UniVerses

Memory

We’re formed of debris from a long dead star:
earth’s elements from supernova forged.
In temperate climes form strings molecular
that make and break beneath the sun’s light torch.
In time self-replicating structures formed:
abstract organic strings regenerate.
Thus life began by DNA conformed.
The whole transcends its parts to procreate.
Just so intelligence surpasses man
and links each generation with the next.
Beyond each being in a broader plan
and earth with cosmic history connects.
Imagine what new discoveries will bring
connected by that frail genetic string!

Physicists strive to understand the principals that describe the Cosmos. Their focus is on the fundamental force fields: gravitational, electromagnetic, the Strong force, and the Weak force.
In a sense, Life is an evolution of these basic forces. This statement is a heterodox, we ought to note. Life is frail, even compared to gravity, and affects over relatively short distances, somewhere between the Weak and Strong forces and gravity. We think of Life as being confined to our planet, or perhaps others, widely separated and independent. But is that true? Is it possible the Universe is evolving, and Life is sparkling throughout our galaxy, and other galaxies? Perhaps these are all connected and we are just on the verge of understanding a far vaster process.
Are there other force fields that linger beyond the range of our instruments to detect, that operate on different time scales and through different principals?
What is Life? Its machinery is molecular, and its enduring property is self replication. Above all it is amazingly intricate: the coordinated integration of myriad macromolecules.
As we know it, life’s surroundings must favor the chemistry of water and carbon. This includes covalent bonds, but also the subtle Van der Waals forces necessary for the delicate balancing in the pirouettes of Life. 

Each component of a cell is replaced many times over during the life of that cell, yet the cell’s identity persists. The ability to replicate its components without changing is one of the defining powers of Life. Cells can die, of course, but Life transcends the span of its components.
You are made of molecules which, in turn are made of atoms of carbon, oxygen and others. Do you wonder how many other living things once contained those same atoms? Meat and vegetables you ate, but but also plants and animals before those, over countless ages. Do you share parts with a dinosaur that lived eons ago? We are all part of a timeless continuum, stretching back to the earliest life that formed on earth. Especially as we mine the residue of beings buried millions of centuries ago and aerosolize them as CO2.
Cells and creatures constantly replace their parts, but Life is immortal. One cell becomes two, plants and animals emit offspring. Procreation enables genetic information to persist for countless generations, adapting and evolving through eons. An individual’s survival is immaterial; as long as there are enough organisms to procreate, the species will persist, although that conflicts with our indomitable self importance.
Genetic knowledge percolates through our biological program. The urge to breed colors our passions for much of our lives, and is harnessed in myriad ways to influence our behavior incessantly.
Just so the collective wisdom of the history of Man transcends the lives of all of us.The scourges of climate, war and pestilence can smother knowledge, but it will not be denied and reassembles in time, another sign of the Design.

The machinery of life assembles via chemical bonds.

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