms and their constituent subatomic particles.
Perspectives on Matter
Modern physics, particularly since the Enlightenment, has viewed matter through the lens of dynamical laws—a clockwork universe where atoms obey deterministic rules. However, the study of life challenges the distinction between “active” and “passive” matter.
- Dead Matter: Matter in thermodynamic equilibrium, subject to the inexorable increase of entropy.
- Living Matter: Matter organised into self-modifying, dynamically stable structures (see computronium).
Observation
As Erwin Schrödinger noted, living matter involves “other laws of physics hitherto unknown,” which relate to the computational and statistical properties of complex, symbiotic systems.