The Creation of Life

Posted on by Opher

The Creation of Life

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The Creation of Life

After all the gases and dust created by the Big Bang had swirled its way into galaxies and coalesced into stars the remaining debris orbiting those suns was attracted together through its own gravitational pull to form the planets and moons.

The Big Bang occurred 13.8 billions years ago – a length of time too long for human minds to grasp.

Our planet formed 5.2 Billion years ago.

For 1.7 billion years it raged, boiled and shook as a ball of molten rock with an iron core.

Finally it developed a crust and became cool enough for the creation of life.

Through the searing heat, UV Light, hard radiation, electric storms that bombarded the poisonous atmosphere of methane, ammonia, hydrogen, nitrogen, and water vapour, along with the catalysts of silica and metals, the simple chemicals fused into the building blocks of life – the protein chains and RNA bases.

It took a billion years or so.

The complex organic chemicals built up into a soupy broth in those primordial seas.

All that is possible will happen given enough time. And time there was.

Simple organisms of protein were formed. Then RNA was incorporated to provide greater organisation. One can only wonder at the extraordinary role of chance and unlikeliness of circumstance that conspired through those billion years.

What we know is that 3.5 billion years ago, when conditions had calmed, the first simple, one-celled organisms based on protein and RNA were created. The DNA came later.

Life was a single cell. It prospered and multiplied and evolved for nearly 3 billion years until the planet was a mass of microscopic bacteria-like organisms flourishing on the soup and each other before developing the means of harnessing their own energy through chemosynthesis.

Then the ability to photosynthesise mutated and the atmosphere changed, the oxygen providing greater possibility.

The creation of life was a wondrous thing. One wonders how many other times anything as astounding has happened in this universe. But then time is immense and chance plays its part. In a universe of this immensity we are almost certainly not alone.

Creation might even be easier than we think and a fairly common occurrence. Time will tell.

Isn’t it absolutely awesome????

36 thoughts on “The Creation of Life”

  1. Hey Opher – You write, ‘Creation might even be easier than we think and a fairly common occurrence. Time will tell.’ I agree and have long held the view that Panspermia – the hypothesis that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by space dust, meteoroids, asteroids, comets, planetoids, and also by spacecraft carrying unintended contamination by microorganisms – prevails in the Cosmos. I see no reason why this theory shouldn’t be so.

    Personally speaking, I don’t believe we are alone in the Universe.

    DN

    1. Arthur C. Clarke Quote “Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not, both are equally terrifying.”
      I like to think that there are many more intelligent, more civilised, kinder, more caring beings out there in the universe!

      1. Hey Opher – I wonder why Arthur C. Clarke was terrified at the possibility of not being alone in the Universe?

        I also wonder at human-kind’s reaction if an alien race did make themselves known to us by visiting Earth?

        You write, ‘I like to think that there are many more intelligent, more civilised, kinder, more caring beings out there in the universe!’ – As do I. One day we may find out.

        Out of curiosity, the film I suggested in a previous comment, ‘Silent Running’ (1972) – have you seen it? If so, any thoughts?

        I’m still reading and digesting Neanderthal…all good so far!

        Ciao for now,

        DN

      2. I think Arthur was terrified at the thought of encountering a superior race on many fronts. Firstly they might be warlike and annihilate us. They could bring disease. But more importantly – whenever humans have been confronted with a technologically more advanced culture (Americas, New Zealand, Australia, Africa etc.) it has resulted in a total loss of confidence and collapse!
        I think there’s a novel there!
        I love Silent Running!

      3. Hey Opher – good to have you back on WP. I trust the vacation was enjoyed?

        Regards your comment on Arthur’s terror: (of course) it’s conceivable he was heavily influenced by the earlier work of H.G Wells…’Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.’ ( H. G. Wells (1898), The War of the Worlds). He would have been 21 when WofTW was memorably dramatized in a 1938 radio program, which (allegedly) caused public panic among listeners who did not know the Martian invasion was fictional!

        Given the state of our dysfunctional modern world, perhaps alien intervention by way of a benign technologically advanced culture wouldn’t be such a bad idea after-all! 😉

        Silent Running is one of my favourite films. ‘Tis the three service robots nicknamed Huey, Dewey and Louie, who steal the show! 😀

        Enjoy the weekend,

        DN

      4. Hi Dewin – good to be back. Thoroughly enjoyed myself – taking piccies, roaming and sampling the wares, soaking up the atmosphere, meeting people. So fortunate.
        I’m off for a few days to see younger son and take in a gig.
        It is possible that Arthur was thinking about the threat from outer space and might well have been affected by Herbert, but I think his fear was of something more sinister – the collapse of the human psyche when confronted with superiority.
        You’re prompted me to have another look at silent running. I haven’t seen it for years!
        I hope all is well. I sent the TFL contact through.

      5. Good to hear the holibobs pleased in all ways Opher. Everyone is deserving of a little down-time, even those already retired 😉

        Enjoy visiting family, and do watch Silent Running…currently available on Netflix U.S but not U.K. I think U.K Netflix has missed an opportunity there!

