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Origin of Life
Wu Zhi
Human beings try their utmost to track down their own origin but they come to a halt when tracing up to the stratum of cells because the evolution history before the cells remains blank. It is not that human beings don't want to trace a little further but that they are impeded by a great stumbling block. How are cells generated? It is still a puzzle yet to be solved by Life Sciences. How does life originate? It is one of the three big mysteries to be delved into in Natural Science.
Human beings are confused about the origin of life in that they can not make out what life is really like. They have different definitions to explain life, so they give as many origins of life. If the substance having the physiological movement is life, then it can be naturally inferred that substances like nucleic acid and protein are life; if the substance having psychological movement is life, then man is life; computer is life and so is robot. Then if the substance that has both the physiological movement and the psychological movement is life, then animals, plants and microorganisms are life. However, if we follow these definitions to track down the origin of life, we can't still go as far as expected because the essence of life has not been delved into deep enough.
In other respects, human beings lose the thread of the origin of life in that life has no origin. Human beings are so fond of getting to the root of a matter, but there is only change but no origin for things in the universe. How are human beings formed in a genuine sense? Some people trace its origin back to a fertilized egg, but how is a fertilized egg generated then? We are plunged into a vicious circle of the inexhaustible probing. How can the universe come into being? Some people track it down to a singular point prior to the Big Bang and then they start from this singular point to make their endless exploration for the origin. How was the Yangtze River originally formed? Some people trace its origin back to Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, but they fail to figure it out because the water of the Yangtze River comes from the heaven and the water in the heaven comes from the clouds and the water in the clouds comes from the oceans and the water in the oceans comes from the outer space. Then where does the water in the outer space come from? It is inherent by nature. It follows that things only change constantly but without origin. As a matter of fact, in the process of the endless evolution of things, we can randomly intercept a certain section, so the front end is called the so-called origin of the rear end. Therefore, the origin of things is relative but not absolute in a sense.
Human beings tend to equate life with the carrier of life, so in the concept of the human beings, it does not mean the real location of the origin of life if even we find the origin of life yet can't find the origin of the life carrier. For the purpose of catering to the thinking habit of human beings, the origin of life is hereby divided into two separate parts for being carefully dwelt upon: origin of life and origin of the life carrier.
1. Origin of life
The essence of life can be ultimately traced back to the chemical reaction, but it really makes no sense to delve into the origin of the chemical reaction because the chemical reaction is the law set forth by the universe: certain chemical substances run into each other under some conditions, chemical reaction is bound to take place correspondingly.
Nevertheless, senior life is the results of chain chemical reactions and we can trace the current chemical reaction back to the previous chemical reaction, thus finding causes of the initial chemical reaction and naturally locating the origin of life. Thus far the life on earth originates in an original cell 3.8 billion years ago, which is actually the resultant of the chemical reaction, so if this chemical reaction can be located, the problem of the origin of life will be solved with the greatest ease. Put it this way, the complex problem is greatly simplified.
However, it is still not an easy job to prevail on the general public to buy such an idea because even if we really find this chemical reaction, human beings will not think it the origin of life. What human beings really want to know is where the consciousness and action of life come from, that is to say, how do the six elements of life come into being?
The six elements of life: sensation, memory, thinking, emotion, desire and action. The complex life form contains all of the six elements whereas the simple life forms have one or several elements. In the six elements of life, sensation comes in the first place, which helps human beings to realize their own existence and the existence of the world. Sensation is the basis of the memory, thinking, emotion, desire and action. So without sensation there will be no other five elements. However, the lower life has only sensation but nothing else.
Therefore, only when we track down the origin of sensation, we can sure locate the origin of life. So the simple problem is made more complicated. And the complexity is nothing less than the efforts made to explore for the sensation existing in a grain of sand.
Sensation is a series of chemical reaction process. When the skin is pricked, chemical reaction occurs in the pricked part, producing the electric current which is transmitted to the brain through the nerves and chemical reaction will be thus evoked in the cerebral touch screen (the tactile induction zone of the cerebral cortex), giving human the pain sense. The principle here is just like igniting a rope with match and the other end of the rope will then ignite a pile of gunpowder.
The problem is whether the gunpowder has sensation while being burned in the form of a substance. Certainly it has because the gunpowder feels the temperature, which is stimulated by the temperature to gives rise to the chemical reaction, thus setting a flame. Any substance can yield sensation and if only the substance that contacts it can change its inner space and structure, sensation can thus be generated. That is to say, it can give rise to the chemical reaction and it has sensation. When the roll film is smeared with a chemical coating, it will have the chemical reaction while being exposed to the light, which is called sensation, and this phenomenon is also called by human beings as photoreception, namely it has the sensation to the light. The ordinary film has no chemical coating, so it can have no chemical reaction, nor does it have any sensation to the light. Human beings are easily sensitive to light just because there is a layer of photosensory cells in their retina and these cells are very sensitive to light and chemical reaction occurs when they are being exposed to light, so human beings can sense the existence of light.
The so-called sensation is a kind of chemical reaction taking place in the inner cells subject to the stimulus of the external substances; the external stimulus represents the objective reality but the inner reaction is just the distorted and fabricated presentation. A beam of ray flashes and the photoelectric material produces the current, so the flammable materials produce the combustion and the film roll produce the chemical reaction, all of which represent the sensation of the substances, but different sensations are subject to different reactions, different decipherments and different interpretations. However, the reactions, decipherments and interpretations are in the distorted forms, or otherwise all kinds of sensations will be completely identical. Living things can produce chemical reaction towards information. There appears a headline on the newspaper: an airplane crashed and a big shot was killed. As far as the objectively invading substances are concerned, they are the photons not powerful enough to cause the big sensation to us. But different people have different sensations: the relatives are bitterly heart-stricken and the enemies are whooping it up in jubilation but the outsiders remain emotionally unmoved. Such a piece of news should produce completely different sensations and also the strong sensations, which represents not only the distortion of the information but also the fabrication of the information. Thinking, recollection and dreams are the very expressions of sensation in the final analysis: in a dream, you are desperately chased after by someone and you are helplessly cornered and ultimately you have to jump down from the high building. In the whole process, you sense the panic, anxiety, desperation, violent heartthrob, higher blood pressure, drastic secretion of epinephrine, all of which are the sensation, but these sensations are totally fabricated out of nothing by yourselves.
Thus, it can be seen that sensation can be distorted and fabricated, but it is of paramount importance and it shows that life can be fabricated out of nothing. Or at least, macroscopic life can be fabricated by the micro substances and information. Life, in a sense, is fabricated. So the reaction, decipherment, interpretation to the objective world constitute different forms of life. The more reactions, decipherments, interpretations there are, the more advanced levels life takes. It can speak volumes for the mystery that the human can become the most advanced life form, as human beings can sense the beautiful natural scenes, the sound of the birds and cicadas, sour, sweet, bitter and spicy taste, soft, hard, rough and smooth things, big and small, square and round things, lower and higher things, close and distant things, still and moving things, fast and slow things, cold, hot, cool and scorching hot things. Strictly speaking, these things don't exist, but they are distorted and fabricated. If you don’t buy it here, just go and ask an earthworm: is the sky blue and is the moon round?
The sky is not blue and the blue color only exists in the human mind; the moon is not round but the round only exists in the human mind. As a matter of fact the surface of the moon is roughly bumpy and uneven but it looks round because the human mind only makes a rough measure of it. No matter how round a thing is, but when we get closer to it or it is amplified, not rounder than before, so we say there is nothing absolutely round. The moon is a globe but it shows a flat face in the human eyes, which clearly illustrates that there is some deviation in the human decipherment of the moon. A movie star’s face looks white and brightly smooth but when it is microscopically viewed, it is genuinely shown like a myriad of small hills and the face are just like a hilly place.
And the object that is mostly distorted by the human mind is perhaps the sun. The mountains on the moon surface measure approximately eight or nine kilometers high but the highest prominence on the sun measures hundreds of thousands of kilometers high, however, the solar radius only measures 0.69 million kilometers away，yet human beings tend to think that the sun looks as round as a orbicular mirror.
