5 ms·

From cosmological dust to life! Why does it happen? Universe would be a lot simpler without it.

hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
Natural selection! If you're like me, you probably understand the basics of evolution by natural selection, but it still seems to improbable/outlandish that such complex structures could be created just by natural selection, even with billions of years of time. I highly recommend Steven Pinker's book "How the Mind Works" as it has a great section on how natural selection works (and how it can be confusing even to many scientists), and how it can create complex structures (like the eye) generation-by-generation. I think it helped me understand natural selection as less of a biological "force" than as more of a mathematical outcome due to the statistics of non-perfect replicators.
- xeonmc 3y ago
  I think that only answers the question of how it happens. The question of why it happens falls in the realm of metaphysics/philosophy.
- ekianjo 3y ago
  > but it still seems to improbable/outlandish that such complex structures could be created just by natural selection, even with billions of years of time. probably thats why Life is not abundant in the universe, as far as we can see even in the Solar system.
  - hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
    Some points: 1. We know that evolution of life requires a degree of stability for long periods of time, and most likely conditions favorable to having a liquid solvent for chemical reactions to occur (probably water but possibly things like methane). Those conditions are relatively rare, which is why scientists talk about the "habitable zone" of planets around stars. 2. Given the requirements of a habitable zone and long periods of environmental stability, that knocks out pretty much the entire rest of our solar system, with the possible exception of some of the gas giant moons. 3. It hasn't really been proven that life is not abundant in the universe. There is a really good section in How the Mind Works that talks about some faulty assumptions in the Drake Equation (primarily that evolution "drives" towards more complex, intelligent life forms over time), but AFAIK we haven't ruled out the possibility of life in many of the planetary systems we've discovered. On the contrary, we've recently discovered many extra solar planets in the habitable zone of their stars, with signatures of water.
XorNot 3y ago
Not if you include entropy: the universe heads towards a simpler lower energy state much faster with life in it then without it.
- mensetmanusman 3y ago
  If this is true the universe is teeming with life.
gorgoiler 3y ago
It seems identical to the breakthrough which unlocked the Information Age: the code which executes the data is the same stuff as the data itself. The information which describes the machine can be modified by the machine. The genetic material which describes life and the organism which executes that code are one and the same.
- agumonkey 3y ago
  It is a massive leap. Shortening the loop made things so simpler and faster even though the ideas existed before.
teekert 3y ago
To be fair, a fertilized egg is hardly cosmological dust ;) For that we need to go back some billions of years...
- haswell 3y ago
  Post-big bang, matter is neither created nor destroyed. We are made up of the same original stuff. The egg and you and I were stars and dinosaurs.
Buttons840 3y ago
I've always thought that if some God from another reality peeked into ours and saw two things, you and the Andromeda galaxy, they'd be interested in you. Entire galaxies are boring compared to even the simplest organisms. (As far as we know at least.)
emmelaich 3y ago
Proteins are sticky.

Natural selection! If you're like me, you probably understand the basics of evolution by natural selection, but it still seems to improbable/outlandish that such complex structures could be created just by natural selection, even with billions of years of time. I highly recommend Steven Pinker's book "How the Mind Works" as it has a great section on how natural selection works (and how it can be confusing even to many scientists), and how it can create complex structures (like the eye) generation-by-generation. I think it helped me understand natural selection as less of a biological "force" than as more of a mathematical outcome due to the statistics of non-perfect replicators.

xeonmc 3y ago
I think that only answers the question of how it happens. The question of why it happens falls in the realm of metaphysics/philosophy.
ekianjo 3y ago
> but it still seems to improbable/outlandish that such complex structures could be created just by natural selection, even with billions of years of time. probably thats why Life is not abundant in the universe, as far as we can see even in the Solar system.
- hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
  Some points: 1. We know that evolution of life requires a degree of stability for long periods of time, and most likely conditions favorable to having a liquid solvent for chemical reactions to occur (probably water but possibly things like methane). Those conditions are relatively rare, which is why scientists talk about the "habitable zone" of planets around stars. 2. Given the requirements of a habitable zone and long periods of environmental stability, that knocks out pretty much the entire rest of our solar system, with the possible exception of some of the gas giant moons. 3. It hasn't really been proven that life is not abundant in the universe. There is a really good section in How the Mind Works that talks about some faulty assumptions in the Drake Equation (primarily that evolution "drives" towards more complex, intelligent life forms over time), but AFAIK we haven't ruled out the possibility of life in many of the planetary systems we've discovered. On the contrary, we've recently discovered many extra solar planets in the habitable zone of their stars, with signatures of water.

XorNot 3y ago

Not if you include entropy: the universe heads towards a simpler lower energy state much faster with life in it then without it.

mensetmanusman 3y ago
If this is true the universe is teeming with life.

gorgoiler 3y ago

It seems identical to the breakthrough which unlocked the Information Age: the code which executes the data is the same stuff as the data itself. The information which describes the machine can be modified by the machine. The genetic material which describes life and the organism which executes that code are one and the same.

agumonkey 3y ago
It is a massive leap. Shortening the loop made things so simpler and faster even though the ideas existed before.

teekert 3y ago

To be fair, a fertilized egg is hardly cosmological dust ;) For that we need to go back some billions of years...

haswell 3y ago
Post-big bang, matter is neither created nor destroyed. We are made up of the same original stuff. The egg and you and I were stars and dinosaurs.

Buttons840 3y ago

I've always thought that if some God from another reality peeked into ours and saw two things, you and the Andromeda galaxy, they'd be interested in you. Entire galaxies are boring compared to even the simplest organisms. (As far as we know at least.)

emmelaich 3y ago

Proteins are sticky.