Difference between revisions of "Life"

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#REDIRECT [[Lifeform]]
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[[Life]] is difficult to define, but it can be defined by its characteristics.
 
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* Many regard [[Life]] as the greatest treasure of [[Charted Space]]. Explorers have found no other areas so rich in advanced [[life]] as [[Charted Space]]. Many areas barren of life, but not potentially life-supporting [[world]]s, lay beyond what is known in [[Wildspace]].
 
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== Description ([[Specifications]]) ==
 
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[[Life]] is the tendency of matter to seek order and form self-reproducing complexity. A [[lifeform]] is any type of life, whether [[Baryonic Matter|baryonic]] or otherwise. A [[creature]] is a type of [[lifeform]] considered to be comprehensibly graspable, usually of conventional "wet life" or unconventional "dry life" varieties. Exotic [[lifeform]]s tend to simply be called [[lifeform]]s despite the fact that the term [[creature]] might also apply.
 
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=== Definition of Life ===
 
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Almost all definitions of life are based upon the five fundamental hallmarks of life: "Life is any lifeform or organism, which displays the following biological processes: organization, irritability, metabolism, reproduction, and adaptation." There is clearly some grey area within this definition. [[Lifeform]]s not displaying all of the processes are classified as [[pseudo-life]] or [[a-life]].
 
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# Organization
 
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# Irritability
 
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# Metabolism
 
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# Reproduction
 
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# Adaptation
 
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=== Hierarchy of Life ===
 
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* Biosphere > Biome > Ecosystem > Biocenosis > Population > Organism > Organ system > Organ > Tissue > Cell > Organelle > Biomolecular complex > Macromolecule > Biomolecule
 
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=== Hallmarks of Life ===
 
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All life, according to conventional definition, holds five properties or fundamental hallmarks and their metasystemic associations:
 
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* 1. Position (Motion)
 
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* 2. Motion (Irritability)
 
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* 3. Irritability (Reflex)
 
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* 4. Reflex (Association)
 
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* 5. Association (Thought)
 
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* 6. Thought (Culture)
 
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One additional hallmark is held by the advanced life known as [[sophont]]s:
 
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* 7. Culture ([[Technology]])
 
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=== Evolutionary Quanta ===
 
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''Technological Overview:''
 
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* [[Biochemistry]] ([[A-life]]) → [[Biology]] ([[Creature]]) → [[Culture]] ([[Proto-sophonce]]) → [[Technology]] ([[Sophonce]]) → [[Singularity]] ([[Post-Technological Period]])
 
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''Biological Overview:''
 
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* RNA → [[DNA]] → Cells → Multicellularity → [[Brain]]s → [[Cyborg]] → Transcendency → Ascendancy → [[Singularity]]
 
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== History & Background ([[Dossier]]) ==
 
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''Life'' is a focal point of [[sophont]] [[societies]] and [[civilization]]s. Despite this importance, very little is really known about it: from whence it first arose, the breadth of [[lifeform]] types, the full cycle of [[civilization]] arcs & cycles, what the [[Singularity]] is... And so much more is so poorly understood.
 
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=== Universe Cosmology ===
 
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The [[universe]] as a whole is governed by two major forces: Entropy and Extropy.
 
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{| class="wikitable sortable"
 
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|+ Entropy vs. Extropy
 
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! Theory
 
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! Remarks
 
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|-
 
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| Entropy
 
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| In the most simplistic terms, entropy is the force of decay and disorganization. As things break down, wear out, and become used up, that's entropy in action. Entropy tends to reduce matter to its most simple and basic forms.
 
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|-
 
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| Extropy
 
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| Extropy is the countervailing force of increasing complexity, growth, development, and life. Somehow despite what seems like overwhelming predominance of decay, "life finds a way." And also despite what might also seem like colossal odds, [[sophont]]ic life repeatedly develops.
 
