[NotAnEconomist]

The RNA-world hypothesis conjectures that life started via a chemical soup developing things similar to viroids.

These early RNA-based replicators would go on to become more complicated, first developing a protective barrier and then specialized organelles.

As a byproduct of that process, viruses developed which could interact with organelles (or just the soup inside a cell) to reproduce themselves without being part of the host "genetic code".

In approximate complexity order:

- self-replicating compound, in solution with precursors

- viroid

- virus

- bacteria

- archaea

- eukaryota

From that perspective, hiding viroids (or similar simple replicators) in comets and boosting them into other systems would be a relatively efficient way to "seed" life around the cosmos.

[Vinceo]

Wow, this blows my mind. So is there a hypothesis that viroids may have been planted on comets by aliens to seed life around the cosmos and that we may be a product of that? If so, do you know the name of that hypothesis?

I guess there's not much to base such a wild hypothesis on but would love to go down the rabit hole anyways.

[pixl97]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia

[Vinceo]

Thanks

[14]

I can't find the article but I once read a fascinating theory that life is simply the evolution of entropy. The universe constantly trying to equalize, take higher energies and equalize them. Like a rock on a ledge there is energy waiting to release. Once all the energy is release the universe will end. The theory argued that life is simply the universe finding the most maximum way it can convert energy from one form to the other. I can't find the article at the moment but will continue looking. If correct it argues that life would be fundamental throughout the entire universe.

Edit: Found it, it talks about thermodynamics and entropy being the inevitable outcome. https://www.quantamagazine.org/first-support-for-a-physics-t...