Listen to this articleINVISIBLE LIFE
There is one thing that makes Earth truly unique (relative to the other heavenly bodies in the Solar System), and it is this: Earth teems with life. It turns out that the whole of life on Earth, despite its diversity of forms, shares a common genetical heritage. That is to say, biology works pretty much the same for all living things despite the many, many different kinds of living things that exist on Earth.
Perhaps one of the best ways to appreciate the mechanics of life is to examine how life operates in its most basic form and at its simplest level. One simple form of life on Earth is the unicellular life form. From unicellular microorganisms, life on Earth proceeded to become infinitely more complexed. Unicellular microorganisms gave way to the rise of multicellular macro organisms. Some of these multicellular macro organisms have the ability to see, hear, smell, taste, touch, feel (as in empathy, sympathy, joy, sorrow, happiness, sadness, etc.) and think. Most believe that the human organism is the most complexed life form on Earth.
What is life? Life is the act or state of being sentient, conscious, or aware. On Earth, life requires the presence of things such as the soil, water, air, and food to exist and maintain its sentience. A key component or the basic integrated unit of life is the cell.
Assuming the applicable facilities were available, anyone who has taken high school biology remembers dissecting frogs in the laboratory or viewing microorganisms under the microscope. When you dissected the frog, you noted that frogs had some of the same systems as humans (such as a nervous system, a muscular system, a skeletal system, a circulatory system, a respiratory system, and a reproductive system). You also noted that, in some respects, these systems worked similarly in frogs as they work in humans. You learned that the biological profile of frogs, in a number of ways, was similar to the biological profile of humans while also different from humans in a number of other ways. Algae, the amoeba, and the paramecium were three popularly viewed specimens of microorganisms in high school biology class.
LIFE OF THE PARAMECIUM
This page examines the life of the unicellular organism known as the paramecium. The point of examining the paramecium is to demonstrate how, in many respects, life on Earth for all living things reduces to a daily routine of eating, digesting/excreting/defecating, urinating, resting/sleeping, working (to secure life's basic necessities such as food and shelter), playing/socializing, procreating, and dying. Assuming death by natural causes as opposed to death by a predator, the upper limit placed on the life span of the paramecium is roughly 400 binary fissions or about 5 months (assuming 3 binary fissions per day).
Paramecium: Eating
Paramecium: Digesting/Excreting/Defecating
Paramecium: Urinating
Paramecium: Resting/Sleeping
Paramecium: Working
Paramecium: Playing/Socializing
Paramecium: Procreating
Paramecium: Dying - Natural Causes
Paramecium: Dying - Predator
Paramecia World: The Wrap
Apart from understanding how life ticks, there probably isn't anything more challenging on Earth than grasping a firm understanding of what makes humans tick. What are the things that drive human behavior? What does it take to cause humans to forsake heinous, savage, and barbaric kinds of behaviors? Why are humans building nuclear bombs to destroy life on Earth? What about the billions of innocent humans (including babies and children)—and all of the other animals, plants, and microorganisms—who would be killed by a nuclear strike but who had nothing to do with the animosities between the nuclear powers?
CONTROVERSY
When discussing the meaning of life, the controversy begins when humans start to ask questions about the origins of life. Is the origins of life on Earth attributed to Intelligent Design by a higher power such as God, or did life on Earth emerge as the result of random chemical reactions that did not require any type of Intelligent Design whatsoever? Nobody on Earth really knows the answer to this question with 100% certainty.
PLAYING GOD: THE GENIE IS OUT OF THE BOTTLE
I will tell you one thing that is 100% certain, and it is this: With ongoing human advances in science and technology, it takes very little imagination to see that the dawn of a new age has arrived on Earth. At the dawn of the 21st century, humans have become knowledgeable enough to manipulate Mother Nature in ways never before imagined. With this newly acquired knowledge and with these newly acquired insights into how life (and matter) operates, humans now are empowered, in effect, to play God.
Notwithstanding the unforeseen consequences of certain scientific and technological advancements, humans playing God is not necessarily a bad thing so long as it is done for the benefit and advancement of humanity. Humans playing God—or, more accurately, humans playing Satan—becomes a bad thing when science and technology are used to do harm throughout the world. And, based on the number of malevolent computer hackers in the world and the thousands of computer viruses, worms, malware, spyware, trojans, rootkits, phishers, keyloggers, online World Wide Web scams, etc. in existence, there is every reason to suspect that a few humans, in fact, will choose to attempt to play Satan with this newly found knowledge.
What is the moral of the story—or the lesson to be learned—from this examination of the paramecium's invisible life? One lesson to be learned is this: If the human species is to survive and not become extinct, then perhaps it might wish to think about becoming indivisible. For united in peace, the human species will thrive and perhaps achieve greatness in life. Divided in hatred, the human species will fall and perhaps become extinct. Another lesson to be learned is this: Life is short and can be terminated unexpectedly; you ought to try to live constructively and make the most of your brief tenure on Earth. Another lesson to be learned is this: Although the human organism is far more complexed when compared to the single-celled existence of the paramecium, humans undergo the same kinds of bodily functions and routines as does the lowly paramecium.
THE HUMAN DIMENSION
There is a uniquely human dimension to life, and it goes something like this:
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