What human beings can see from the sun is only the photosphere but there are other chromospheres with the thickness of 2000 kilometer far beyond the photosphere; And the exists outside the chromosphere the solar corona composed of protons, ions and free electrons with the temperature as high as one or two million K, much higher than 5770 K of the photosphere and the optical radiation is only one of one millionth of the photosphere with the luminance corresponding to that of the full moon, but the largest thickness exceeds the diameter of the sun and there is almost no thinnest places. If the sun is defined by the scope of the corona, the external appearance of the sun is quite irregular. The extension scope of the corona can reach the place quite near to the earth's orbit, so from this point of view, the sun is just close to human beings at hand. Furthermore, the solar wind can almost blow to the whole solar system, but if the sun is defined by the scope of the solar wind, the earth is also enveloped within the sun. As a matter of course, the solar light can almost reach as far as far can be, so if the sun is defined by the scope of the solar light, the sun will be infinitely great. So there is an immeasurable distance apart between the sun in the human eyes and the sun objectively existing in the universe.
Different things are viewed and reflected as identical things. Mars is almost identical to the moon, but it looks like a luminous spot in the human eyes, whereas the fixed star is quite similar to the sun, but it looks like a luminous spot in the human eyes as well. Actually the sun and the moon are quite alike in a sense, if only, the sun and the moon can be set apart with a properly larger distance from the earth, if necessary, then the sun and the moon become both almost identical to that of the stars in terms of their size and brilliance. Truly, there is no change for the objective things but the human decipherment of the objects varies greatly.
The identical things can also be viewed and reflected as different things. The same sun, viewed in different distances, far or near, gives human beings different reflections: different external appearance, magnitude and brilliance. The same moon, viewed in the daytime or at night, is quite different and it is different viewed in full moon and in wane. Do the objective things change greatly? No, not at all! The sun is the same sun while the moon is still the same moon.
Emptiness can be sensed as existence while existence can be sensed as emptiness. At night we can see the sky is dotted with a myriad of stars but in the daytime the stars are all gone, but in essence they just stay put, still hanging in the skies without being seen by the naked eyes. If the sun is set farther apart from us with a certain obvious distance, it is also invisible to the naked eyes, but the sun is still high in the skies and the human naked eyes can't identify it. If a fixed star of more than 10 billion light-years has long been removed from its position, human beings can still see by the telescope that it still hangs high in the skies. So the astronomers doubt some of the stars that can be seen by the telescope have long gone but the light they shed more than 10 billion light-years ago is still radiating towards the earth.
Human body is attacked by external identical things can to produce the different sensation; while human body is attacked by external different things can to produce the same sensation as well. When a human being takes an injection in one of the buttocks, he does not feel the pain quite much but if he takes an injection in the finger, the pain will be beyond endurance. And again, if some salt water is sprinkled onto the tongue or onto the hand, it feels completely different; and it feels poles apart when some salt water is sprayed onto the skin and into the wound. As we know, sugar and gluside are distinctively two distinct substances, but their taste is almost the same. The horseshoe crab gains its visual sensibility by one million times at night, which just reflects the times of the ray change between the day time and the night time1. So it seems to the horseshoe crab that daytime is daytime and nighttime is also daytime because there is no difference between the daytime and the nighttime. This demonstrates in another perspective that life is fabricated.
With the temperature rising, the peripheral electrons of a water molecule accelerate in motion and in a larger range, thus giving boost to the rapid movement of the whole atom and molecule, but at the very beginning, the water molecule just tries to break loose from the attraction among the molecules and then produce the thermal motion. When the temperature reaches 100℃, the water molecule breaks loose from the gravity of the earth and the atmospheric pressure and rushes toward the direction of the part under the minimum pressure in the air space, which is the so-called evaporation. The larger the electron motion range, the more the water molecule is expanded after being heated, which means that water molecule’s inner space and the structure changes as well. According to the definition of the author (refer to his another research paper entitled “What on Earth is Life?”), this is also a chemical reaction, thus the water molecule can sense the change of temperature. However, we can not transplant the human sensation to the water molecule. Though the water molecule can sense the temperature, but human beings don't know whether it is heat, cold, fragrance or sweet and human beings don't know what it is, but it does not matter too much just as human beings don't know what the world is like in the eyes of all other animals. Likewise, atoms and particles can produce sensation as well.
Of course, the sensation of molecules, atoms and particles is rather fragile, torpid and limited. The smaller the mass it has, the weaker the sensation is. As it is, the potassium nitrate, charcoal, sulfur molecules in the gunpowder can naturally produce the chemical reaction among themselves. However, when the reaction should has taken place, they don't just happen because their sensation is too weak or too torpid and even when they are crowded with each other, side by side, back to back, bosom to bosom, face to face, they don't sense the existence of the others. When the temperature rises, the three different molecules violently rampage against each other until they are clung to each other and get burned. Gunpowder is one of the substances most sensitive to reactions but it is so torpid not to speak of other substances. The sensation of atoms and particles are even weaker, so it is beyond description.
Nevertheless, the existence of this kind of weaker sensation is perhaps the most important thing in the universe, or otherwise, all living things will have no sensation. Then can living things without sensation still be called living things?
Human beings have good self-sensation just because they utilize this kind of weaker sensation of the basic substances by overlapping them and gradually amplifying the sensation, thus forming the human sensation. Any of the human sensation systems is actually a system with the amplified functions, namely the amplification system, which can amplify the extremely weaker signal to the extremely larger signal or even be amplified beyond the endurance of human beings. Lancination and burning are beyond human endurance just because they are amplified to the extremity. A mere needle prickle is of no significance, yet it can evoke the burning in the brain and sure it pains. The eyeballs can even focus the light and then transform the light into the current so that even a photon can produce the human seeing. The function is amplified mainly by that the scales of the chemical reactions increases gradually.
Generally speaking, the larger the substance, the stronger the sensation; the smaller the substance, the weaker the sensation. And substance is endlessly divisible, and the sensation becomes infinitely smaller, when the substance is infinitesimal, the sensation of the substance is also infinitesimal, but in this case, the infinitesimal can be deemed as nil. Therefore, the sensation is from nil to existence, from small to big, and sensation is thus generated. But there is no definite distinction in the middle, that is to say, there is no clear-cut distinction between life and death.
Therefore, it is not an easy job to draw a clear line between life and death. Some of the things are “dead” in nature, some are “alive” but others are difficult to identify whether they are “dead” or “alive”. A virus is dead in the natural environment, just like a particulate with no difference, but when the virus enters into cells, it will cause chemical reactions with substances within cells, so it is activated, or even gives birth to offspring and spreads virus from generation to generation. Whether viroid is a dead or living substance is beyond our recognition yet. And the dispute over whether it is dead or alive has been continued up to now. The substance that can constitute the cell is dead outside the cell but is activated when it enters into the cells. As it is，everything is simple, so no matter what it is, whether a mass of substances, a virus or a molecule, it is dead when it does not participate in chemical reaction and alive when it participates in chemical reaction. Alternatively, if a chemical reaction is not strong enough, it can be regarded as being dead; while it is strong, it can be regarded as being alive. Human beings think that a molecule is dead but a virus is alive. As a matter of fact, a virus and a molecule are almost the same: a virus is a simple nucleic acid molecule only enclosed with a layer of protein coating but the viroid has no protein coatings but has a simple nucleic acid molecule. When such a molecule is isolated, it is deemed as dead from the biological point of view and also as dead from the chemical point of view. When this molecule enters into the cells, it has a chemical reaction with the substance within the cells, so it is deemed as alive from the biological point of view and also as alive from the chemical point of view. It is obvious that the life and death in the chemical sense is the life and death in the biological sense and that the essence of life lies in the chemical reaction. It is the same case with viruses, cells, animals and plants.
