Agency and Information at the Origin of Life

Pullen's definition of life: a system of chemicals possessing molecular knowledge and a mechanism to implement this knowledge in such a way that the system can survive long enough to replicate itself.

All these processes appear to require both information and agency. Information is not enough without systems to utilize it.

Energy is not enough to construct complex information-bearing molecular structures - and in fact works against such structures unless there is a system in place to use the energy constructively.