NoRule
06-12-2011, 10:01 AM
Note before you start reading: If you have any questions, criticisms, or any thoughts at all, please post! This is an ongoing work of mine and I would love input.
A Theory of Everything
I am alive. I am overwhelmed at the concept that I am more than just energy floating around in the universe. As a living being, I can consciously interact with my environment. As a living being, my decisions and ultimately my actions permanently alter the physical makeup of the universe, not only immediately, but eternally; every conscious decision I make is my decision of how I will alter the future, just as all decisions made before me have led up to now. This is awesome power. I am alive!
As a living being, I wish to understand my place in this universe. What does it mean to be alive? Why am I here? How should I live? These are not questions which need answers, but are very thought-provoking and interesting to ponder, and when I ponder them I feel like I have a better understanding of the world I live in. I think it can be agreed that the “meaning of life” is unique for each individual, but I am going to delve into my own explanation for what it means to be alive, and, furthermore, how humans should live. I’m not saying there is any “right” way of living, I’m just exploring the human existence (which is worth exploring, as humans are definitely remarkable creatures).
To begin exploring this thought process, a good place to start would be to understand what the universe is and how it functions. So, I am going to start at the very beginning, with a short note about science. How did the universe come to be? Science tries to explain this, but science is limited to being one side of the story, whatever story that may be. A scientific theory, however well supported, is only an explanation for a question or observation, and not a truth. Science’s practical uses are infinite, but one should not forget that the human experience is dictated by our genetic makeup, as are all living things. Our senses, however brilliant, are not facts. A red ray of light is obviously not actually red. It has no color at all. Our minds are designed in a way which distinguishes between wavelengths of light through the color scheme. The same concept applies for all of our senses. A sense is merely our mind’s interpretation of a detectable environmental occurrence. Thusly, it is hard to claim that an explanation for an observation is a fact, because our observations are limited to what our mind can understand. There is way more going on around us that we do not detect.
How did the universe come to be? Well, no one will ever know for sure. The Big Bang is a good explanation, but it cannot be taken for certain. Maybe the universe was consciously created. Maybe the universe just happened. Maybe it doesn’t even exist at all. However the universe emerged into existence, it does not matter too much. So, instead I will consider: what makes up the universe? Given that I cannot say for certain what the universe consists of, I do observe that entities which fill the universe (i.e. matter and energy), interacts with other entities (I will call these entities “stuff”). I can say this because if interactions were a non-reality, I could not exist. Ever since the beginning of time (if there ever was a beginning) this stuff has been in a constant series of interactions, developing the history of everything as well as determining the future. These interactions are based on seemingly constant physical laws. These laws are what I like to call “the forces of nature” as they are the forces which drive everything. Although I can observe that stuff interacts with other stuff, is difficult to speculate on the physical nature of the stuff. Is there a fundamental unit that all other stuff is made up of? Maybe energy, for example. Or, maybe there are multiple fundamental units each with their own unique characteristics. I think that the human mind is not built in a way which can fully understand what makes up the universe; it is far more complex than simply stuff interacting with other stuff.
So, we don’t know what this stuff is and we don’t know how it got here, but it is here and it interacts. Throughout the span of the universe’s existence, the stuff went through a series of interactions inevitably creating the universe we know today, which is ultimately the result of the definitive forces of nature influencing the “stuff” interactions. At this point, the human perception of stuff becomes relevant. Atoms and molecules are a human and scientific reality, but our understanding of atoms and molecules is not a complete understanding. The atomic model is helpful in that it is an accurate and predictable explanation of how stuff organizes in our perceivable world. It’s not fact, but it is accurate and predictable. A further, more intricate scientific explanation of stuff is that stuff consists of matter (mass) and energy, which have been recognized by science as two versions of the same thing. That is to say, matter can be directly converted into energy and energy can be directly converted into matter (energy actually has mass without being converted into anything, and mass has energy). Furthermore, scientists recognize energies which behave in different ways as unique, and label and define them. So, the universe today consists of a wide variety of atoms (as well as many other energetic entities) which have been organized as we see it; there are stars, planets, meteors, and everything else out there.