Some bacteria have been frozen in the ice for thousands upon thousand of years. Once the temperature rises and thaws, the bacteria will immediately come back to life. Lately American scientists have discovered that there is a kind of bacteria frozen in the ice for 30 thousand years but it can still move in the moment the ice is thawed 2. Are the bacteria frozen in the ice dead or alive? As human beings think that a dead thing can not come back to life again, so the scientists say that these bacteria stay in a dormant condition. Actually the frozen bacteria have no metabolism and these bacteria are deemed as dead in the human standard, and they are dead things and dead substances as well; but these bacteria that can revive are alive, living things and living substances, so bacteria change from death to life, knowing no bounds.
In New Zealand there is a kind of cricket and in winter it is frozen into the ice block but regains life after the ice is melted. In North America the tree frog is also frozen into ice block, just like a block of ice-covered fossil, and the brain of the block of “fossil” is “dead’ and its heart isn't throbbing with no metabolism and sure it belongs to dead things, However, several months later, the ice block is slowly melting, the tree frog comes back to life again. 3 Nowadays, there are human corpses soaked in the liquid nitrogen bottles with the low temperature of more than 100oC below zero centigrade, but if some day they are brought back to life according to their wills and it is also a process from death to life. So there is no insurmountable barrier between death and life. If this barrier does exist, life will not be regained after death and life can not be transformed to death. These signs indicate that there is no definite bound between life and death. The so-called dead substances, dead things and dead living things are actually still alive but in a lower living stratum. Alternatively, there is no life and death for substances while life and death are just fabricated by human beings. The human beings have coined the concept of the life and death then they forcefully impose onto the universe.
It is rationally confirmed that all substances have life because no matter how small a substance is, its inner space and structure can change.Human beings think that atom is the basic substance but actually it is only a family of substances, which is temporally set up with the increase and decrease of family members at any time. And the home space can change from time to time. The electrons circle around the nucleus and it is practically an ever-changing process of the space and structure. It is thus identified that atoms have life, which is well founded in a sense. So it is the same case with particles. Scientists wonder that some of the particles are grotesque, easy coming and easy going with no definite trace, jumping up and down with no regularity. Is it really so baffling? A particle has life and it likes to jump up and down, why should we bother about it anyway? Certainly, it is a kind of description and exaggeration in a sense and actually the life of a particle is in a lower stratum and sure it has no sensation like human beings, but the activity of life does exist and the life consciousness also does exist in an infinitesimal condition. If we say no to the fact that the particle has the infinitesimal consciousness, then the human consciousness will be like water without sources and like a tree without roots, because time, space, substance, energy and life can not be created but they can only be amplified, minified, combined, decomposed and transformed.
As we put it this way, particles, atoms, molecules, gunpowder and sand have sensation, which differs from the human sensation in a sense, so we can't only stick to the human position to deal with the problem but we should put ourselves in the position of the substances. Hereby we'd better draw an analogy between their sensation and that of the fetus. Sure the fetus has his sensation, but this kind of sensation is not strong enough to help him realizes his own existence and the existence of the world; anyhow the sensation of these substances is even weaker than that of the fetus. The strong or weak sensation does not matter too much, but what really matter is where they have sensation.
There is an illusion among the human beings who presume that sensation is the monopoly owned by animals but plants don't have such a monopoly, nor does stone, sand and dust particle. Because after these substances are attacked by external forces, no reaction similar to that of the human beings appears, it is this very illusion that misleads human beings who can not fully understand the life phenomena and the origin of life and mistakenly try to draw a line between life and death. As a matter of fact, when any substance is being attacked by the external substance, there will appear a reaction inside but the reaction can be small or big, but the small reaction can not be seen by naked eyes. When a tree is cut with a stroke, there will appear a series of physiological reactions and chemical reactions inside and it is a pity that human beings can not see them anyhow, but not being seen does not mean that there are no reactions. When a block of stone is kicked by someone, there is a chemical reaction within the stone but the reaction is rather weak. Animals are substance, trees are substance and stone is substance as well. The substances differ only in the physical properties and the chemical properties and the life phenomena are the very expressive forms of these physical properties and chemical properties, representing a process of physical movement and chemical movement.
The so-called living things are the things with a comparatively stronger chemical activity while the dead things are the things with a comparatively weaker chemical activity. The thing with stronger activity is due to taking a quicker process of chemical reaction but the thing with weaker activity is in that taking a slower process of chemical reaction. If the time scale is cut down, that is to amplify its activity; if the time scale is drawn out, that is to diminish its activity. Human is a bundle of substances and have life in that there are rapid chemical reactions within this bundle of substances, but if the speed is slowed down by 100 million times, human can be said to have been dead; Stone is also a block of substances and has no life in that the chemical reaction within this block of substances is rather slow, but if the speed is accelerated by 100 million times, the stone can be called a living thing. Although the speed for the chemical reactions can not be randomly accelerated or slowed down, the time scale to size up the problem can be drawn out or cut down from time to time. If the life of a human being is prolonged to 100 million years, he will be a dead thing without any motion; if the life of stone is reduced to several seconds, it will be a living thing in motion. More often than not, we can see that flowers are in full blossom in the twinkling of an eye in movies and TV programs; the fact is that the blooming process of several dozen minutes or several hours is condensed to several seconds, so the activation of the flowers is greatly amplified as if they became instantly animals. Therefore, time stretching and speed slowing down is the same story while time condensing and speed accelerating is also the same story.
All the substances in the universe we can see are in constant motion from the celestial bodies to the particles. Philosophy concludes that motion is the existence forms of substances and substances are in constant movement. From the physical angle, this statement is not quite correct because movement is relative: for the nose, the ears are not movable; From the chemical angle, substances are in constant movement or at least the inner part of the substances are in movement, so the inner parts of the nose and ears are in movement, or we will never get aged. There is movement inside a block of stone because the molecules, atoms and particles within the stone are in movement.
The inner movement of substances continuously changes the inner space and structure in the never-ending chemical reactions, thus making the substance to gain life.
If we say the universe originates in the Big Bang, the physical motion in the universe can be attributed to the Big Bang in the final analysis, so the Big Bang promotes the motion of the galaxies, celestial bodies, physical bodies, molecules, atoms and particles. The great chemical reaction took place in 13.7 billion years ago——the Big Bang, which continues even today, so all substances in the universe are in constant spatial and structural change.
In this sense, the universe is a world alive with life. Life is ubiquitous everywhere and in all time. Death is the illusion of human beings but life is eternal in universe. Everything from particles to the whole universe is a life body. Looking back, human beings have racked their brains and made desperate efforts to explore for the extraterrestrial life, but so far they've got nowhere. It is really ridiculous! It is not that human beings lack the far-sighted vision, intelligence but that they don’t know what life is like.
Fundamentally speaking, the spatial and structural changes of the substances derive from the spatial and structural change of the universe; the chemical reactions of substances derive from the chemical reactions of the universe; the existence of the material life derives from the life existence of the universe. The things that don't exist in the universe don't exist on the earth in all probability, including life. The universe thrives, and all things thrive luxuriantly but universe dies, and all things will follow suit.
Therefore, we can reach three conclusions: ① life cannot be created or destroyed, but can be transformed from one form to another, including being superimposed and amplified into senior form. ② advanced form of life derives from the intermediate life. The sensation existing in the basic substances is the basis forming all senior life forms. ③ If the Big Bang is deemed as the front end and today's universe as the back end, life derives its source from the Big Bang because the Big Bang ignites and evokes a series of chemical reactions until today, including the chemical reactions in the human body.
All above being taken into consideration, the origin of life has been basically expounded in a broader sense, so fundamentally speaking the key to the origin of life lies in the origin of the consciousness and the key of the consciousness lies in the origin of sensation. When the origin of sensation is clearly expounded, the origin of life will be deciphered in turn.
However, the sensation is the inherent property of the substances but the difference is only levels of the sensation. Substances with different properties have different chemical activities so with different sensation as well; Substances with the identical properties are distinctively ranged and combined so with different sensations. Sensations with the lower level are superimposed together, constituting the sensation of the senior level.
