"The universe started with the Big Bang". That is not much of explanation. What caused the Big Bang? We are accustomed to see everything in sequences of cause and effect. However, first, there must have been something without a cause. Any mystery pales in comparison with that mystery.
Heat and pressure in black holes turned simple hydrogen atoms into heavier atoms. Atoms combined into ever more complex molecules. Some complex molecules became self-replicating. Life started when self-replicating molecules differentiated into the various molecules that together constitute cells. Instructions for replication are encoded in sequences of DNA called genes. Every single cell in an organism contains the genes that determine anatomy and physiology of the ‘host’ organism. A combination of genes is like a crane, a device for building something more complex than itself. Building cranes that can build cranes for the next level of complexity (genes, chromosomes, organs, organisms ) is the basic mechanism of evolution. Koestler called those cranes holons. Evolution is the process in which holons form higher order holons, defying entropy over billions of years
· Cells differentiated and combined into organisms with functions; like moving towards light
· Competition selected the fittest, biggest, fastest, most flexible.
· Sexual reproduction accelerated evolution by increasing variety
· Tools introduced a new level of competitive advantage
· Utilization of tools led to a creature equipped with the ultimate tool: Homo Sapiens with the best brains
· Two million years of strive and struggle between individual and tribes led to me; one among 3.7 billion
· Manipulation of genes and artificial intelligence will accelerate progress as never before
Genes increase their chance of replication when a host organism happens to acquire a feature with a competitive advantage. For billions of years the acquisition of new features depended on a trial and error. Once brains come to the scene, evolution no longer depends on trial and error. Brains can plan improvements
Extinction of species is a defining feature of evolution. Soon there will be too many people on a planet that is too hot and humans will become a dead end on the evolutionary tree. Bacteria will survive and evolution will start new experiments. The sun will burn out before something as complex as homo sapiens evolves again on planet Earth. Among the millions of galaxies with trillions of stars and billions of planets, many planets will allow evolution. We will never know.