I think that the only thing that is inevitable is complexity changing over time. My first thought was maybe there could be a more distributed sort of "program",

I think that the only thing that is inevitable is complexity changing over time. My first thought was maybe there could be a more distributed sort of "program", but maybe we already have that - either evolution itself, or if evolution somehow isn't inevitable, something that bootstraps or otherwise facilitates it. Imagine yourself existing on a microscopic scale, with your current consciousness intact. You'd look into the 'sky' and see an organelle membrane or nuclear envelope... what would your concept of the "program of life" be, while existing adjacent to DNA itself? Would this activity look a bit like some of the natural processes we witness and take part in on Earth?