Parallels between the emergence of solutions and of life forms
Given a need, a solution emerges.
Given a source of energy, complexity emerges, and as the complexity builds over a long time, it leads to the emergence of self-replicating molecules that eventually become the basis of intricate biological forms like me and you.
In this world view, “perceived need” and “availability of energy” are on the same footing. Both are catalysts to emergence of unanticipated outcomes.
Let us start with the examples of needs inevitably resulting in solutions, and further, given a similar set of needs, the inevitability of the emergence of similar kinds of solutions.
Take the increasing need (or desire) to communicate among humans as evolution progressed.
It is a need that could have arisen from the desire to transfer learned skills across generations, or it could just be a need to convey the directions to a clump of trees on which berries were about to ripen. This need eventually led to the emergence of languages as the solution.
In the context of natural selection, the emergence of the language as the solution leading to enhanced communication would have held enormous advantages when competing with others for resources, and for that reason, once in place, it rapidly evolved.
Following the same need to communicate, varied forms of languages evolved in isolated pockets of the world but the driving mechanism, i.e., the need to communicate, behind them was the same.
Another example is our universal discomfort with the cognizance of our mortality and a need to overcome the meaninglessness of existence that comes from the recognition of our finiteness. This discomfort, and the accompanying sense that everything about us ends when it ends, has led to the invention of a plethora of religions, all promising that we continue to exist beyond death.
For one last example, consider the need to take a peek into the future and narrow the cone of uncertainty of our trajectory. Given that need, all kinds of occult sciences emerged — astrology, palmistry, reading tea leaves to name a few.
Many of our needs relate to a desire to learn about our future, particularly when life is not going well. Perceiving this need, some among us were savvy enough to exploit the fears of fellow beings and benefit from it.
The interesting aspect in these examples is that given a human need which is universal, similar forms of solutions emerged in isolated pockets around the globe. It is like some invisible guardrails were constraining the range of possible solutions that were plausible.
That this could happen sounds like a tenable hypothesis to me.
Can something similar play out if a source of energy is available to a primordial soup containing some basic molecules? Availability of energy could result in more and more complex molecules that ultimately lead to the emergence of self-replicating molecules that are the basis of life forms.
This idea also seems compelling.
The photons constantly falling over a soup of molecules over time would generate chemical reactions leading to the formation of complex molecules. Then over the eons, it is also plausible that a class of molecules can also emerge that cooperating with each other developed the capability of self-replicate. Once that happens, the emergence of the basic biological paradigm, the underpinning of which is self-replicating molecules, got established.
Just like the need leading to emergence of a solution, given a source of energy and enough time to experiment, the emergence of self-replicating molecules becomes a necessity.
One could also think that given a basic set of molecules, and a source of energy, the only path forward is towards complexity. There is no other direction to go.
One can next ponder on what could be the necessity that different life forms emerging in the isolated parts of the universe would have the same biological paradigm?
Why does Captain Kirk in his voyages to go where no one has gone before finds himself interacting with a life form similar to him?
What are the guardrails that limit the range of possible life forms?
The guardrail is what comes from the combination of what is available as the source of energy and the atoms and the opportunity to interact.
The spectral density of the basic energy source that is available to everything else for consumption, i.e., the radiation from stars, determines which electrons can be knocked out from the orbit of atoms, ionize them, and prime them for chemical reactions, thereby opening the opportunity to formulate more complex molecules.
It is also worth noting that 80% of stars fall in the category of M-Class stars and share the same spectral density of radiation that comes from them and is available for the alchemy of molecules.
With two basic ingredients to work with — a soup of some basic molecules and energy from stars in which thermonuclear fusion occurs — the biological forms that emerge are likely to share the same fundamental paradigm as us.
What is more, with the rules that govern natural selection, the form of self-generating molecules which can most efficiently utilize that energy available would stand as the winner. It might be different from the structure of DNA within us, but at its very foundation it has to have the same basic principle of having the ability of self-replication.
And so, given a need, solutions emerge, and progress happens. Given a source of energy, complexity, and life forms emerge.
Ciao.
