Facebook post — 09 May 2022

facebook 09 May 2022

Over the weekend I read about genetics. I had studied genetics for my master's research work 20 year ago, but this was more from a biological perspective.

One thing stood out to me. If I could only find the biological term for it, I could study it more. Therefore I am hamhandedly describing it here.

(It appear to me that) from a genetics and biology perspective, there is no process of the "creation" of life.

Single cell organisms reproduce through mitosis. So they aren't really born. They just divide and multiply. Multicellular organisms are also constantly growing or refreshing their cells using mitosis.

Mammals reproduce sexually through meiosis. But there is no birth of a new life. New life isn't being created. The ova and sperm are both alive when they merge to form a zygote. They already have life. Two lives, two living cells, merge to form a single life.

When we use the term "birth", it is as if an inanimate object is brought to life. That isn't happening. Neither gamete can be dead if a living organism is to be created.

Geneticists say, and the theory of evolution says, that all life can be traced to the primordial soup where chemical reactions transformed primitive chemicals into life. The genetic code began at some point (archaea?), and continues till now. My point is that even life can be traced back to that single source. You are not just inheriting genes from the tree of life - you are inheriting life itself.

So there is death. There is very much the death of individual cells, and of multicellular organisms. For the gene pool to improve, it is necessary that older members of the specie vacate the space and resources they consume in the habitat.

But there is no birth when a baby is born. No new life is created. Two leaves of the tree of life merge and a new leaf of the same living tree is formed.

The single strand (or strands) of life that was created 4.2 billion (or 3.7 billion) years ago continues till now.

I want to know what the scientific name for this concept is. Gaia isn't the right term, because I am not saying that the Earth is a living being. I am saying that all living beings on Earth are fragments of the same single living organism. So rabbits and pine trees aren't my distant cousins - they are in fact distant bits of me.

(Just trying to fit ideas from a book I read into current events related to abortion and "creation" in the US).

10 comments

KaminiWhen a baby is "expelled" out of the mother's womb for us lay people it does seem like a new life got created.... It's about Life coming out in a Form. Predetermined by the codes of the Genome (or Gene, whatever is the appropriate term)... The way you put across the point on Death... It made so much sense... What I see is this way - purely based on my observations... When the child is 'born", each cell(nano particles) is equipped with the sequencing/coding and "knows" without being told what, how, why... That to me is as much as the Universal Wisdom. As the cells build up, just like in buildin
Manas FuloriaAll complex life began when one bacterium-type creature ingested another that became mitochondria. Otherwise the energy density was insufficient for complex life. Fascinating, more incredible than the miracles in our godly books IMHO. Hide
Soumya ChatterjeeComments/questions on the statement you made: “(It appear to me that) from a genetics and biology perspective, there is no process of the "creation" of life.”- There must have been a “lucky” set of events that made “life as we know it” from the “primordial soup of amino acids. How did the process start to arrange itself from complete randomness to organized “functionality.” Unknown based on our current scientific methods. Even when the fetus is being created from the zygote, it is remarkable how the cells that form the nervous system vs those that form the liver or the lungs, migrate and diffe
Shoumi DasguptaVery interesting Hide
Sukumar KalmanjeMaybe you are looking for “endosymbiotic theory”? https://nautil.us/the-unique-merger-that-made-you-and-ewe-and-yew-2-2350/ Hide
KaminiKamini · 4y · by authorWhen a baby is "expelled" out of the mother's womb for us lay people it does seem like a new life got created.... It's about Life coming out in a Form.Predetermined by the codes of the Genome (or Gene, whatever is the appropriate term)... The way you put across the point on Death... It made so much sense...What I see is this way - purely based on my observations...When the child is 'born", each cell(nano particles) is equipped with the sequencing/coding and "knows" without being told what, how, why... That to me is as much as the Universal Wisdom.As the cells build up,
Manas FuloriaManas Fuloria · 4y · by authorAll complex life began when one bacterium-type creature ingested another that became mitochondria. Otherwise the energy density was insufficient for complex life. Fascinating, more incredible than the miracles in our godly books IMHO.LikeReplyHideEdited
Soumya ChatterjeeSoumya Chatterjee · 4y · by authorComments/questions on the statement you made:“(It appear to me that) from a genetics and biology perspective, there is no process of the "creation" of life.”- There must have been a “lucky” set of events that made “life as we know it” from the “primordial soup of amino acids. How did the process start to arrange itself from complete randomness to organized “functionality.” Unknown based on our current scientific methods. Even when the fetus is being created from the zygote, it is remarkable how the cells that form the nervous system vs those that form the li
Shoumi DasguptaShoumi Dasgupta · 4yVery interestingLikeReplyHide
Sukumar KalmanjeSukumar Kalmanje · 4y · by authorMaybe you are looking for “endosymbiotic theory”?https://nautil.us/the-unique-merger-that-made-you-and-ewe-and-yew-2-2350/ReplyHide