Certainly the superimposition follows some regularity and must be superimposed in accordance with the chemical and physical laws, or otherwise it will not produce the function of amplification. For example, the sensation to light can be superimposed and amplified. Glass molecules are accumulated to generate the flat glass, but if the light ray is not amplified, it is the ineffective accumulation; the glass accumulated with the thick middle and thin rims can amplify the point light source and can focus the planar light source, which represents the amplification of signals. This is the visual amplification, sensory amplification and the amplification of consciousness correspondingly.
Sure, as for the magnifying glass, this kind of amplification makes no difference for itself because the chemical activity of the glass is not strong enough. However, after the sunlight is focused, the magnifying glass may feel quite different or at least the temperature rises. The sunlight was not as hot as it is now and it is even a little hotter. If the magnifying glass is bulb-shaped and made out of the egg white, after the sunlight is focused onto a spot opposite to the spherical surface, the long chain molecules of the protein on the spot will become crimped, broken off or evaporated, etc, the protein molecules of the whole sphere will have reactions of different degrees, and this series of chemical reactions is more violent than the chemical reactions within the magnifying glass and than the chemical reactions within the flatly spread egg white, which represents the visual, sensory and conscious amplification, and also the amplification of life levels. The so-called amplification means that the inner reaction becomes stronger when the external stimulus remains unchanged. In a certain sense, life is a kind of self-expressive chemical reaction and life is created by the substances themselves.
And human eyes follow the same way to amplify the light source. If the eyes independently existed by being separated from the human body, the cells in the sunlight focused place could be very sensitive to the brighter light sources and have the different sensation from the cells in other places and the reactions of the cells are also quite different. Even if the cells are a group of headless animals, their actions will be quite different, after all, chemical reactions within each cell are also quite different. Some chemical reactions are stronger while some are weaker. The sunlight after being focused by the eyeball fall onto the retina of the eye ground, the intensity of the sunlight is greatly amplified, but this kind of amplification is kind of distorted and fabricated, a little fussy and unrestricted derivative.
All the senior life forms on the earth are optimally arranged and combined by the substances with the most dynamic activity. The main substances of life are nucleic acids and proteins, both of which, on the one hand, are the substances with the most dynamic activity. They are able to conduct chemical reactions with many of the surrounding substances and sensitive to almost any substances with their own long chains in constant separation and connection, and both of which, on the other hand, represent the optimal arrangement and combination.
The two substances have some properties in common in that several hundred, several thousand, several ten thousand, several hundred thousand, several million or several tens of millions of molecules cluster into a long chain. This kind of chain structure means that nucleic acids and proteins act as a conductor with the function of the transmission of electrical current, which may be one of the important functions.
As far as a single molecule is concerned, though it can not amplify the photon current, yet this kind of chain structure can amplify the electron current with a longer chain and the farther distance between the two ends, so within the electrical field, it means that the potential difference increases, and that electrons can flow from one end to the other end in a steady stream and each molecule is impacted along the flowing path, thus giving rise to the corresponding chemical reactions, so the sensation and the consciousness are thus amplified. As a matter of fact, the potential difference at both ends of the long chain is probably caused by the chemical reactions at both ends: the chemical reaction at one end cast off the redundant electrons and break the balance of the electric potential, thus forming the electric pressure, so the free electrons flow to the other end along the long chain and ignites the chemical reactions at the other end and the chemical reactions at this end can grab the electrons in large quantity, thus producing even greater potential difference, so the current gets further amplified.
Certainly both nucleic acids and proteins are the thinnest conducting lines but there are some thicker conducting lines and some nerve cells can be even drawn out to one meter long, which is the conducting line based on the cells. When these cell conducting lines are concentrated into a beam, there will be even larger diameter conducting lines, which is the nerve, corresponding to a cable. The animal’s consciousness is based on the current and the consciousness of cells are also probably based on the current but the main difference lies in the diameter, length and electric power network composition of the conducting line.
Nevertheless, a molecular chain that can conduct electric current is too simple and so is life actually, but the fact is that a rush of current flows and brings a fit of stimulus. If it is composed of two molecular chains and they are connected with many transverse lines just like a ladder, and the current is more complex, having almost numerous channels and forming an integrated circuit, which can process the endless information, and the life consciousness is also complicated, which is the structure of DNA molecule.
DNA molecule is made of two long chains connected by many base pairs between the long chains, just like a ladder and the current flows through the ladder-shaped circuit, forming numerous channels, but the key lies in every nucleotide molecule will have to switch on and off and switch through automatically. In the double-stranded DNA molecule of the karyon, there are many protein nucleosomes sticking to it just like a cluster of pearls, which makes the circuit even more complex. The long chain of the DNA molecule is not a straight long line but takes twists and turns, so the lines and lines are stuck together and the pearls and pearls are connected. A line can form a net which can be a brain. Every DNA molecule in the human karyon is composed of 100 million nucleotide molecules and a net is woven by this long chain, so it is rather complicated and is maybe more complicated than the integrated circuit of the computer, and it is quite normal to generate the senior intelligence. Whereas, there are altogether 46 DNA molecules in the karyon, so there are 46 nets. If they are arranged in a sequence, they can be woven into a larger current network, which will be more like the human brain.
The human beings think that the computer has the consciousness which comes from the complicated circuit. Within the computer there are numerous electron channels and each channel is controlled, thus bestowing the computer with a certain consciousness. Although some people don't think it is the consciousness, computer has more consciousness than stone when they are compared and sure their consciousness absolutely differs. Robots can observe, listen attentively, chat, shake hands, walk and labor, all of which are commanded by the computer. If the human beings refuse to acknowledge this kind of consciousness, they will regret it some day. The computer works fundamentally in the same way that the working principle is essentially similar to the human brain, with no obvious difference, and both do work by means of the current.
When the current flows through the double-stranded DNA molecule, the current follows a casual course, which depends on the potential difference and the electric resistance, strong or weak, yet every nucleotide molecule on the chain has a say in a sense, so switch-on and cut-off determine the flow direction of the current and this kind of connection and disconnection forms some regularity, producing some effect, and operates as the computer circuit, so this cell has the comparatively higher consciousness and when it reaches a higher level, it can control the switch of the circuit, so it has nothing different from the computer. But the difference is that the computer operates in accordance with the procedures set forth by human beings but cells operate in accordance with the procedures set forth by the nature. This is the cellular consciousness of the earliest period, but the cellular consciousness at the latter period has already controlled the current according to their own demands, which represents the independent life body endowed with intelligence.
In the double-stranded DNA molecules of the human beings, 96% of the nucleotides on the chain can't constitute the gene, so the human beings think that is a little redundant and there is a likelihood that it is used to increase the length of the conducting line so as to increase the potential difference and form the larger current and there is another likelihood that it can be used as cellular brain line and the longer the line, the circuit will be more complicated because it is the ladder-shaped circuit and had be weaved a net, thus forming the complicated consciousness. And maybe this part of redundant nucleotides is the brain of the cell. That is to say, the brain of the cell is likely to exist in the DNA molecule, whether it is a segment of the molecule or the whole molecule or whether it is one molecule or many molecules.
Sure, the letter mentioned above is only the speculation made about the cellular brain and it may not be so in practical situations. Maybe the DNA molecules are not the carrier of the cellular brain but the endoplasmic reticulum may be the carrier of the cellular brain. The endoplasmic reticulum of human nerve cells has something to do with the human memory. Therefore, if the endoplasmic reticulum of human nerve cells has something to do with the cellular intelligence, there is no need to feel greatly surprised.
At any rate, cells are sure to have intelligence, and intelligence is sure to have a kind of carrier and the carrier is sure to have its own origin.