I am going to quickly sum up the existence and function of the universe. Given that human knowledge is uncertain, we cannot surely explain how the universe came to be, the nature of the stuff which occupies the universe, or the forces of nature which dictate the interactions of the stuff and consequently everything about the universe. It is apparent that stuff does interact with stuff, and over time the many interactions which have happened ultimately produced the universe we observe today; a universe with life!
But what is life? How did life come to be? Like any other unknown, all I can do is speculate based off of my observations, past experiences, prior knowledge, and personal biases. But, it is worth speculating. My speculation here is my own personal explanation for the emergence of life in the universe, and although I have avoided making any assumptions thus far, in this explanation I am assuming some concepts to be true. Earth is just one of many planets, but there is something special about Earth. Earth has little critters moving around on it, eating things and breathing air. To explain this, I need to take a step back to before life existed on Earth. Since this is many years in the past, I am again faced with uncertainty. Earth is host to a rich variety of atoms and molecules and it has a constant source of a significant amount of energy (our beautiful sun). For a long period of time before life existed on Earth, molecules on Earth were moving around reacting with each other void of conscious influence; the forces of nature were the only forces at play. During this time, environmental circumstances would change, permitting a rich variety of chemical reactions (a type of “stuff” interactions) to take place. Chemical reactions are interactive exchanges of energy between atoms or molecules which result in the synthesis or separation of specific atoms or molecules. As the molecules moved about on Earth and interacted with each other, different environmental circumstances would influence different chemical reactions. At some point there was a part of Earth which supported the chance that molecules would organize in a way which not only react, but would have a complete, continuous reaction cycle fueled by a mechanism which extracts energy from the surrounding environment. These specific environmental circumstances not only permitted one such chemical reaction to erupt, but permitted a vast and various multitude of continuous chemical reaction cycles. What I mean by a “continuous chemical reaction cycle” (CCRC for short) is that a group of molecules form together and react with each other in a way which: (1) some or all of the original molecules which create the CCRC are apart of the reaction cycle from beginning to end, (2) the molecules use energy from the environment to fuel the specific chemical reactions which the CCRC consists of, (3) the same (or near similar) series of chemical reactions takes place more than once, because it is a cycle. Where one of these chemical reactions could be, more could be. When I think of this I imagine a large solution of water with a rich variety of molecules, like an enriched “ocean.” It is important to recognize that the environment is constantly changing, creating and removing opportunities to support a CCRC. Within this “ocean,” all sorts of different CCRC start and fail as the environment changes. As time continues, some CCRC last whereas most others meet an end. The CCRC which have the greatest chance of survival must have several characteristics: (1) their molecular makeup is stable enough so that the molecules stay bonded despite external or internal forces, (2) the reaction cycle is stable enough so that, given it has a constant source of energy, the cycle of chemical reactions is constantly repeated, and (3) the CCRC must be able to exist in and adapt to a dynamic environment.
CCRC is not life, however. CCRC is the beginning of the transition from “stuff” to a living being. For a CCRC to be a life form, it needs to have the ability to produce an offspring the same or mostly similar to it. Sometime during Earth’s history there was an arrangement of molecules, a CCRC, so stable and so superior that it not only extracted energy from the environment to support itself, it used excess energy to absorb and arrange surrounding molecules into another version of itself. This is what is called the cell. Given the circumstances that one cell can exist, other cells can exist as well. So, within this “ocean” are coexisting cells with different structures and different mechanisms of energy extraction. The cells which have the greatest chance of survival and reproduction maintain the same characteristics of the CCRC, with two more, (4) the cell must have the mechanisms necessary to collect energy and molecules from the environment and to organize them in a way which produces an offspring that mostly mirrors itself, and (5) the offspring of the cell must be constructed in a way which satisfies the first four rules. For life to continue, it is wholly necessary that not every offspring is an exact replica of the parent. The possibility for mutations must be a reality, or else the changing environment would eventually change too much to support any cells at all. So, those species of cells which could not mutate eventually die off, leaving only the ones which have what I call a “good rate of mutation.” A mutation is when a cell’s offspring is not exactly like the parent cell; some force, internal or external, causes the cell’s reproduction to be imperfect. Most mutations are malicious, with an occasional beneficial mutation occurring. Because of this, the cells which have a moderate rate of mutations will have a greater chance of survival and successful reproduction than those with a very high rate of mutation. Likewise, too low of a rate of mutation would cause the species to be unable to adapt to a rapidly changing environment, being out-lived by those which can. Therefore, a “good rate of mutation” is key to the persistence of life beyond the initial stages.
