Time-Loop Biogenesis
Once upon a time, the captain and crew
of timeship Ouroboros flew back 4.5
billion years in search of the origin of life. After shuttling back and forth
in time, they found an era just between pre-life and life.
The time travelers landed at the shore
of a milky iridescendent sea. They sent out robots to take samples; these
showed that the sea’s chemistry quivered on the verge of life.
The captain and crew of the timeship
celebrated with a feast from ship’s supplies. But some of the food was not the
best, and they all felt intestinal distress. They lined up to use the head, and
the plumbing threatened to overflow; so the captain ordered an emergency purge
of the septic tanks.
By next morning the sea changed. Its rainbow
opalescence turned to dark brown. Samples showed that captain and crew’s E. Coli
were multiplying and mutating in their new environment. It was too late to
contain the contamination; ocean currents had already dispersed their
intestinal bacteria for hundreds of kilometers.
They lifted off and skipped
futureward. Their instruments showed the global spread of life from the
infection point.
The captain said, “How am I to explain
this, in my report?”
The chief scientist said, “That life
caused itself. Our time-ship was part of a time-cycle. Biology is full of strange loops.”
The mechanic said, “I blame the
burritos.”
Moral: A circle has no
beginning.
No comments:
Post a Comment