The nature is in constant motion to create things and in numerous graffiti there must be a time of doing something unintentionally, but harvesting exactly what it wishes and it happens that it can create a kind of substance, superimposing and amplifying the original sensation of the basic substance, thus generating life, which is a inevitable. In every corner of the earth, numerous substances are created but it works like this untiringly for one billion years, so if it can not create a grain of substance that can just superimpose and amplify the material sensation, it will be abnormal. Buying lottery and wining the great prize is just a windfall, but if you keep buying lottery every day, every month and every year and keeping doing it for one billion years, it will be a sure event; If 6 billion people on the earth all buy lottery every day, it is also a certainty that someone wins the big prize; and if they keep at it for one billion years, it is quite normal when any coincidence happens, so it is the very reason why life comes into being after the earth takes shape one billion years later.
As a consequence, life appeared on the earth, which is not absolutely accidental; Life exists in the universe, which is not absolutely accidental as well. As long as the universe is large enough and time is long enough, every thing can crop up, so the existence of every human being is a sure thing. If they don't crop up, they can be sought out in the infinite universe in the infinite future. Theoretically speaking, as long as space is unlimited and time is unlimited and substances are unlimited and energy is unlimited, anything is sure to come into being in the universe. If you want to find another yourself, you can find somewhere else.
2. Origin of the life carrier
① Origin of cells
The life carrier is multi-tiered, Let's take an animal for instance; the life carrier of an animal can be divided into three layers of life forms, respectively, animal, cells and biomolecules. However, here the emphasis is laid on the research of the origin of cells which if can be traced back to the comparatively simpler organic molecules, so the origin of life will be crystal-clear.
A cell is composed of many kinds of lower life forms, but the main life body is karyon which kind of correspond to the human brain, a comparatively independent life, containing a large quantity of information and controlling the metabolism, growth, differentiation and reproduction of cell, so even if there is no cytoplasm and cytomembrane, karyon can stay alive, but it is only short-lived. As we know, the sperm cast away the majority of cytoplasm but retain a small amount of cytoplasm only as the energy for its travel. If the karyon is removed, the protein synthesis will come to a halt together with cellular further growth and cell won’t last long enough. The cells in the earliest period only have the karyon, but as for the cytoplasm and the organelles had been met, added, synthesized or created by the karyon at later, thus cells have gradually evolved into today's condition. So, human beings only need to explore for the origin of karyon.
The main life body in the karyon is the nucleoprotein which is the molecular group in the cells and also a comparatively independent life.
The original cells are the nucleoprotein but now there are still this kind of original cells——the viruses, which are a group of nucleoprotein composed of a nucleic acid molecule inside and a layer of protein coating outside, the simplest nucleoprotein. Therefore, human beings only need to explore for the origin of the nucleoprotein. The so-called nucleoprotein is a molecular group synthesized by nucleic acid and protein: the two molecules run into each other and are combined, or when nucleic acid meets with the proper substances, it can produce protein as well, which are the origin of the nucleoprotein. The origin of life is traced back to this layer and the origin of virus has already been traced down, for the origin of the nucleoprotein is also the origin of the virus. Thus it can be seen that the cells originate in viruses.
The core substances of viruses and cells are nucleic acids, both of which have the identical genetic language, and all these prove that viruses and cells take the same origin. However, there is still a transitional species between them, and that is bacteria. The core substances of bacteria are also nucleic acids, having a circular DNA molecule with the proper quantity and category of other accessory substances coming between the viruses and the cells, but they mainly lack the karyon and the mitochondria.
Let's continue forward, we have already traced down from nucleoprotein to nucleic acid and protein, both of which are not only the main elements of karyon but also the main elements of cytoplasm, equally being substances with the life activity as the lower life bodies. Viroid is an organism with a single nucleic acid molecule but without the protein shell owned by virus; Prion is an organism composed of the proteins——though there are disputes over whether prion is an organism or not, yet prion can invade into the host cell and reproduce within the host cell, thus evoking the pathologic change of the nerve system of the host and ultimately causing death to it. As it is typically characteristic of an organism, we may as well deem it as an organism. Accordingly, nucleic acid and protein can be deemed as the starting point of the life carrier. It's worth noting that prion is a molecule, so is viroid. That is to say, the life carrier is a molecule, so a molecule is the life carrier. By analogy, the substances below atoms should also be the life carrier. My studies show that substance is life and life is substance.
But taken thus, the origin of life has been traced back to the molecule from the origin of human being to the origin of cells, from the origin of cells to the origin of molecules. If the origins of nucleic acid molecules and protein molecules can be traced down, the origin of the life carrier can be thought to have been fundamentally located, so these origins are well located and the subsequent development is only the simple accumulation of substances. On this account, the origin of life is as simple as simple can be.
Nucleic acids can be divided into two categories: ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), both of which are formed by a cluster of nucleotides but differ from each other in terms of the category, quantity and connection mode of the nucleotides. Nucleic acid is hydrolyzed and produces nucleotides, so it follows that they are not tightly combined. Nucleotide is a kind of organic molecule but in the final analysis we shall trace it back to the origin of nucleotide. Nucleotide is composed of pentaglucose ( ribose or deoxyribose), basic group( pyrimidine or purine)and phosphoric acid and the nature first of all synthesizes the three comparatively simple substances and then when the three substances meet with each other, Nucleotide is thus synthesized. Sure, some of the three substances maybe exist in the form of compounds but when they run into each other, they will be stripped out and tightly combined and form nucleotide. Viewed from the chemical reaction process, there is a transitional substance nucleoside: first the pentaglucose and the basic group are synthesized into nucleoside and then nucleoside and phosphoric acid are synthesized into the nucleotide.
Under the conditions where the protoatmosphere is properly simulated, pentaglucose, such as ribose and deoxyribose, can be synthesized in the laboratory, so can the basic group, such as, purine and pyrimidine. When pentaglucose and basic groups are properly catalyzed by phosphoric acid and phosphate, they can synthesize nucleotide. After all kinds of nucleotides are synthesized, ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) can be synthesized under even very simple conditions. Since the nucleotide chain can be hydrolyzed, so it can also be dehydrated and synthesized into nucleotide chain——nucleic acid. This clearly illustrates the series of chemical reactions that once occurred on the primitive earth.
Protein can be divided into two categories by function: one is the structural protein as the material to construct the life body; the other is the functional protein as the raw material of life activity. Protein is well composed by amino acids, actually it is a long chain connected of many amino acid molecules which are blended together and combined into protein. The protein is hydrolyzed and produces amino acids, so it follows that this combination is not tightly connected. Therefore, research should be focused on the exploration for the origin of amino acids. There are mainly 20 different kinds of amino acids in the cell protein, and in addition, several amino acids only exist in one or several kinds of proteins. Amino acids are synthesized by the amido and carboxylic acid. In 1953, a postgraduate from University of Chicago, named Miller, put H2, CH4, NH3 and H2O into a tightly sealed container and then heated and discharged the container to synthesize amino acid by simulating the condition of the protoatmosphere. After amino acid is dehydrated, it is clustered together, which is the protein. In 1965 China synthesized the bioactive protein——bovine insulin.
It can be said that protein is the substance with the physiological movement function, or rather, a substance that can move all by itself but without the nose and the eyes. This may as well be deemed as a watershed between the motion and motionless condition of substances, which sounds a little unscientific but complies with the human habit. Let's put it in stricter terms, all substances are in constant motion but they differ nothing more than in the degree and form of motion. The substances synthesized with more activity are in obvious motion, which can be gauged by the human naked eyes or can be observed by means of the microscope. The difference between motion and motionless demonstrates a split between life and death as far as the eye can see. So human beings are not wronged when we point out that life and death are fabricated by human beings.
Why protein is kept in motion is that it is a macromolecule composed of a large quantity of amino acids, thus forming a long chain (namely the peptide chain or the polypeptide chain) which are well arranged in a certain number and clustered together by nearly one hundred to several hundreds of thousands of amino acids. In the process of the clustering and decomposition, it takes different dynamic conditions, such as, connecting, adsorption, crimping, intertwist, enwrapping, extension and disengaging, etc, so human beings can see this cluster of substances active——in motion and motionless condition or in the form of either life or death, so that is that, so simple. In the salt water with ions or a certain kind of chemical liquid, each “motion” of the amino acid chain likely produce free electrons which flow from one end to the other end under the action of the potential difference (PD), thus triggering the “motion” at the other end , which is the primitive nerve, current and sensation. When various proteins are synthesized into the molecular group, the chemical reaction at one end of the protein molecule, thus forming the current, which flows to the other end of the protein molecule and evokes the chemical reaction of the adjacent protein molecules, which is actually the higher level of sensation.