This is a simple explanation of how life came to be on Earth, and it is not an truthful depiction of how life came to be. What I am suggesting is that the advent of life is dependent on fulfilling several criteria: (1) A place needs to have environmental characteristics which support the chance that “stuff” will arrange in various and specific ways which enact and maintain cyclical processes of interactions between “stuff”, (2) Given the occurrence of (1), the place needs to have a dynamic environment which permits some cyclical processes of interactions (CCRC) to continue and others to fail, (3) Given the occurrence of (1) and (2), the place needs to have environmental characteristics which support the chance that a variety of reproductive cells are formed, (4) The reproductive cells which exist in this place must have a rate of genetic mutation which is balanced with the rate of environmental change.
This paragraph is my explanation for why I believe those four concepts need to be met in order for life to be created. Keep in mind that all living beings on Earth are beings which extract energy from the environment, use that energy to support a network of chemical and/or electrical reactions (or “stuff” interactions) which are necessary for that species to continue receiving more energy and to eventually gather enough molecules to reproduce and raise an offspring. Because of this, I think it is natural that a functioning cell didn’t just appear and start reproducing. I think it is more likely that dynamic environmental circumstances supported the production and failure of structurally different CCRC throughout a long period of trial-and-error. During this period, the constant production of CCRC accompanied with the constant failure of CCRC weaved in the CCRC which have the characteristics I listed earlier as important to having a high chance of survival. Eventually, as the CCRC become better adapted to a dynamic environment, reproductive cells are formed. For that to happen, the environment obviously needs to have characteristics which support the chance that reproductive cells are formed.
I would like to note that, although I use the word “cell,” it is possible that on other planets the forces of nature came together in such a way which produced life completely different than our current understanding of the cell. It is still a reproductive organism which extracts energy from the environment to support a continuous network of “stuff” interactions, but the mechanisms which satisfy the rules necessary for the persistence of life are different than those mechanisms which came to be on Earth. Different environmental pressures would influence different mechanisms.
Even if my explanation on how life came to be is completely wrong, the advent of life is clearly reliant on chance. Every event before life’s existence has no conscious influence. Therefore, life emerged as a result of the chance that the forces of nature would create a place with the circumstances necessary for life to start. It would seem as if it is highly unlikely that molecules would, without conscious influence, be arranged in a way which forms a reproductive cell. However, the size of the universe is vast and the amount of stuff within the universe is equally vast (some predict the universe is near-infinite in size); although the chance of life emerging on an individual planet is unlikely, if you spread that chance across the entirety of the space-time of the universe, a reproductive cell is likely to occur. Earth is one of those planets which not only had the circumstances to create life, but had the environment to support life and living progression. So, although the specific mechanisms in which reproductive cells were formed on Earth are unknown, it can be said that Earth’s environmental characteristics supported the chance that reproductive cells would come to being.
But even so, I am assuming that there is no conscious influence before life. I feel comfortable assuming this based on my observations and my understanding of the universe, but I could still be wrong. The forces of nature which dictate the universe seem designed in such a way which perfectly supports the chance that life will be. Earlier I describe these forces as seemingly constant physical laws, but there could be something even greater at play here. It is undeniable that these forces exist, but maybe these forces are the result of a god’s conscious creation. I have yet to witness conclusive evidence which would support the assumption that there was a conscious creator, but that does not mean that there wasn’t. To me, the forces of nature are God, the creator of everything, the giver of life as I know it. I think if there is a conscious creator out there, some almighty God, that god is the conscious equivalent of the forces of nature which I describe.
