Whatever we call reality, it is revealed to us only through the active construction in which we participate. - Ilya Prigogine

Coherent behavior is the characteristic feature of biological systems.

Equilibrium thermodynamics was an achievement of the nineteenth century, nonequilibrium thermodynamics was developed in the twentieth century, and Onsager's relations mark a crucial point in the shift of interest away from equilibrium to non-equilibrium.

The ideas of nonequilibrium order and of the search for stability extend Darwin’s concept back to the prebiotic stage by redefining the “fittest”.