A chemical reaction is linked up to the current by a conducting line, thus triggering another chemical reaction, which clearly illustrates the basis and working principle of the formation of the sensation, memory, thinking, emotion, desire and action of living things and operates as some links of chemical reactions from a single reaction to a chain reaction, from the simple reaction to the complex reaction, from the lower reaction to the advanced reaction.
It really does not matter too much what substances or under what conditions nucleic acids and proteins are synthesized but what is really important lies in that they can be synthesized under the primitive earth environment. Actually it is not quite difficult to synthesize the two kinds of biomacromolecules, now that which can be synthesized artificially and so in the primitive earth environment as well, thus it is a sure thing for life to come into being on the earth. The most important condition for the synthesis of the life carrier includes the diversification of substances and the diversity of the environment. The diversification of substances is that there will be as many elements added to the Periodic Table of Elements because they constitute the basic raw materials for synthesis of all kinds of substances; the diversity of the environment means that the environment shall be made more complicated and changeable. As we know, complexity is static while changeability is dynamic, so only by doing this can life be synthesized somewhere and some time. There are not advanced forms of life on the sun but only simple forms of life because the environment and substances are very simple; there are also no advanced forms of life on the moon with only simple forms of life because the environment and substances are rather simple. If some planets or secondary planets in the solar system are also favored with the diversification of substances and the diversity of the environment, there will be intermediate or even advanced forms of life there.
After nucleic acids and proteins were first synthesized on the primitive earth, they were the life bodies in the earliest period on the earth because these substances were endowed with the biological activity. When the two substances meet with each other, they can synthesize the nucleoprotein, which represents some complex life body and also the embryonic form of the original cells. After water, inorganic salt, carbohydrate and fat participate in the synthesis or join in the cells, which become even more complex and more perfect. As a matter of fact, nucleic acid contains carbohydrate, which is the construction material of nucleic acid and carbohydrate is later added as a nutritional ingredient.
Likewise, fat is not only the construction material for cells but also the nutritional ingredient of cells. Water and inorganic salt naturally exist on the primitive earth, so carbohydrate and fat are likely to be synthesized on the primitive earth. Certainly the cells in the latter period can process the external substances into carbohydrate and fat.
Cells are composed of nucleic acid, protein, fat, carbohydrate, inorganic salt and water, of which the most important and most active substances are nucleic acid and protein. Yet which one plays the dominating role? Sure it is nucleic acid. Viewed from the structure of virus, nucleic acid is the very body and protein is the coating. Viewed from the function, it is the same case. Nucleic acid can duplicate itself and create other substances as well. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) can synthesize another molecule completely same to itself by means of the chemical reaction, but human beings call this phenomenon as duplication, reproduction and procreation. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) can synthesize ribonucleic acid (RNA) with the identical genetic information by means of the chemical reaction, so human beings refer to this phenomenon as transcription. The ribonucleic acid can assemble amino acids into all kinds of proteins called by human beings as translation and expression, that is to say, the proteins in the cells is assembled by the nucleic acid.
Human beings describe this series processes by means of a group of verbal picture, such as, duplication, reproduction, transcription, translation and expression, actually this is a natural process of chemical reaction but it does not means that the nucleic acid molecule has excellent intelligence. The so-called heredity is only that the resultant is just identical to certain reactant; the so-called hereditary information is only that some molecular sections can determine the category of the resultants; The so-called transcription of the hereditary information is only that the reactant and the resultant have the same molecular fragment; the so-called gene expression is only that the special molecular fragments of the reactant can synthesize the special resultant. What kind of molecule and molecular fragments are sure to produce what kind of resultant, which is accepted as legitimate and not surprising at all. Certainly, it is not too wrong to deem nucleic acid as a life body with intelligence, and this is equivalent to looking upon viroid as the life body with intelligence. Let's put it simply, the nucleic acid molecule can be treated as a cluster of active chemical substances and can conduct chemical reactions with other different substances and synthesizes all kinds of different substances, including substances identical with themselves. Alternatively, gene can be treated as a cluster of active chemical reaction substances which can conduct chemical reactions with different substances as well and synthesize different substances, including another “self”.
What is outlined above is the origin of the life carrier, and the process can be completely realized in the natural environment. It can be ascertained that this chemical evolutionary process had once happened on the earth 3.8 billion years ago, which maybe recur in every corner of today's world. This kind of chemical evolutionary process can be simply categorized as follows:
Schematic diagram of Origin of Life (1)
The above statement only reflects the principal axis for the generation of life just as we trace up the initial source of the Yangtze River which can be only traced up by following the main stream but neglecting the small tributaries. Because karyon, cytoplasm and cell membrane have their respective origins but there are also different organs and substances in the cytoplasm, and these organs and substances are also different levels of life bodies and have the special origins as well. As it is, the other origins are comparatively simple by analogy. In the final analysis, they are the origins and combinations of nucleic acid, protein, fat, carbohydrate, inorganic salt and water. So the research of the life origin only needs to explore for the origin of organic substances, particularly the origin of the biomolecules.
The above statement indicates the exploration for the origin of the life carrier from the angle of substances which is a development process from the simple form to the complex form; and the origin of the life carrier can also be traced from the angle of life, which is a development process from the lower level to the advanced level. The main processes are illustrated as follows:
Schematic diagram of Origin of Life (2)
The higher level life takes, the larger mass the substances have and the more species substances have as well. The life after bacteria has fundamentally identical substance elements. Compared with viruses, bacteria are mainly injected with some liquid substances into their coating and in these substances there are some cell organelles floating, thus forming the cytoplasm. But compared with bacteria, cells are mainly that nucleic acids are protected by an additional layer——the nuclear membrane, thus forming karyon. In addition, the substances and organs in the cytoplasm are more in number, more complicated in structure and more powerful in function than bacteria. To put it simply, viroid is naked but the virus is clad with a coating; bacterium is living in a house but cell is living in the urban areas——the karyon is a suite and cytoplasm is a courtyard and the cell membrane is a wall and sure the animal or plant is the very city. It thence appears that the ancestors of the human beings are still alive somewhere because bacteria, viruses and viroids are all the ancestors of human beings. Whenever our ancestors add some substances to their bodies, the life level will be upgraded. Viewed from the life evolutionary process, there are some main features: Firstly, nucleic acid is the main body of life. Secondly, the development and upgrade of life but it is only the simple addition of substances. Thirdly, the more advanced level life takes and the more species and the larger mass substances have, the larger volume they will have. Human beings explore for the ancestor of the cells just as for human own ancestor, they find a similar living being naked and unsheltered in field, so showing their ancestral veneration to it.
② Origin of biomolecules
Tracing back origin of the life carrier, which have already be traced back to the viroid and then to the molecule, the viroid is a single RNA molecule, clustered together by more than 300 nucleotides, so it can be the simplest and most primitive life carrier. However, traced back from other a tributary, we have already traced back to the protein as well, also a molecule.
On that basis, it can be further traced back from the molecule to the elementary particle, thus the origin of life is will traced back to the ultimate end. It seems that this process is a little complicated but actually it is not so complicated. Down below is the natural sequence from far to near and from small to big, specifically analyzing, deducting the occurrence, development and result of this process.
The substance structure is mainly a kind of electrical structure and the combination is due to the mutual attraction among the electric charges but the separation is the mutual repulsion or the greater attraction of the external electric charges. When the attraction is stronger than the repulsion, they will be combined but when repulsion is stronger than the attraction, they will be separated correspondingly. Electrons retain a certain distance between them because there is repulsion there; atoms and atoms keep a certain distance because of the mutual repulsion of the electrons in the external layer of the atoms. Both the repulsion and attraction are dynamic and will change with the change of the external conditions, say, the temperature and the pressure, etc., and exert comparatively larger effect on attraction and repulsion.
