Stardust: The Origins of Life, Evolution and Adaptation

Abstract

If we are to understand human space colonization as a continuation of fundamentally evolutionary processes, then we have to understand the origin of life - that which evolves - itself; and to understand life, we need an understanding of the origins of the Solar System and the Universe from which the building blocks of life are ultimately assembled. In this chapter, we cover a large span, from the origin of the Universe to the origin of Earth and major events in Earth life evolution so far, including the evolution of humanity’s unique, grammar-directed language and consciousness in our genus, Homo. We then comment on how knowledge of this evolutionary context can help us best plan human space colonization as an adaptive endeavor.