The possible origin of life as science sees it
( The following is based on my e-book - " The Universe - A Personal View " - It is free for browsing at this link :- https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxqa2hjbGlmZXN0eWxlfGd4OjM5NmM2NTViMjAzY2M5MTk )
So far, this is all we know about life :- Life is self-sustaining autonomy involving metabolism, nutrition, reproduction, complexity, self-organisation, self repairs, growth and intriguing information content ( embodied in the DNA molecule ). There are enormous complexities in living organisms. For example, the human brain with 10 to the 11power ( 100 billion ) of neurons and 10 to the 12 power ( 1 trillion ) of non-nerve cells is the most complicated structure in the known universe. There is also individual character ( or characteristics ) in each living organism. It is a common consensus that each individual person has his or her own personality and this applies to identical twins as well. Going down the line, no two individual animals such as puppies are exactly alike. Similarly, no two leaves are totally identical. The strangest of all, no scientist has so far succeeded in creating the simplest form of life such as a single-celled amoeba despite everything that is bio-chemically known about it. There are such beauty, mysteries and varieties in life that Francis Crick the co-discoverer of the DNA molecule said :- “The origin of life appears to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to be satisfied to get it going.”
Let us recapitulate what we know about the origin of life up to the present moment in our human history. Life on earth is carbon base and carbon can only be manufactured in the nuclear fusion process in the stars. At the end of each cycle of their lives stars explode as supernovae and these catastrophic events help to disperse carbon ,nitrogen and oxygen atoms into space. When these astro-debris coalesce under gravity to form stars and galaxies again the star creation process is repeated once the matters are compressed dense enough for nuclear fusion to start. In solar systems like ours, bio- friendly planets may arise. Through the grouping of suitable chemicals elements like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen under favourable conditions ( which are not yet known to us ) the basic building blocks of life, namely, amino-acids are formed. These eventually link up to become longer chains of peptides and through even further more complicated processes the first self-replicator or the proto-cell is formed. Inspirations regarding how the complicated processes took place have come from another branch of scientific theory called the Theory of Complexity which states that when any systems evolve to a certain threshold of complexity a whole different set of rules will apply. Such rules may involve interactive feed-back loops among its components making the total greater than the sum of its parts. Furthermore, the system may become an automata meaning it can take on a life of its own resembling the characteristics of a living organism. Greater details will be described in the Chapter on Chaos and Complexity. Suffice it to say at this stage that the Theory of Complexity has shed some light on the evolution of life. To give an example of Complexity at work, the boiling of water can serve as an illustration. When we start to boil some water the heated part of the water is lower in density so that individual bubbles or cells are formed at random distribution. As the boiling process progresses, these random cells become more organized and develop into convection currents which finally become two main streams. One goes clockwise and the other counter-clockwise. As more energy is fed into the system some kind of order seems to appear. At boiling point, the picture changes again. With enough energy to cause the water to vapourize into steam the water surface becomes more turbulent as each water molecule escapes from the boiling water surface at different points into the atmosphere to form steam vapour. For the eyes of the ignorant, the movements of the water molecules appear to be highly organized and under the command of an intellegent program. This is ,in fact, the characteristic of the Laws of Nature. All lifeless atoms seem to be acting in unison as if they had a life of their own and obediently following the Laws of Nature. The role played by Complexity in the development of life on earth also shows that everything and, in particular, each component part of individual life is interconnected in some delicate and multilateral manner.
