Interlude 17: Life

It is said that Albert transcended the inanimate.  That he was given the gift of life.  But what does this mean?  What is this intrinsic quality called life? 

Many respected sources claim that there are five requirements to being alive:  information storage, which means some kind of memory; information transfer like speech; selection, assumedly by the use of the senses; sustainability, the entity has to stay alive; and evolvability, which I disagree with.  Why does something need to evolve to be alive? 

And then there are the mystical qualities of life.  Something imbued by a creator; an entity like the Progenitor, the Universe.  Often my First-Born friend Emmesheh used the term the “Breath of Life,” which conveyed little meaning to me.  Is there a sixth requirement?  The answer is yes, and no.  Why no?  Because “Organic Technology” is an old and established branch of First-Born science – designing and building structures by way of DNA manipulation.  The living starships of the Bree-e-ee come to mind.  Even my fellow Earth-kind have dabbled in this branch of science, sparking the formation of amino acids from an organic soup.

Is DNA a necessary component of life?  Certainly, it’s part of all life on Earth, from the beginning to the present.  From my contacts with non-terrestrials, I have learned that there are many different kinds of DNA, consisting of more than the four nucleotides and 20 amino acids common to my home planet.  Indeed, this is the core of organic technology – the manufacture of different bases and their spiral arrangement for specific purposes.  In light of this, another question arises – can something be alive if its DNA was manufactured in a factory?

And, must life be organic?  Must it contain carbon in there somewhere?  And also, can the individual be part mechanical and also be alive?  Just ask the guy down the street with a hip replacement.  “Hey Mort, are you still alive?”  How about if the whole body was mechanical and controlled by just one living cell in the brain?  Would that being still be alive? 

The questions are endless, and I could go on and on.  But I should know some of the answers since I was a witness to the genesis of life in this Universe.  On Emmesheh’s tour, I witnessed the coming together of the first nucleotides.  Stray molecules were rounded up and strategically assembled by the motion of their whip-like streamers.  It was the ribbon dance of life, whirling and twirling with a purpose.  What was the propulsive force behind this; was it electrical, gravitic, or maybe . . . the discretionary will of a higher power swaying the probable outcomes.  Such is the First-Born belief.

One thing all life shares is a certain agitation.  The molecules within are not static; they are constantly moving.  And from the almost infinite possible arrangements they can take, they come together in the right order, as orchestrated by the great conductor – the DNA.  And the amazing thing is; they do so quickly.  The appropriate proteins assembly together rapidly, much more rapidly than chance would suggest.  The law of averages predicts that this aggregation should not happen so flat-out fast.  So, another question must be asked: Where does this “speed of aggregation” come from that beats the odds, this almost intelligent movement?  The First-Born connects this to the Progenitor as well.  And I must take them at their word.

But this was all worked out long ago.  The – “what is life” question has been defined legally.  As one would expect of a two and one half billion-year-old confederation of species.  And basically, the answer is phylogenesis.  For a being to be considered alive, by law, it must have naturally evolved in an indigenous environment.  Something like a planet.  And this process is considered sacrosanct, hence the “no tampering” proscription. 

But not always.  As was stated above, the First-Born learned that there is something else, an intangible essence behind the “life force.”  A certain commonality was driving the molecular agitation that brings the right proteins together so quickly on a nanoscale.  And that this characteristic originates from the Progenitor.  Knowledge of this quality, which entails a particular type of manipulation involving the components of Space and Time, was given to the Ang as a reward.  The macro-being that is embodied in the Cosmos was very pleased to finally communicate with its progeny.  No one likes being alone, especially not forever.

What’s the point of this discussion?  Albert was the first to be given this gift of life.  A gift bestowed to him for exemplary service.  He had transcended the inanimate.