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On The Origin Of Life

By Ian Beardsley

Copyright © 2020 by Ian Beardsley


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Here I combine my Idea of an activation function that put together prebiotic substances to
make biological life, and the idea of J.T Trevors and D.L. Able (Chance and necessity do not
explain the origin of life, Elsevier, Cell Biology International, 2004). First I wrote several years
back:

I would like to suggest that the prebiotic chemistry might have been passed through an
activation function that disappeared after life was on its way to evolving.

The problem, then, of answering the question of how life began is one of finding the activation
function and its mechanism by which it takes prebiotic chemistry and activates it (makes it alive)
so it can now self-replicate, and evolve. We assume that as this mechanism activates the
molecules, its mechanism depletes as it activates from what is available. In this sense the
mechanism is a limiting reactant, so it determines how much material is activated before it
depletes completely.

Logically, the way to determine what this mechanism is, and how it serves as an activation
function is to look for the by products of the reaction that are left over, and from that, deduce its
nature.

To do this, we have to look for that thing in our knowledge of the Earth’s history that does not
make sense. This would be in the faint young star paradox. We know that five billion years ago,
when the Earth and Sun first formed, that the sun was 0.7 times its present output and so, the
Earth should have been frozen over, yet, we know it was not. That it had water in its liquid
phase. Thus something was there that is not present today. That something must have been the
mechanism for the activation function that “turned on” prebiotic chemistry.

If σ (x) is the activation function, where x is the prebiotic material, and we say r is residue of the
reaction, and l is the activated substance (life) then,

l + r = σ (x)

We know l. If we can find r in nature, we can deduce σ (x).

I have presented it like this because 1) Life has not been created in the laboratory from scratch
2) New life does not seem to be originating on earth in present times. Therefore, the activation
function is probably not present on Earth today and more than likely disappeared, or depleted
after activating prebiotic chemistry. Life exists, yet we do not know how prebiotic substances
organize into self-replicating systems that evolve. Therefore, we must look for something
concerning the Earth that does not make sense. I suggest that would be the young star
paradox. If the Earth had water in its liquid phase when it should have been frozen over, then
something could have existed then that was a limiting reactant, or something like it, that
activated prebiotic substances, in that it was responsible for warming the earth (perhaps a heat
retaining substance).

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Trevors and Able wrote:

Peer-reviewed life-origin literature presupposes that, given enough time, genetic instructions
arose via natural events. Thus far, no paper has provided a plausible mechanism for natural
process algorithm-writing.

Following cooling [of the Earth], it is difficult to understand how natural processes could have
generated the following aspects of life in such a short time:

(1) a genetic operating system with which to record programming instructions,

(2) the programs themselves for production or assembly of every individual building block,
biochemical pathway, and metabolic cycle needed for even the simplest protometabolism to
develop, and
(3) a coding system with which to translate triplet codon “language into polyomino acid
language.

Where the building block are concerned (amino acids) I wrote several years back:

I processed the 20 genetically encoded amino acids according to the following scheme:

a minogroup
(RGroup)

acidgroup
In hopes of finding a connection between artificial intelligence and the biological. The result
was that two of the amino acids were equal to elements in the periodic table of the elements
and they were perfectly carbon (C) the core element of biological life, and silicon (Si) the core
element of of artificial intelligence. The amino acids are the building blocks of life, synthesized
into proteins by DNA. The two amino acids were serine and glutamine as follows,…

H3 N
(CH2 + OH ) = C

COO
H3 N
(2CH2 + CO + NH2) = Si

COO

H3 N 5−1
= (1 − ϕ) ϕ=

COO 2
Si
(1 − ϕ) =

Ge
Si
(CH2 + OH ) = C

Ge
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C
(CH2 + OH ) = Ge

Si
Si
(2CH2 + CO + NH2) = Si

Ge
(2CH2 + CO + NH2) = Ge

Ge is the other core semiconductor element.

(CH2 + OH ) C
=

(2CH2 + CO + NH2) Si
(CH2 + OH )
C= Si

(2CH2 + CO + NH2)
These equation are nearly 100% accurate.

CH2+OH=12.01+2(1.01)+16,00+1.01=14.03+17.01=31.04 g/mol

Si/Ge=28.09/72.61=0.38686

(0.38686)(31.04)=12.008

C=12.01

12.008
100 = 99.98%

12.01
2CH2=2(12.01+2.02)=28.06

CO=12.01+16.00=28.01

NH2=14.01+2.02=16.03

28.06+28.01+16.03=72.1

Ge=72.61

72.1
100 = 99.2976%

72.61
The idea is to try to understand biological life, in particular its origins, by looking at something
we understand, artificial intelligence.

The equations imply:

H3 N
Ge ≈ Si

COO
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The primordial compounds from which amino acids are made — water (H2O) methane (CH4)
and ammonia (NH3)—seem to be related to primitive AI which would be a tungsten filament (W)
encased in a glass tube (SiO2) to make vacuum tubes for switches as follows:

W H O NH3
≈ 2 + + 1

SiO2 CH4 CH4

The Suggestion

Let us suggest that the parts, prebiotic substances, were here, perhaps by a Creator, or
another intelligence (Like ET), or an artificial Intelligence (AI). Let us take as an example the
components of the building blocks of life, as considered in my scheme that produce carbon,
silicon, and germanium:

a minogroup
(RGroup)

acidgroup
H3 N
(CH2 + OH ) = C

COO
H3 N
(2CH2 + CO + NH2) = Si

COO
H3 N
Ge ≈ Si

COO
Let us suggest that

Let us suggest that the nature of the activation function can be determined by what is required
to act on H3 N, COO, and CH2 + OH to make serine, and H3 N, COO, and
2CH2 + CO + NH2 to make glutamine. This will be the nature of σ (x). Since

l + r = σ (x)

Then knowing the nature of σ (x), we will know what kind of residue to look for. To look for the
activation function, we need to keep our mind open to all possibilities, not just chemical
catalysts, or lighting and fire, but any kind of energy and forces that can be imagined. This
intelligence (Creator, ET, or AI) could have been behind the activation function, and could have
been ultimately responsible for a myriad of compounded functions that ultimately resulted in the
biological “Operating System” of Trevors and Able.
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The Author