Regardless of the true origin of life, at least one thing can be certain about life. It is precious. If you believe in God, then life must have a purpose to you. To such an extent, it is precious because you are God's masterpiece of creation. If you believe the scientists' version of creation you are even more precious because the odds of having life by random chance is estimated to be 1/10 to the power of 40,000 ( the total number of atoms in the visible universe is only 10 to the power of 78 ) or comparable to finding a fully assembled Boeing 747 Jumbo jet after a hurricane has swept through a junk yard as Sir Fred Hoyle so imaginatively put it. The message from Nature is loud and clear. Cherish your own existence. Life also teaches the lesson of peaceful co-existence. During the 1970s, two scientists called Lynn Margulis and James Lovelock advanced a theory of the earth as a holistic, living and breathing eco-system tantamount to a living organism in its own right. Their environmental theory is known as the Gaia Theory originating from the Hindu concept of the goddess of mother earth, Gaia. Their theory raises the status of mother earth to the level of a living being that demands the highest respect from her human inhabitants. This theory has found wide support from environmentalists such as Geen Peace members and the scientific community at large. Lynn Margulis has also advanced another theory on the origin of the nucleated cell or eukaryotic cell. It was suggested that the nucleus of such more complex cells was originally another invader cell which had since learned to live in symbiosis and harmony with its host because the destruction of the host cell would ultimately lead to the invader's own demise. It is strategically wiser to co-operate with one another and strive for survival as a team. A lot of subsequent evidence has emerged to make this theory a generally accepted one among bio-scientists. Therefore, peaceful co-existence is also inherent in Nature and so should human beings behave.
The seemingly impossible odds of life happening by chance have led to an intensive search for other possible explanations of the miraculous occurrence. The latest theory on the origin of life comes from inspirations of the Quantum Theory and, hence, the term Quantum Evolution. Under this new and innovative theory put forward by Johnjoe Mcfadden, the behaviour of atoms in bio-chemical molecules such as the DNA and amino-acid molecules are hypothesized to act under the laws of Quantum Mechanics applicable to atomic activities which is not unreasonable. Owing to the fact that atoms can assume superpositions ( being different places at the same time or having different probabilities of being present at different positions ) until they decohere into definite positions upon the collapse of their related probability function ( as described by Erwin Schrodinger's equations by virtue of an observation or measurement being made on them ), the chances of the formation of the suitable kind of bio-molecules are greatly increased.
The strange and yet abundantly proven rules of Quantum Theory may sound like science fiction at this point but I can assure you that Quantum Theory is one of the most reliable and consistent scientific theories ever formulated as borne out by the invariant predictions supported by numerous experimental results. Despite its reliability, the philosophical implications of Quantum Theory are still as controversial as ever notwithstanding its early inception in 1900. The reader will learn of its detailed descriptions in the next Chapter. Meanwhile, I regret to say that the theory must be taken at its face value. It is not as academic as its name may imply. Quantum Theory has found applications in our everyday technologies such as the computer, the television and laser technology as pioneered by Albert Einstein. The word LASER is the short form for light amplification by the simulated emission of radiation. MASER is, therefore, the magnetism counter part of the same technology. The latest application of Quantum Theory is in a revolutionary concept in computer engineering called the quantum computer which will increase the processing speed of conventional computers by thousands of times and ultimately million of times. The preliminary testing of the underlying principles had been successful in recent months and hopefully the commercial quantum computer will be on the market in a matter of a decade. When the time comes look out for stocks and shares of quantum computer companies. You will surely make a few bucks if you invest in them. There is an old Chinese saying :- “ There are houses made of gold inside the books ( of knowledge ).” Knowledge is power ! Going back to Quantum Evolution, it is argued that Quantum Theory can theoretically reduce the astronomical probabilities of getting the atoms to form the correct sequence of bio-molecules by matching the infinite number of possible and similar arrangements of atoms ( the so-called superpositions ) through trial and error in a reasonable amount of time frame. When the correct sequence of atomic arrangement is achieved then decoherence ( or materialization in less technical terms ) would occur leading to the formation of the correct kind of bio-chemical molecules to allow the evolution of life to proceed. This is supposed to be a logical and reasonable explanation for the relatively quick pace at which life evolved as soon as the conditions on earth were bio-friendly about 3.6 billion years ago ( the earth itself being estimated to be some 4.6 billion years old ). As farfetched as it may sound, this is, indeed, an ingenious way forward although it still lacks experimental evidence at this stage.