I am going to sum up the advent of life, given the uncertainties of everything. The forces of nature are existent in such a way which allows for the chance that life will become. The event of “life coming to be” is the event that stuff comes together in such a way which allows for a continuous series of “stuff” interactions ultimately producing an offspring (a replica of the original living being). For life to persist, there needs to be a “good rate of mutation” so that life has the opportunity to adapt to a constantly changing environment. Although there is a very small chance that, in any one specific place, stuff will organize in such a way which produces life, when that chance is expanded across the vastness of the universe the probability that life will come to be is likely, maybe even definite.
And, so, life came to be. Now, I want to figure out human’s place on Earth. Life started out as single-cell organisms. Since the environment is constantly changing, individual cells would die because of an inability to continue the “stuff” interactions which they consist of. If cells reproduced perfectly, all species of cells would die because the environment would eventually be too different to support the cell’s processes. Therefore, cells need to have a “good rate of mutation” in order to permit the possibility of change in the cell’s life processes to be better adapted to a dynamic environment. It just so happens that the rate of mutation is not only good enough to support the persistence of life, but the mechanisms by which living beings survive are occasionally improved upon. What I mean by “improved upon” is that, over time, mutations occur which cause generations of organisms to have traits which increase the probability that offspring will be produced, in contrast to their predecessors which did not have those traits. Whether or not a mutation is beneficial is dependent on the nature of the mutation and the environment in which the species of cells lives.
And, so, the adaptation-race began. Cells lived, reproduced, and died with the occasional beneficial mutation. The dynamic environment caused some species of cells to go extinct, while permitting other, better adapted species of cells to persist. At this point the persistence and development of life is based on several concepts: (1) the dynamic environment forces some species of organisms into extinction, whereas those with characteristics which provide a high probability of survival and producing offspring continue to produce more generations, (2) occasionally mutations occur which increases the probability that an organism will survive and produce offspring, and (3) due to (1) and (2), species of organisms gradually become “better” at living and producing offspring in their specific environment. It is apparent that life as we know it is the result of probability. The species of organisms which have the greatest probability of persisting into the future also have the greatest probability of: (1) maintaining a sufficient source of energy, (2) of maintaining a sufficient source of necessary molecules (or other environmental “stuff” which might be at play), and (3) having the mechanisms at which to produce an offspring that fulfills (1) and (2) and (3). I’m going to label these rules as [Rules of Probable Persistence]. Accordingly, humans and all other modern species are the result of a long line of mutations which increase the probability that the organism will fulfill those three concepts.
At some point cells grouped together to form multi-cellular organisms. As species continued to change and develop, cell specialization became an important part of survival and reproduction. Cells have specific and different tasks, increasing efficiency and broadening the adaptability for the organism. This permitted the evolution of the senses, the nervous system, the brain, and all other biological aspects of modern living beings.
So, what does it mean to be alive? Based on all of this, being alive is nothing more than: a series of “stuff” interactions which satisfy the Rules of Probable Persistence. As a modern human, I effortlessly maintain a sufficient source of energy and necessary molecules with which I use to survive. Unless I have an abnormality I am unaware of, I can also produce an offspring which is a near-replica of myself. I am almost guaranteed the opportunity to reproduce as I have already survived to the age of sexual maturity. Life wasn’t always so easy, however. Industrialization along with other aspects of society has made food, water, and shelter commonplace, even excess (for the privileged). All humans used to have to fight for survival, as many still do today. Everything about us, every characteristic with which we can be described has a purpose, or at least had a purpose at one point in our hereditary history. That purpose is to satisfy the Rules of Probable Persistence. As the environment changes, some characteristics become obsolete whereas others become important, but all characteristics were important at one point.
