In a universe with consistent physical laws and time, expect to see an equilibrium of forces. Stars and planets and orbits and such may seem too precise to have been spontaneous, but it's really just survivorship bias. Nothing else lasts as long.
Life is a kind of "running equilibrium", balance that begets more balance. Such a configuration may be unlikely, but with enough time - so much time you may as well pretend it's infinite time - the presence of life should not come as a surprise. Once you have life, cooperation is inevitable. It's the maximally efficient strategy. It emerges, stage by stage. Each stage is a little different from the stage that came before, because it’s comprised of the results of the previous stage...
In our universe, on our world, life takes the form of discrete, individual cells. Precisely how this came about is a very interesting question. It will probably still be an interesting question when you and I are long dead. Sufficient to say, we have cells...
Given enough generations of cells, eventually some of them will start to cooperate by accident. For the kind of cells that you and I are made of, the first stage of emerging cooperation is the mitochondria -- a cell that lives inside another, forming a reciprocal relationship. The little cell gets protection and a stable environment. The big cell gets complex molecules made by the little cell, which allows it to do more than its non-symbiotic counterparts. Some people say this symbiosis is the first “Great Filter”, a hurdle in the development of life that is unlikely to occur frequently. Sufficient to say, we have symbiotic cells...
Given enough generations of symbiotic cells, eventually some of them will start to cooperate by accident. They cluster together, sharing resources and products -- as well as the work of gathering and producing. They are better able to resist predation, and better able to be predators themselves. The clusters start out small and undifferentiated. Mutation, reproduction, survival, and time changes this. Member cells of the group take on specialized tasks and begin to differentiate from their neighbors. The cluster of cells becomes more complex…
Given enough generations of cell clusters, the result is no longer a single family of cells cooperating. This is an ecology unto itself, moving through the world. Other cells call this place home, have evolved to live in it specifically -- an environment made of other cells! And the specialization has really gotten out of hand. There are resource processing centers and chemical plants and factories and waste treatment facilities -- and all of it made of cells! There are canals and plumbing and pumps – made of cells - connecting everything together, with cells flowing through them. This is a city. There’s really nothing better to call it. A city where all the buildings and factories and vehicles are cells. There are even telescopes made of cells, collecting electromagnetic radiation from the outside world, delivering that information to… well… The city made of cells has a kind of government. Information, from every district and subset of the city, flows along chains (made of cells) to a nexus of cells where… something… happens. New information flows back along the chains. Work becomes coordinated. The city, somehow, believes itself to be a single organism. And by believing this, it becomes true.
That’s absurd. Ridiculous. And yet it is. And it’s not even the final stage of emerging cooperation…
Given enough generations of cell-cities, eventually some of them will start to communicate.
In a universe with consistent physical laws and time, expect to see an equilibrium of forces. Stars and planets and orbits and such may seem too precise to have been spontaneous, but it's really just survivorship bias. Nothing else lasts as long.
Life is a kind of "running equilibrium", balance that begets more balance. Such a configuration may be unlikely, but with enough time - so much time you may as well pretend it's infinite time - the presence of life should not come as a surprise. Once you have life, cooperation is inevitable. It's the maximally efficient strategy. It emerges, stage by stage. Each stage is a little different from the stage that came before, because it’s comprised of the results of the previous stage...
In our universe, on our world, life takes the form of discrete, individual cells. Precisely how this came about is a very interesting question. It will probably still be an interesting question when you and I are long dead. Sufficient to say, we have cells...
Given enough generations of cells, eventually some of them will start to cooperate by accident. For the kind of cells that you and I are made of, the first stage of emerging cooperation is the mitochondria -- a cell that lives inside another, forming a reciprocal relationship. The little cell gets protection and a stable environment. The big cell gets complex molecules made by the little cell, which allows it to do more than its non-symbiotic counterparts. Some people say this symbiosis is the first “Great Filter”, a hurdle in the development of life that is unlikely to occur frequently. Sufficient to say, we have symbiotic cells...
Given enough generations of symbiotic cells, eventually some of them will start to cooperate by accident. They cluster together, sharing resources and products -- as well as the work of gathering and producing. They are better able to resist predation, and better able to be predators themselves. The clusters start out small and undifferentiated. Mutation, reproduction, survival, and time changes this. Member cells of the group take on specialized tasks and begin to differentiate from their neighbors. The cluster of cells becomes more complex…
Given enough generations of cell clusters, the result is no longer a single family of cells cooperating. This is an ecology unto itself, moving through the world. Other cells call this place home, have evolved to live in it specifically -- an environment made of other cells! And the specialization has really gotten out of hand. There are resource processing centers and chemical plants and factories and waste treatment facilities -- and all of it made of cells! There are canals and plumbing and pumps – made of cells - connecting everything together, with cells flowing through them. This is a city. There’s really nothing better to call it. A city where all the buildings and factories and vehicles are cells. There are even telescopes made of cells, collecting electromagnetic radiation from the outside world, delivering that information to… well… The city made of cells has a kind of government. Information, from every district and subset of the city, flows along chains (made of cells) to a nexus of cells where… something… happens. New information flows back along the chains. Work becomes coordinated. The city, somehow, believes itself to be a single organism. And by believing this, it becomes true.
That’s absurd. Ridiculous. And yet it is. And it’s not even the final stage of emerging cooperation…
Given enough generations of cell-cities, eventually some of them will start to communicate.