You seem to already know this, but "Metabolism First" is the name used for the theory in biology that you just described[0] The idea is that some self-catalyz

You seem to already know this, but "Metabolism First" is the name used for the theory in biology that you just described[0] The idea is that some self-catalyzing cycle(s) of reactions among chemicals structurally much simpler than nucleotides or even protein enzymes preceded the era of nucleic acid based biology, until being completely (or replaced) by said RNA/DNA based systems. [0] Metabolism First primer: https://www.statedclearly.com/videos/what-is-the-metabolism-first-hypothesis-for-the-origin-of-life/ https://www.statedclearly.com/videos/what-is-the-metabolism-...