Simplicity out of complexity? On physical eschatology and abiogenesis

Abstract

Standard reductionist narrative about the necessity of complex systems arising from simple subsystems can be undermined from multiple directions. Here, I shall suggest an unexpected way of such undermining which occurs upon joining our best understanding of the future evolution of the universe (as outlined by physical eschatology) with the continuity thesis which plays the key role in studies of the origin of life (abiogenesis). Many aspects of evolution - including physical, chemical, and astrobiological evolution - would look quite different from what we empirically find around us at the present epoch if the history of the universe within our cosmological horizon were to be observed from a timeless ?Archimedean? point. Avoiding the pitfalls of this chronocentric bias leads to several unexpected conclusions, one of them being that the directed panspermia, coupled with advanced biotechnology, represents the most probable origin of almost all phylogenetic lineages in the universe. Therefore, complex lifeforms are required for emergence of (almost) all simple lifeforms. This has several counterintuitive and unexpected philosophical consequences.