Now, it is time to consider what it means to be a human and how humans should live...
But I'm not done with this part yet, so it will be coming soon!
A Theory of Everything
I am alive. I am overwhelmed at the concept that I am more than just energy floating around in the universe. As a living being, I can consciously interact with my environment. As a living being, my decisions and ultimately my actions permanently alter the physical makeup of the universe, not only immediately, but eternally; every conscious decision I make is my decision of how I will alter the future, just as all decisions made before me have led up to now. This is awesome power. I am alive!
As a living being, I wish to understand my place in this universe. What does it mean to be alive? Why am I here? How should I live? These are not questions which need answers, but are very thought-provoking and interesting to ponder, and when I ponder them I feel like I have a better understanding of the world I live in. I think it can be agreed that the “meaning of life” is unique for each individual, but I am going to delve into my own explanation for what it means to be alive, and, furthermore, how humans should live. I’m not saying there is any “right” way of living, I’m just exploring the human existence (which is worth exploring, as humans are definitely remarkable creatures).
To begin exploring this thought process, a good place to start would be to understand what the universe is and how it functions. So, I am going to start at the very beginning, with a short note about science. How did the universe come to be? Science tries to explain this, but science is limited to being one side of the story, whatever story that may be. A scientific theory, however well supported, is only an explanation for a question or observation, and not a truth. Science’s practical uses are infinite, but one should not forget that the human experience is dictated by our genetic makeup, as are all living things. Our senses, however brilliant, are not facts. A red ray of light is obviously not actually red. It has no color at all. Our minds are designed in a way which distinguishes between wavelengths of light through the color scheme. The same concept applies for all of our senses. A sense is merely our mind’s interpretation of a detectable environmental occurrence. Thusly, it is hard to claim that an explanation for an observation is a fact, because our observations are limited to what our mind can understand. There is way more going on around us that we do not detect.
How did the universe come to be? Well, no one will ever know for sure. The Big Bang is a good explanation, but it cannot be taken for certain. Maybe the universe was consciously created. Maybe the universe just happened. Maybe it doesn’t even exist at all. However the universe emerged into existence, it does not matter too much. So, instead I will consider: what makes up the universe? Given that I cannot say for certain what the universe consists of, I do observe that entities which fill the universe (i.e. matter and energy), interacts with other entities (I will call these entities “stuff”). I can say this because if interactions were a non-reality, I could not exist. Ever since the beginning of time (if there ever was a beginning) this stuff has been in a constant series of interactions, developing the history of everything as well as determining the future. These interactions are based on seemingly constant physical laws. These laws are what I like to call “the forces of nature” as they are the forces which drive everything. Although I can observe that stuff interacts with other stuff, is difficult to speculate on the physical nature of the stuff. Is there a fundamental unit that all other stuff is made up of? Maybe energy, for example. Or, maybe there are multiple fundamental units each with their own unique characteristics. I think that the human mind is not built in a way which can fully understand what makes up the universe; it is far more complex than simply stuff interacting with other stuff.
So, we don’t know what this stuff is and we don’t know how it got here, but it is here and it interacts. Throughout the span of the universe’s existence, the stuff went through a series of interactions inevitably creating the universe we know today, which is ultimately the result of the definitive forces of nature influencing the “stuff” interactions. At this point, the human perception of stuff becomes relevant. Atoms and molecules are a human and scientific reality, but our understanding of atoms and molecules is not a complete understanding. The atomic model is helpful in that it is an accurate and predictable explanation of how stuff organizes in our perceivable world. It’s not fact, but it is accurate and predictable. A further, more intricate scientific explanation of stuff is that stuff consists of matter (mass) and energy, which have been recognized by science as two versions of the same thing. That is to say, matter can be directly converted into energy and energy can be directly converted into matter (energy actually has mass without being converted into anything, and mass has energy). Furthermore, scientists recognize energies which behave in different ways as unique, and label and define them. So, the universe today consists of a wide variety of atoms (as well as many other energetic entities) which have been organized as we see it; there are stars, planets, meteors, and everything else out there.