        As for collapsing psyches, perhaps you are right. Mind you, I’ve always believed the emergence of an advanced race/culture would stimulate human evolution and lift us from the Dark Ages on Earth: the second Renaissance!

        Thanks for the email, I’ll reply shortly. Cheers,

        DN

      6. I’ve written about that in one of my books – I too hold out optimism – surely other intelligent species can’t be as destructive, cruel and belligerent as us???

  2. Yes. It’s awesomely awesome. And more satisfying – because it’s true/confirmed – than that other account about separating firmaments in seven days.

    1. Yes – I’m not so sure why we continue to put such stock on the primitive creation tales of ancient tribes – interesting though they are.

  3. They’re easier, understandable, pleasant. Less to think about. And they are pretty good – and instructive – has stories.

  4. So in no way is it possible that God (the bible explains he has vast dynamic energy) could not have purposely created earth and mankind? If not then why is it we die? Why are we complex beings? Emotions/thinking abilities. Even animals and plant life are complex and man uses things in nature to design such things as cars and electronics. The answers are in the bible and these beliefs are not mainstream christianity. I do not believe in hell as the bible does not support it. Or the trinity. Man has the capability to live forever. http://www.jw.org has more information all free of charge. Just sharing a new idea you probably have never heard.

    1. Hi Farmgirl – no I do not think that god created all of this wondrous universe or us. We are stuck out in a minor galaxy, out on a spiral arm, on a tiny planet circling an insignificant sun. It would be perverse to think that any god created this universe just for us. There are zillions of galaxies and stars – more numerous that grains of sand on every beach.
      Where did this god come from?
      Who invented her?
      No. Looking at human beings – we are complex and wonderful but incredibly flawed – because we evolved and were not created.
      Human beings are complex animals. All life is amazingly complex and wonderful. That does not imply it was created. We evolved over billions of years. We are so tiny and insignificant compared to the zillions of stars in the universe. We’re like bacteria in a toilet bowl. So limited. It’s no wonder we don’t understand too much. We are problem solving, tool making apes. Nothing more. Our bodies are flawed because they weren’t designed. Which designer would build in so many rudimentary flaws? An excretory system that opens through the reproductive system. A single opening to the lungs opening into the digestive tact so that we choke? I could go on and on.
      We die because our biochemistry clogs up with sediments and poisons and our systems fail.
      Thank you for sending through a link to Jehovah’s Witness site. I have absolutely no interest in such a cult.

      1. So you dont celebrate any holidays or support any government? All are based on religion. Sad truth. But im glad you know better.

      2. Well I like holidays. They might have started as Holy Days but not any more. They are for leisure. There is nothing religious about holidays. The right to shorter hours, weekends off and weeks of holidays had to be fought for by politically minded activists – not religious bodies.
        As for governments – I’m a socialist. We’re atheists.
        I think you are seeing things through very blinkered eyes.

      5. Just the shear intelligence of the design alone for me. Men win awards and are well known for their inventions that mimic a small portion of what creation has produced. As if to say man didnt make an airplane it just appeared, no intellectual person built it ….is absurd to me.

      6. I can see that but I don’t think the analogy is quite the same. There is certainly an incredible mystery around the creation of life. Putting a god into the mix doesn’t solve it for me.

      7. Yes if one doesnt believe in god then they wouldnt examine what is called gods word. So its a dilemma. We are only limited by what we dont learn.

      8. Oh I had my religious phase and read a lot of religious texts – the Bible, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Quran and Diamond Sutra. I found some of the parts uplifting, some enlightening and some downright horrible. I came to the conclusion that they were all written by men and reflected life thousands of years before. I was looking for something more – but I didn’t find it.

      9. Ah. Im sorry to hear that. Alot of conflicting information i bet. 🙁 and people actions just dont follow their beliefs. Hypocrisy abounds in the “church”

      10. Too true. But the happiest and most honest person I ever met was a Buddhist monk from Thailand. A smashing guy.

      13. Not everyone shares a belief in God. I completely understand that. Just thought id share a different point of view. Hope you have a good day.

    1. Thank you for sending me the link. I have read many like it.
      As a scientist and rationalist I always look for logical answers. I believe in evolution because not only can I see the theory for it but also the evidence. It is there in the DNA, the morphology, the fossil record and is very easy to understand and substantiate.
      Creation of life is a different matter. That is not yet understood and is incredibly hard to understand. It is incredibly unlikely.
      Indeed, in all the billions of years and zillions of planets it may well only have occurred once. Who knows.
      Maybe, with our limited intellect we will never understand it.
      But my logical mind tells me that the creation of a god to create the universe and life is merely kicking the can down the road. Any rational look at that comes up with even greater questions. Something complex enough to make a universe and life has to be more complex than both. Where did this god come from? Who made her? Did she appear out of nothing? Who made her?
      The standard response is that she alone has always been there. My response to that is – ‘Absurd’.
      The concept of god is a typical human response to anything we don’t understand. We create a supernatural answer.
      I prefer to say we don’t know.

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