At the present time, there is no definitive explanation given by scientists regarding the origin of life. On the one hand, various scientific theories on the origins of life have not been convincingly supported by objective evidence and on the other, the delicate requirements for life and its ultra complexities in terms of structure and working have baffled most people including many scientists. To this extent, it is not surprising to find numerous supporters of the religious version of creation. Even many scientists agree that life is not only made up of physical atoms but something deeper. But while some call it the life force ( a very unscientific term I have to admit ) or soul created by God others prefer to call it a piece of missing information ( a scientific term for the unknown ) or software. In my opinion, had life been merely a physical arrangement of atoms scientists should have been able to manufacture it by now with the ever progressing computer technology.
Before leaving the mystical subject of the origin of life, I think the reader should at least be acquainted with a little bit of the philosophical theory advanced by philosophers of science. Back in 1973, Brendon Carter suggested that our own existence was sufficient to account for the creation of the universe and life on earth. His ideas had since been collectively called the Anthropic Principle. In essence, he was saying that if the universe and its laws were not the way they are we, human beings, would not be here to ask the 'why' question. There is another stronger version of this principle which states that the purpose of the creation of the universe is custom-made for us humans. Scientists who hold this stronger view is represented by famous physicists like Freeman Dyson who once said :- “The more I examine the universe and study the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must know we were coming.” Although the Anthropic principle is logical it does not meet the criterion of a good scientific theory in that it makes no useful predictions. It is simply a statement of the facts without answering the questions of how and why. In other words, it is like saying that your parents are the people that gave birth to you. No further useful information can flow from such a statement.
On the other hand, there are those who hold the extreme opposite view that there are no intrinsic purposes to life and this universe at all. Both the universe and human affairs are meaningless and pointless. Representatives of this school of scientific thoughts include Nobel Prize laureate Steven Weinberg and the French biologist, Jacques Monod. Weinberg once said this ;- “ The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless.” I totally disagree with such a perspective. This view implies that only the objective and physical facts are important and our subjective feelings and perceived reality are worthless. This is a completely materialistic view point devoid of human sentiments. With the power of creation and ingenuity of the human mind which matures and grows with every social interaction on a nonlinear and multilateral basis, we are fully capable of creating a meaningful and rewarding realty if we so choose. The vital importance of the intelligent human consciousness is abundantly borne out by Quantum Theory and not purely a philosophical conjecture.
As regards Jacques Monod, he was of the strong opinion that science and philosophy like oil and water cannot mix with each other. He wrote thus ;- “ Any mingling of knowledge with values is unlawful, forbidden,” To this view, my response is that “never say never again “ ( with complements of Ian Fleming of James Bond fame ). If science is to serve humanity, there is a great urgency for a Connection to be set up between science and philosophy because science tells us what we can do while philosophy what we should do. Science represents power and we are inviting tragedy if power falls into the wrong hands. What can be more tragic than nuclear power falling under the control of a mad man like Hitler ( which almost did ) who did not know the proper thing to do for want of a set of humane philosophical value? One of my humble objectives in this book is precisely an attempt to forge a Connection between these two very vital disciplines - vital to human survival that is !
To me, it requires a lot of faith both in oneself and in Nature to face an issue such as the origin of life which is, in effect, looking for one's own ultimate root. If one is pre-determined to include only one given methodology to the exclusion of all others without an open mind one would only arrive at partial truths and may even fly in the face of other possibilities which are precluded by a set perspective. This is the notorious Selection Effect which leads us astray from the ultimate truth because we only select evidence that is compatible with our set perspective or the existing paradigm. That is why all great scientific discoveries or, for that matter, everything of greatness are made by overthrowing some existing generally accepted framework. We must have the courage and foresight to resist applying our common sense if we need to do that to get to the ultimate truth. Let us hope that the search for knowledge and the truth be unimpeded by any standards or disciplines.