Due to existing attraction and repulsion between electric charges, basic substances are possessed of the self-assembly capacity. When particles such as proton, neutron and electron are mixed, they will assemble various kinds of atoms; when various kinds of atoms are mixed, they will also assemble various kinds of molecules. When an atom loses an electron, it is incomplete, so the human beings regard this kind of incomplete atom as positive ion which is always trying all means to seize another electron to repair and cure itself. After it becomes an atom again, it still has the insatiable greed to seize more electrons when occasion comes, thus becoming a negative ion. Thus it can be seen that particles, atoms and ions have their respective self-assembly capacity. In the broader definition of life, it can be regarded as the life expression of the basic substances. Just because the basic substances have their self-assembly capacity, there appear everything in the universe, or otherwise, there will be no water, soil, rock, the earth, the sun, the star system, but there only exist the particles floating irregularly in the skies.
After the formation of the molecules, it stays stable. However, the self-assembly capacity does not disappear because the molecule has the molecular force, namely the mutual attraction and repulsion between molecules. When things come into the scope of the attraction, they will be attracted but when they are attracted to the front, they will be kept in a certain distance due to the mutual repulsion, so it proves the reason that like attracts like. Some molecules are combined in the manner of covalent bond but this kind of combination is tightly connected, so the smaller molecule becomes the larger molecule. And some molecules with powerful self-assembly capacity can combine various kinds of molecules in the surrounding area under the external condition of high temperature, high pressure and lightning, thus forming the active macromolecules which are respectively nucleic acid, protein, fat and carbohydrate.
The strong capacity with which the nature assembles macromolecule has been borne out by the experiment. These experiments fully demonstrate that molecules can assemble into macromolecules. Viewed from the physical angle, these assembly processes represent the combination and separation of substances which are subject to the mutual attraction and repulsion among substances; yet viewed from the chemical angle, they are all standard chemical reactions. Some chemical reactions are a process of assimilation of the surrounding substances. For example, nucleotides and ribonucleic acid can assimilate the surrounding certain substances, which is the regeneration.
Some scientists randomly inject a trillion units of ribonucleic acids into the test tube where they can be freely combined, thus generating several million kinds of ribonucleic acid fragments, some of which gain the self-duplication capacity. Thus, it follows that multiplication from generation to generation is not the monopoly of human beings, nor are the cells, but the biomacromolecules are also empowered with such a function to multiply their own offspring.
When macromolecules are generated, do macromolecules have the self-assembly capacity? Yes, of course. When molecules get bigger, the basic substances gain in number; there will be always this kind or other kinds of basic substances conducting chemical reactions with external certain substances, so macromolecules generated in the nature don’t stay stable but active. This kind of activity contributes to the polarization. One part will be decomposed and reduced into all kinds of molecules; and the other part will continue the assembly and generate the molecular group. The process from macromolecules to molecular group is that macromolecules mutually connect, interweave, adsorb and enwrap each other and form the molecular group subject to the mutual action of all forces among the macromolecules. Particularly the amino acids can self-assemble into the proteins; the nucleotides can self-assemble into the nucleic acids; when nucleic acids meet with proteins, they will assemble into the nucleoprotein; when the nucleoprotein meets the lipid, the latter will naturally enwrap the former tightly. The nucleoprotein enwrapped by the lipid has become an independent chemical reaction stove, which can conduct all kinds of chemical reactions with the surrounding substances. So what’s it? Sure it is life! Or it is called the life carrier.
With the basic substances of the molecular group increasing and their structure becoming more complex, there will be more chemical reactions to take place within the molecular group, or even one chemical reaction can trigger off another chemical reaction. With participation of the surrounding substances, chemical reactions continue for several minutes, several hours and even several days …, and these molecular group take a variety of forms, but there is a kind of structure that is most reasonable and most active and can conduct chemical reactions with the surrounding substances in the largest quantity and the most categories, which is the earliest cells.
The earliest cells are the natural product but they differ from the others in that this natural product has higher intelligence. The basic substances are stacked in a certain sequence but when it is stacked to a certain degree, its activity will be enlarged to a certain degree and the intelligence is thus enlarged in turn, but when it reaches a critical point, an advanced level of life will come into being. It is the same case with the development of an embryo; when the substances are stacked in a certain sequence and reach 6 kilograms or so, its activity is increased, and its intelligence is enhanced, so a higher level of life will crop up. This is a progressive process. But the human beings think it quite surprising because a baby grows up to three years or so, it gradually has its own self-consciousness, thinking that it comes to this world all of a sudden.
Since substances gather together to a certain degree, they can create the human life, so when substances gather together to a certain degree, they can even create the cellular life as well. However, the difference lies in that human life is too complicate and accumulated to entail a certain kind of intelligence; cell life is relatively simple and accumulated not to entail a certain kind of intelligence, but the nature can accomplish all this so wonderfully.
Strictly speaking, life can not be created, but it can only be superimposed and amplified. Owing to superimposition and amplification are processes to form the advanced level of life, thus as for the advanced level of life, life can be created, so to speak. Intelligent cells in the earliest period are casually synthesized by the nature, and there are numerous chemical reactions in nature which can generate as many substances, so during which a certain kind of substance superimposes and amplifies the lower form of life casually, a higher level and more intelligent life comes into being. This process can be artificially accomplished by means of the same substances and in accordance with the same structure to assemble a cell, which will be an intelligent life. Let me put it in a broader sense, the same cells and substances assemble a human being, taking the human body as the blueprint, so the life of this person is artificially created. The so-called assembly can also induce the development. In the near future, it is totally possible to plant a fertilized egg or a somatic cell into the artificial womb and induce the development to turn into a living person. So when it is brought home to the human beings, the origin of life is not surprising to them any more.
The earliest cells with the comparatively higher intelligence can generate more substances by means of chemical reactions to augment and consolidate themselves and activate and perfect themselves and evolve into the advanced cells.
The life activity of cells are actually the chemical reaction process of the substances in the environment in the cell reaction stove, during which substances come in and out: those coming in are the fuels while those coming out are the wastes.
The cell division and reproduction are the results which synthesize nucleic acid, protein, fat and carbohydrate in the chemical reactions and absorb inorganic salt and water around environment, but when these substances increase to a certain degree, the tensile force of the cell membrane is larger than the critical point, it will split up into two. So human beings call this process as duplication, division, multiplication or reproduction. It seems that the cell gives birth to a “son”, but actually it is the surrounding substances that synthesize such a “son”. Either the cell itself or its offspring is “naturally born”. So it is the same case with human beings, and their sons and daughters are also “naturally born” but not borne by their parents. People like to say their sons and daughters are borne by themselves but actually they arrogate the merit of nature to themselves. Sons and daughters are synthesized by substances in the environment and during the synthesis process the parents only lend a helping hand, or rather, they just turn the switch to the position “on” at the critical moment.
Helped by the strong sunlight, some earliest cells can conduct the chemical reaction with water. It is really great because water and sunlight are inexhaustible in supply, which means that they come in a continuous supply without end and last as long as long can be, so there are more substances to be made and when the tensile force of the molecular group is bigger than the cohesion, it will split up into two, two into four, four into eight, etc, thus increasing in a geometric series. Molecular group of this kind that can decompose water is the blue algae teeming in the earliest earth. With the development of one billion years, blue algae has generated a large quantity of oxygen and organic substances, laying a profound material foundation for the formation and development of the future living things.
We regard the biomolecules as the starting point of life, which caters to an ingrained thinking habit of human beings. In essence, life starts when particle is assembled because the particle assembly means the spatial and structural change which means the occurrence of chemical reaction which means the generation of life. Nevertheless, as the life stratum is comparatively lower, the life function is comparatively weaker, the life prior to the biomolecules belongs to the elementary life, and nucleic acid and protein belong to the intermediate life. That is to say, nucleic acid and protein have already been the life bodies in the eyes of human beings.
