Fig. 1.

The constructive approach to biology is compared to the analytic one through this parallelism: in A it is depicted how, by processing raw ingredients (rice) with the appropriate recipe, one can successfully bake rice bread or prepare a portion of white rice. The analytic study of rice bread can provide a list of its components but, knowing nothing of the recipe beforehand, it will not inform how to make it or what makes it “bread”. Similarly, life's origin and early evolution are not understood by analysing modern forms of it but by formulating a recipe for its emergent behaviours and functions.