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|-
 
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|}
 
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While noone knows exactly why these two forces are so prevalent, a number of theories have arisen about how life has originated, how [[civilization]]s develop, the very nature of life itself, and the endgame of the [[universe]], widely considered to be the eventual heat death of the [[universe]] or the eventuality of the [[Singularity]].
 
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=== Theories of the Rise of Life ===
 
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No known [[sophont]] species yet seems to possess definitive knowledge of how [[life]] first arose within [[Charted Space]]. And that idea is based upon the supposition that life did not exist when the [[universe]] came about. It's probably just as possible that life arose with the universe itself.
 
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==== Life Origin Types ====
 
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There are two primary types of life origin theories:
 
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{| class="wikitable sortable"
 
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|+ Life Origin Types
 
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|-
 
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! Name
 
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! Remarks
 
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|-
 
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| [[Abiogenesis]]
 
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| "Not-live matter begetting life"
 
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|-
 
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| [[Biogenesis]]
 
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| "Life begetting life"
 
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|-
 
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|}
 
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==== Lifeform Origin Theories ====
 
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Many persuasive theories exist, some more and some less, as to how and where [[life]] came from:
 
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{| class="wikitable sortable"
 
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|+ Lifeform Origin Theories
 
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|-
 
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! Name
 
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! Type
 
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! Creator/s
 
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! Remarks
 
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|-
 
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| Chronotaxistic Creators
 
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| [[Biogenesis]]
 
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| Chronotaxistic Traveller/s
 
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| A theory that ''time travelers'' may have seeded life in the [[galaxy]].
 
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|-
 
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| Galactic Gardeners 
 
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| [[Biogenesis]]
 
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| Transgalactic Ascendant/s
 
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| A theory that more advanced species may have seeded life throughout the [[galaxy]].
 
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|-
 
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| G-dly Genesis
 
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| [[Abiogenesis]] & [[Biogenesis]]
 
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| [[Singularity]]
 
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| A theory that an unknowable deity created everything including life throughout the [[galaxy]].
 
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|-
 
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| [[Panspermia]]
 
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| [[Biogenesis]]
 
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| Random Chance
 
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| An idea that organic, biological matter gets implanted within meteorites that then by chance travel the interstellar voids entering hospitable [[environment]]s, where they may grow.
 
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|-
 
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| [[Precursor]] Programming
 
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| [[Biogenesis]]
 
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| Transgalactic Ascendant/s
 
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| [[Uplift]], [[geneering]], etc. This is the idea that advanced species intentionally create new life and is already occurring with TL-15 science although nowhere near the level that the [[Ancients]] are conjectured to have achieved.
 
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|-
 
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| Pure Happenstance
 
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| [[Abiogenesis]]
 
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| Random Chance
 
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| This is the theory that life simply arose by chance. A random mixing of chemicals, electromagnetic energy, and other factors that created life as we know it.
 
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|-
 
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| Simple Evolution 
 
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| [[Abiogenesis]]
 
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| Random Chance
 
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| This is another theory of chance that random elements slowly developed and evolved into life.
 
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|-
 
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| Transdimensional Tourists
 
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| [[Biogenesis]]
 
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| Transdimensional Traveller/s
 
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| This is a theory that travelers from another dimension made their way to a different [[universe]] into a selected [[galaxy]] and seeded it with life.
 
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|-
 
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|}
 
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==See also==
 
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{{Referral-Tree-L-Life}}
 
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== References & Contributors ([[Sources]]) ==
 
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{{Wikipedia|Life}}
 
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{{Advanced}}
 
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{{Detail}}
 
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{{Sources
 
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|S2= [[Traveller Wiki Editorial Team]]
 
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|S3= Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology [[User:Maksim-Smelchak|Maksim-Smelchak]] of the [[Ministry of Science]]
 
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}}
 
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{{LEN|Biology|Charted Space|Cosmology|Exobiology}}
 

Latest revision as of 13:42, 6 October 2020

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