I am going to quickly sum up the existence and function of the universe. Given that human knowledge is uncertain, we cannot surely explain how the universe came to be, the nature of the stuff which occupies the universe, or the forces of nature which dictate the interactions of the stuff and consequently everything about the universe. It is apparent that stuff does interact with stuff, and over time the many interactions which have happened ultimately produced the universe we observe today; a universe with life!
But what is life? How did life come to be? Like any other unknown, all I can do is speculate based off of my observations, past experiences, prior knowledge, and personal biases. But, it is worth speculating. My speculation here is my own personal explanation for the emergence of life in the universe, and although I have avoided making any assumptions thus far, in this explanation I am assuming some concepts to be true. Earth is just one of many planets, but there is something special about Earth. Earth has little critters moving around on it, eating things and breathing air. To explain this, I need to take a step back to before life existed on Earth. Since this is many years in the past, I am again faced with uncertainty. Earth is host to a rich variety of atoms and molecules and it has a constant source of a significant amount of energy (our beautiful sun). For a long period of time before life existed on Earth, molecules on Earth were moving around reacting with each other void of conscious influence; the forces of nature were the only forces at play. During this time, environmental circumstances would change, permitting a rich variety of chemical reactions (a type of “stuff” interactions) to take place. Chemical reactions are interactive exchanges of energy between atoms or molecules which result in the synthesis or separation of specific atoms or molecules. As the molecules moved about on Earth and interacted with each other, different environmental circumstances would influence different chemical reactions. At some point there was a part of Earth which supported the chance that molecules would organize in a way which not only react, but would have a complete, continuous reaction cycle fueled by a mechanism which extracts energy from the surrounding environment. These specific environmental circumstances not only permitted one such chemical reaction to erupt, but permitted a vast and various multitude of continuous chemical reaction cycles. What I mean by a “continuous chemical reaction cycle” (CCRC for short) is that a group of molecules form together and react with each other in a way which: (1) some or all of the original molecules which create the CCRC are apart of the reaction cycle from beginning to end, (2) the molecules use energy from the environment to fuel the specific chemical reactions which the CCRC consists of, (3) the same (or near similar) series of chemical reactions takes place more than once, because it is a cycle. Where one of these chemical reactions could be, more could be. When I think of this I imagine a large solution of water with a rich variety of molecules, like an enriched “ocean.” It is important to recognize that the environment is constantly changing, creating and removing opportunities to support a CCRC. Within this “ocean,” all sorts of different CCRC start and fail as the environment changes. As time continues, some CCRC last whereas most others meet an end. The CCRC which have the greatest chance of survival must have several characteristics: (1) their molecular makeup is stable enough so that the molecules stay bonded despite external or internal forces, (2) the reaction cycle is stable enough so that, given it has a constant source of energy, the cycle of chemical reactions is constantly repeated, and (3) the CCRC must be able to exist in and adapt to a dynamic environment.
CCRC is not life, however. CCRC is the beginning of the transition from “stuff” to a living being. For a CCRC to be a life form, it needs to have the ability to produce an offspring the same or mostly similar to it. Sometime during Earth’s history there was an arrangement of molecules, a CCRC, so stable and so superior that it not only extracted energy from the environment to support itself, it used excess energy to absorb and arrange surrounding molecules into another version of itself. This is what is called the cell. Given the circumstances that one cell can exist, other cells can exist as well. So, within this “ocean” are coexisting cells with different structures and different mechanisms of energy extraction. The cells which have the greatest chance of survival and reproduction maintain the same characteristics of the CCRC, with two more, (4) the cell must have the mechanisms necessary to collect energy and molecules from the environment and to organize them in a way which produces an offspring that mostly mirrors itself, and (5) the offspring of the cell must be constructed in a way which satisfies the first four rules. For life to continue, it is wholly necessary that not every offspring is an exact replica of the parent. The possibility for mutations must be a reality, or else the changing environment would eventually change too much to support any cells at all. So, those species of cells which could not mutate eventually die off, leaving only the ones which have what I call a “good rate of mutation.” A mutation is when a cell’s offspring is not exactly like the parent cell; some force, internal or external, causes the cell’s reproduction to be imperfect. Most mutations are malicious, with an occasional beneficial mutation occurring. Because of this, the cells which have a moderate rate of mutations will have a greater chance of survival and successful reproduction than those with a very high rate of mutation. Likewise, too low of a rate of mutation would cause the species to be unable to adapt to a rapidly changing environment, being out-lived by those which can. Therefore, a “good rate of mutation” is key to the persistence of life beyond the initial stages.