As indicated in the above, cells are the substances with life synthesized by the environment, so cells are “naturally born” from this perspective and sure it stands to reason and no mistake. Even human beings are naturally born in the final analysis, but if we take the direct reasons into full consideration, we can not simply say that human beings are naturally born. The earliest cells are comparatively simple, and they are the accidental results of nature just as the old saying goes, “In the garden more grow than the gardener sow”. Now cells have developed into a complex life body, but is the life body naturally born or artificially created? This question is difficult to answer, so you can say it is naturally born or it is artificially created or you can say it is a combination of both.
The cell is also a combination of many different life forms and the central life body in cells is the karyon. After the nature synthesizes the karyon, it actually synthesizes a most fundamental and important life; after the formation of the karyon, the elementary consciousness takes shape; and the earliest karyon, in order to seek more comforts in the adverse environment for a survival, tries hard to seek or meet casually some surrounding substances to wrap it up and makes its life to last longer by finding the wrapping substances, but the latter karyon tries to synthesize some substances to wrap itself up, so cytoplasm and cell membrane are the substances synthesized by karyon and cell membranes mainly play a protective role and cytoplasms are mainly the chemical reaction substances reserved in advance and sure it also plays the protective role. To set itself into motion, it has already synthesized the motion appendages such as flagellum and cilia, etc.
To prolong, expand and duplicate life, the cells of the multicellular organisms can create, synthesize and add genes and the added part is the most important inventions and creations. This part of genes can trigger off a series of chemical reactions, ultimately forming multicellular organisms. In the 46 DNA molecules of the human karyon, there are approximately 3-4 billion base pairs, but only 100 million base pairs can constitute human genes, namely the base pairs participating in creating the human, but the whole, the majority or a small part of these base pairs of the genes may be the inventions and creations of the cells, but the absolute majority of the base pairs in DNA molecules are inactive and it is probable that these base pairs are natural products of chemical reactions for no use or for an alternative use.
All kinds of organs such as chondriosome and golgiosome within cells are mostly the alternative some life or parasites which come into the cytoplasm where they enjoy a comfortable, stable and safe environment, and these lives and karyon make a big family, namely the life community, representing the common interest of every one of them living in a big family even with the division of labor for them, and constituting an interdependent body, which is the modern cell.
From this, it can be seen that some part of a cell body are naturally born and the other part are created. The whole life is synthesized from the lower level of life, which is the initial situation of the modern cells. After karyon can invent, modify and add genes, everything in cell can be synthesized under the control of genes. Alternatively speaking, natural chemical reaction is controlled and utilized by karyon which become a kind of controlled chemical reaction. After chemical reactions, anticipated substances or life will take shape correspondingly. Here, cells can be completely seen as being created. Therefore, it is right to say that cells are either naturally born, created or a combination of both, depending on the perspective you try to understand it. Just like human beings, they can not be totally naturally born and they can participate in creating himself; after human beings create clothes, the hair on their body are gone. Human has a highly developed brain which is the by-product created primarily by complex and secular labor of human beings as well. The genetic engineering in the future can remodel human beings out of all knowledge.
After cells take shape, the life evolution reaches an advanced stage when the life of cells are initially endowed with the six big functions, respectively sensation, memory, thinking, emotion, desire and action, representing a kind of advanced form of life. If we say the life prior to the cells is unintentionally created by the nature, then the life after cells are intentionally created by cells.
Therefore, after the formation of cells, substances experience an assembly process from molecular group to big molecular group and then to huge molecular group, which will not be so baffling. The highest form of substance, such as, human, elephant, whale, tree, etc, is assembled by cells by evolution step by step, level by level and grade by grade. Alternatively speaking, the substances after cell are created by cells or created by cells in virtue of the natural force. Cells can create liver, kidney, belly and lung until they create a whole human body, but the whole process is accomplished by a series of chemical reactions precisely controlled by cells. The mystery why cells can create organisms lies in that cells can control the chemical reactions. Cells maneuver the whole process effectively and skillfully, either fast or slow; either walk or stop, either stronger or weaker, either partially or wholly, either single or by chain. What’s more important is that cells can conduct all kinds of chemical reactions just as a stove can burn a hundred kinds of firewood.
All multicellular organisms are created by cells in a planned, organized and intended manner. However, is every life form is unintentionally groped or intentionally created by cells? The birth of a species undergoes an immense periods of time as if cells moved irregularly but inadvertently discovered the new continent. That is to say, it is totally a lottery to create a species, or totally a windfall. However, as cells are to have numerous opportunities, it is again a sure thing to create species. If the lottery winning rate is one five millionth, you may win one time out of five million times.
After all, cells actually have the adequate intelligence and ability to create new species; however, the quondam species have already acclimated to the then environment and lived comfortably, then is there any occasion to create new species? If they can survive for 300 million years, they just drag on as long as that; if they can not live that long, cells will create new species.
Whether the life forms are unintentionally or intentionally created, they are actually created by the environment. What kind of environment it is determines the life form because what environment it is determines what kind of chemical reaction it is. In an environment without oxygen, life is bound to takes the form without oxygen (namely without taking in oxygen); Life generated in the environment without water is sure to take the form without water; in an environment without carbon, life takes the form certainly without carbon. Human beings deem the substances like water and carbon, etc., as the essential elements for life, which will be a superficial and narrow view. Besides water and carbon, can't other substances conduct the chemical reactions? The primal earth could create the primal life; the immemorial earth could create the immemorial life; today's earth can create today's life. It is quite wrong that human beings think that today's natural conditions on the earth can't synthesize new life. In today's environment, there will be some unprecedented chemical reactions which can create the new life. Since 1980s, AIDS virus, Ebola, Avian Influenza Virus and SARS virus have broken out one after another, but human beings cannot trace back to their origins, so they may have been created by the nature. Certainly, these viruses may have been synthesized within the bodies of animals. The earth surface has already been coated with a layer of artificial poisonous substances but if it reaches a certain thickness, a demon will be created on the earth some day. Certainly the demon is also a life carrier taking human beings as fuels for chemical reactions just as human beings takes pigs as fuels for chemical reactions. Human beings think that it is a kind of exaggeration but scientists think that it is a probability. Aren’t AIDS virus, Ebola，Avian Influenza Virus and SARS virus the very demons that take the human cells as fuels.
Conclusion: All substances in the universe have life but they differ from one another in their life level. If substances have no life, neither God nor the nature is able to create life. If the universe has no time, no one can create time; if there is no space in the universe, no one can create space; if there is no substance in the universe, no one can create substance; if there is no energy in the universe, no one can create energy. Likewise, if there is no life, no one can create life. The nature combines, by means of chemical reactions, the simple substance into complex substance——cells, which are the superimposition of the lower life and the amplification of weaker life, so superimposition and amplification can form the advanced life endowed with consciousness, intelligence and action. After the formation of this kind of advanced life, it will in turn affect and modify itself in pursuit of comfort, longevity, and create and deposit memorization substances within the body such as substances for memory sensation, memory heredity (genes), thus enhancing the life level and extending the life forms. Not only that, cells cluster together for a living, setting their community, definitely dividing labor, cooperating in a friendly manner, thus further superimposing and amplifying life and forming the higher life forms——multicellular organism, including human beings. Life has no initial source but only evolves from the simple form to the complex form, from the lower form to the advanced form. If a certain level of life origin is to be explored, a certain previous development stage can be deemed as the initial source. However, the endless source does not exist because time has no initial source, nor has space, nor has substance and nor has energy.
Reference:
1. Xinhua News Agency: “Reference News”, Beijing, 2005.1.28
2. Xinhua News Agency: “Reference News”, Beijing, 2005.7.16
3. CCTV-10: Beijing, 2005.9.22
Other arguments presented herein are based upon the college textbooks and popular science readings, which is an integral part of the human knowledge, so this author does not cite the research results or findings of any other scholars, including their personal ideas or arguments. Reference material is less because many arguments from my own body and the environment around.
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