I think you just described life (not that of any one individual, but all of it, the biological meaning). PS: I usually hate snarky one-liners, especially on HN

I think you just described life (not that of any one individual, but all of it, the biological meaning). PS: I usually hate snarky one-liners, especially on HN which is supposed to have more substance, but in this instance I stand by my one-liner because even after giving it some thought I think it's a valid reply. Asking for a reason is just useless after a few iterations. The first time I noticed this was when I was still pretty young and watched one of those nature documentary movies (The Living Desert, possibly). When, completely by chance, conditions are right life "explodes". There is no reason apart from that it can. And then it all goes away (meaning everything dies!) when conditions are not good any more. Stuff (and life) just happens.