This is a simple explanation of how life came to be on Earth, and it is not an truthful depiction of how life came to be. What I am suggesting is that the advent of life is dependent on fulfilling several criteria: (1) A place needs to have environmental characteristics which support the chance that “stuff” will arrange in various and specific ways which enact and maintain cyclical processes of interactions between “stuff”, (2) Given the occurrence of (1), the place needs to have a dynamic environment which permits some cyclical processes of interactions (CCRC) to continue and others to fail, (3) Given the occurrence of (1) and (2), the place needs to have environmental characteristics which support the chance that a variety of reproductive cells are formed, (4) The reproductive cells which exist in this place must have a rate of genetic mutation which is balanced with the rate of environmental change.
This paragraph is my explanation for why I believe those four concepts need to be met in order for life to be created. Keep in mind that all living beings on Earth are beings which extract energy from the environment, use that energy to support a network of chemical and/or electrical reactions (or “stuff” interactions) which are necessary for that species to continue receiving more energy and to eventually gather enough molecules to reproduce and raise an offspring. Because of this, I think it is natural that a functioning cell didn’t just appear and start reproducing. I think it is more likely that dynamic environmental circumstances supported the production and failure of structurally different CCRC throughout a long period of trial-and-error. During this period, the constant production of CCRC accompanied with the constant failure of CCRC weaved in the CCRC which have the characteristics I listed earlier as important to having a high chance of survival. Eventually, as the CCRC become better adapted to a dynamic environment, reproductive cells are formed. For that to happen, the environment obviously needs to have characteristics which support the chance that reproductive cells are formed.
I would like to note that, although I use the word “cell,” it is possible that on other planets the forces of nature came together in such a way which produced life completely different than our current understanding of the cell. It is still a reproductive organism which extracts energy from the environment to support a continuous network of “stuff” interactions, but the mechanisms which satisfy the rules necessary for the persistence of life are different than those mechanisms which came to be on Earth. Different environmental pressures would influence different mechanisms.
Even if my explanation on how life came to be is completely wrong, the advent of life is clearly reliant on chance. Every event before life’s existence has no conscious influence. Therefore, life emerged as a result of the chance that the forces of nature would create a place with the circumstances necessary for life to start. It would seem as if it is highly unlikely that molecules would, without conscious influence, be arranged in a way which forms a reproductive cell. However, the size of the universe is vast and the amount of stuff within the universe is equally vast (some predict the universe is near-infinite in size); although the chance of life emerging on an individual planet is unlikely, if you spread that chance across the entirety of the space-time of the universe, a reproductive cell is likely to occur. Earth is one of those planets which not only had the circumstances to create life, but had the environment to support life and living progression. So, although the specific mechanisms in which reproductive cells were formed on Earth are unknown, it can be said that Earth’s environmental characteristics supported the chance that reproductive cells would come to being.
But even so, I am assuming that there is no conscious influence before life. I feel comfortable assuming this based on my observations and my understanding of the universe, but I could still be wrong. The forces of nature which dictate the universe seem designed in such a way which perfectly supports the chance that life will be. Earlier I describe these forces as seemingly constant physical laws, but there could be something even greater at play here. It is undeniable that these forces exist, but maybe these forces are the result of a god’s conscious creation. I have yet to witness conclusive evidence which would support the assumption that there was a conscious creator, but that does not mean that there wasn’t. To me, the forces of nature are God, the creator of everything, the giver of life as I know it. I think if there is a conscious creator out there, some almighty God, that god is the conscious equivalent of the forces of nature which I describe.
