One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue
You and the flowers in your garden, and the dog in your street, are the same. You are all made up of the same stuff.
"Probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this Earth have descended from some one primordial form into which life was first breathed."
— Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species (1859)
People have always wondered how life evolved on this Earth. Was life always here? If not, what was before that? How did it come about? Do you have any answers? And on the countless other planets that may circle other suns, is there life as well?
Scientists say that every living organism is made up of complex organic molecules.
There are billions of planets in our galaxy alone.
The Beginning of Life
The music of life on this tiny world started about 4.0 billion years ago in the ponds and oceans of the primitive Earth, which was barren. A one-celled organism was the first living organism. There were, as yet, no predators.
The Evolution of Life
By about 3 billion years ago, a number of one-celled organisms had joined together, producing the first multicellular organisms. Sex seems to have been invented around two billion years ago. Before then, new varieties of organisms could arise only from the accumulation of random mutations.
By one billion years ago, the oceans were filled with simple green plants.
By 500 million years ago, after the Cambrian Explosion, the oceans contained many different forms of life. Humans are only a few million years old.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can say that every plant and every animal on this Earth is made from the same stuff, if we go far enough back and have a broader point of view.
We all are dependent on a single source of energy about 150 million km away. Our journey on this Earth started from a single point of origin.
Sources
- Charles Darwin — The Origin of Species (1859)
- Carl Sagan — Cosmos, Chapter 2: One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue