I used to have this a my "signature."

"Life is Nature's way of turning light into heat."

This was based on the idea that 'turning light into heat' was an expression of maximum entropy...
...and that 'life' was the most efficient way to do that.

*A chemical reaction that is very unfavorable thermodynamically (?positive enthalpy?), can be made to happen if the entropy of the final products is large enough. [or words to that effect]

So "life,' even though very unlikely (thermodynamically), is virtually assured of originating (IMHO) because of the amazing entropy that living generates.

Birth and death balance out, but living processes create more entropy than anything I can think of (short of a supernova, -maybe).

~SA
wink

Pyrolysis creates reduced carbon! ...Time for the next step in our evolutionary symbiosis with fire.