I am going to sum up the advent of life, given the uncertainties of everything. The forces of nature are existent in such a way which allows for the chance that life will become. The event of “life coming to be” is the event that stuff comes together in such a way which allows for a continuous series of “stuff” interactions ultimately producing an offspring (a replica of the original living being). For life to persist, there needs to be a “good rate of mutation” so that life has the opportunity to adapt to a constantly changing environment. Although there is a very small chance that, in any one specific place, stuff will organize in such a way which produces life, when that chance is expanded across the vastness of the universe the probability that life will come to be is likely, maybe even definite.
And, so, life came to be. Now, I want to figure out human’s place on Earth. Life started out as single-cell organisms. Since the environment is constantly changing, individual cells would die because of an inability to continue the “stuff” interactions which they consist of. If cells reproduced perfectly, all species of cells would die because the environment would eventually be too different to support the cell’s processes. Therefore, cells need to have a “good rate of mutation” in order to permit the possibility of change in the cell’s life processes to be better adapted to a dynamic environment. It just so happens that the rate of mutation is not only good enough to support the persistence of life, but the mechanisms by which living beings survive are occasionally improved upon. What I mean by “improved upon” is that, over time, mutations occur which cause generations of organisms to have traits which increase the probability that offspring will be produced, in contrast to their predecessors which did not have those traits. Whether or not a mutation is beneficial is dependent on the nature of the mutation and the environment in which the species of cells lives.
And, so, the adaptation-race began. Cells lived, reproduced, and died with the occasional beneficial mutation. The dynamic environment caused some species of cells to go extinct, while permitting other, better adapted species of cells to persist. At this point the persistence and development of life is based on several concepts: (1) the dynamic environment forces some species of organisms into extinction, whereas those with characteristics which provide a high probability of survival and producing offspring continue to produce more generations, (2) occasionally mutations occur which increases the probability that an organism will survive and produce offspring, and (3) due to (1) and (2), species of organisms gradually become “better” at living and producing offspring in their specific environment. It is apparent that life as we know it is the result of probability. The species of organisms which have the greatest probability of persisting into the future also have the greatest probability of: (1) maintaining a sufficient source of energy, (2) of maintaining a sufficient source of necessary molecules (or other environmental “stuff” which might be at play), and (3) having the mechanisms at which to produce an offspring that fulfills (1) and (2) and (3). I’m going to label these rules as [Rules of Probable Persistence]. Accordingly, humans and all other modern species are the result of a long line of mutations which increase the probability that the organism will fulfill those three concepts.
At some point cells grouped together to form multi-cellular organisms. As species continued to change and develop, cell specialization became an important part of survival and reproduction. Cells have specific and different tasks, increasing efficiency and broadening the adaptability for the organism. This permitted the evolution of the senses, the nervous system, the brain, and all other biological aspects of modern living beings.
So, what does it mean to be alive? Based on all of this, being alive is nothing more than: a series of “stuff” interactions which satisfy the Rules of Probable Persistence. As a modern human, I effortlessly maintain a sufficient source of energy and necessary molecules with which I use to survive. Unless I have an abnormality I am unaware of, I can also produce an offspring which is a near-replica of myself. I am almost guaranteed the opportunity to reproduce as I have already survived to the age of sexual maturity. Life wasn’t always so easy, however. Industrialization along with other aspects of society has made food, water, and shelter commonplace, even excess (for the privileged). All humans used to have to fight for survival, as many still do today. Everything about us, every characteristic with which we can be described has a purpose, or at least had a purpose at one point in our hereditary history. That purpose is to satisfy the Rules of Probable Persistence. As the environment changes, some characteristics become obsolete whereas others become important, but all characteristics were important at one point.
Now, it is time to consider what it means to be a human and how humans should live...
But I'm not done with this part yet, so it will be coming soon!