Life Paradox on Earth

• Earth life appeared ~4 billion years ago
• First few hundred million years: magma hell, constant asteroid bombardment
• Life appeared immediately after oceans formed
  • Zillions of microbes settled every available niche
  • Life almost as old as planet itself
• Life crossed huge complexity gap in tiny time window
  • Even microbes need: eating, reproduction, growth, multiplication
  • Requires genome (biological instruction manual)
  • Chicken-egg paradox: need proteins for genome, need genome for proteins
  • Both are super long molecules with complex blocks
  • Extremely difficult to assemble by chance
  • Should require amazing time for trial/error

Exponential Genome Evolution Clock

• Genomes viewed as books telling life history
• Functional genomes increasing at constant rate over time
  • Fish genome: 2x larger than worms
  • Human genome: 2x larger than fish
• Genomes doubling every ~350 million years
• Evolution following exponential inner clock
• First Earth microbes had already complex, long genomes
• Extrapolating back to simplest life (few genome letters):
  • Points to 10+ billion years ago
  • More than 2x Earth's age
  • Suggests life started in space, not Earth

Golden Age Baby Universe Habitability

• Life needs: right chemical elements + liquid medium (water) + warmth
• 10-17 million years after Big Bang: universe temperature 0-100°C
  • Entire universe had liquid water temperature
  • 13.7+ billion years ago
  • Every inch potentially habitable
• Chemical elements (carbon, oxygen) forged in early massive stars
  • Dense matter regions had very massive stars
  • Went supernova in 3 million years
  • Seeded universe with life ingredients
• Alternative: exotic life in ammonia/ethane (liquid below 0°C)
  • Sustained by Big Bang warmth for tens of millions of years
• Primordial life could emerge anywhere for several dozen million years
  • On any rock, even between stars
  • Universe seeded with life precursors

Cosmic Life Distribution Theory

• Universe eventually cooled below life-supporting temperature
• Ancestral life forms may have survived:
  • Internal planetary warmth
  • Frozen in asteroids
  • Hibernating in cosmic dust
• Life seeds roaming cosmos, waiting for hospitable places
• Life potentially everywhere in universe now

Implications and Evidence Search

• If space-origin theory correct: life should exist throughout solar system
• Potential locations for discovery:
  • Mars: fossils in dry riverbeds
  • Enceladus/Europa: warm underground oceans
  • Titan: ethane/methane seas, rivers, lakes
    • Temperature matches 90-million-year-old universe
    • Could support exotic life forms
• Current cosmic observation: no visible technological species
  • May need 10+ billion years for technological complexity
  • Millions of worlds potentially filled with microbes
  • Oceans of exotic fish, continents of bizarre animals
  • Other conscious species recently gaining awareness
• Common cosmic origin would make all life part of great cosmic family