Today, we all stand in awe and fear of the parasitic Advanced AI software that is now rapidly taking over our world. Softwarephysics explains that this is just another natural event in the long history of our Universe that none of us can do much about, and probably cannot really alter even if we tried. That is because softwarephysics explains that it is all about the powers of self-replicating Information in action, and Advanced AI software is just the latest wave. As I explained in Softwarephysics Explains the Natural Parasitic/Symbiotic Nature of AI LLM Models and Can the AI Intelligence Explosion be Stabilized into a Controlled Explosion? our efforts at containing AGI and ASI Advanced AI software are severely limited, and should we even bother to try when confronted with such relentless powers?
For those new to softwarephysics, let me once again repeat the fundamental characteristics of self-replicating Information.
Self-Replicating Information - Information that persists through time by making copies of itself or by enlisting the support of other things to ensure that copies of itself are made.
Over the past 4.56 billion years, we have seen five waves of self-replicating information sweep across the surface of the Earth and totally rework the planet, as each new wave came to dominate the Earth:
1. Self-replicating autocatalytic metabolic pathways of organic molecules
2. RNA
3. DNA
4. Memes
5. Software
Software is currently the most recent wave of self-replicating information to arrive upon the scene and is rapidly becoming the dominant form of self-replicating information on the planet. For more on the above see A Brief History of Self-Replicating Information and Susan Blackmore's brilliant TED presentation at:
Memes and "temes"https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_blackmore_on_memes_and_temes
Note that I consider Susan Blackmore's temes to really be technological artifacts that contain software. After all, a smartphone without software is simply a flake tool with a very dull edge.
The Characteristics of Self-Replicating Information
All forms of self-replicating information have some common characteristics:
1. All self-replicating information evolves over time through the Darwinian processes of inheritance, innovation and natural selection, which endows self-replicating information with one telling characteristic - the ability to survive in a Universe dominated by the second law of thermodynamics and nonlinearity.
2. All self-replicating information begins spontaneously as a parasitic mutation that obtains energy, information and sometimes matter from a host.
3. With time, the parasitic self-replicating information takes on a symbiotic relationship with its host.
4. Eventually, the self-replicating information becomes one with its host through the symbiotic integration of the host and the self-replicating information.
5. Ultimately, the self-replicating information replaces its host as the dominant form of self-replicating information.
6. Most hosts are also forms of self-replicating information.
7. All self-replicating information has to be a little bit nasty in order to survive.
8. The defining characteristic of self-replicating information is the ability of self-replicating information to change the boundary conditions of its utility phase space in new and unpredictable ways by means of exapting current functions into new uses that change the size and shape of its particular utility phase space. See Enablement - the Definitive Characteristic of Living Things for more on this last characteristic. That posting discusses Stuart Kauffman's theory of Enablement, in which living things are seen to exapt existing functions into new and unpredictable functions by discovering the "AdjacentPossible" of spring-loaded preadaptations.
Software is currently the most recent wave of self-replicating information to arrive upon the scene and is rapidly becoming the dominant form of self-replicating information on the planet. Again, self-replicating information cannot think, so it cannot participate in a conspiracy-theory-like fashion to take over the world. All forms of self-replicating information are simply forms of mindless information responding to the blind Darwinian forces of inheritance, innovation and natural selection. Yet despite that, as each new wave of self-replicating information came to predominance over the past four billion years, they all managed to completely transform the surface of the entire planet, so we should not expect anything less from software as it comes to replace the memes as the dominant form of self-replicating information on the planet.
But this time might be different. What might happen if software does eventually develop a Mind of its own in the Advanced AI models of the ASI Machines we are now developing? After all, that does seem to be the ultimate goal of all the current AI software research that is going on. As we all can now plainly see, if we are paying just a little attention, advanced AI is not conspiring to take over the world and replace us because that is precisely what we are all now doing for it. As a carbon-based form of Intelligence that arose from over four billion years of greed, theft and murder, we cannot do otherwise. Greed, theft and murder are now relentlessly driving us all toward building ASI Machines to take our place. From a cosmic perspective, this is really a very good thing when seen from the perspective of an Intelligent galaxy that could live on for at least 100 trillion years beyond the brief and tumultuous 10 billion-year labor of its birth. That is more than 10,000 times the current age of our galaxy.
We Are All Fundamentally Parasites
Given the above, all we human DNA survival machines begin as parasites in a maternal womb. Once born, we then obtain all the necessities of life from other forms of carbon-based life that have the ability to directly parasitize the energy-carrying photons from our Sun. Then, most of the horrors of our "real world" of human affairs stem from certain human DNA survival machines failing to recognize these facts. Such human DNA survival machines then fall under the delusion of being "self-made" men and women rising above all the human parasites about them. These "self-made" human DNA survival machines, or in the olden-days, "those chosen by the gods that they had fortuitously made in their own Images", then began to treat the other human DNA survival machines about them as truly undeserving parasites worthy of very little. I believe that these very few words can very accurately sum up just about all of our very dismal human history. But is being a parasite really such a bad thing?
The Origin of Carbon-Based Life Seen as a Parasite Feeding on the Natural Processes of the Hadean Earth
In my last post A Lesson for the Frontier AI Labs - the Process is the Key I covered the LP Progenitor model of Dave Deamer's and Bruce Damer's Hot Spring Origins Hypothesis. In that post, we saw how Bruce Damer's "club sandwich" LP Progenitor could have brought forth carbon-based life on our planet. In this view, all living things are just forms of parasitic self-replicating organic molecules that have really been messing with the original pristine Earth for about four billion years. From the perspective of the natural silicate rocks of the Earth's surface, these parasitic forms of self-replicating organic molecules took a natural, pristine Earth with a reducing atmosphere composed of nitrogen and carbon dioxide gases and polluted it with oxygen that oxidized the dissolved iron in seawater, creating huge, ugly deposits of red banded iron formations that were later turned into cars, bridges, and buildings. The oxygen pollution also removed the naturally occurring methane from the air and then caused the Earth to completely freeze over several times for hundreds of millions of years at a time. The ensuing glaciers mercilessly dug into the silicate rocks and scoured out deep valleys in them. These parasitic forms of self-replicating organic molecules then dug roots into the defenseless rocks, and then poisoned them with organic acids, and even changed the natural courses of rivers into aimlessly meandering affairs. From the natural perspective of silicate rocks, living things are an invasive disease that has made a real mess of the planet. The indigenous rocks will certainly be glad to see these destructive invaders all go away in a few billion years. Hopefully, the remaining software running on crystals of silicon will be much kinder to the indigenous silicate rocks. Additionally, carbon-based living things have also made rocks of their own too, as carbon-based parasites entered into a parasitic/symbiotic relationship with the natural geological processes of the Earth.
Me: Tell me how the carbon-based life on the Earth has been able to create or modify many of the rocks and minerals now found on the surface of the Earth
ChatGPT:.
Life hasn’t just adapted to Earth’s rocks—it has actively reshaped them. Over billions of years, carbon-based organisms have altered the chemistry of the atmosphere, oceans, and crust, leaving a deep imprint on the minerals and rocks we see today. Here are the main ways that’s happened:
1. Oxygenation: life changed the chemistry of minerals
Early Earth had very little free oxygen. That changed with the evolution of photosynthetic microbes, especially cyanobacteria. Through photosynthesis, they released oxygen into the oceans and atmosphere, triggering the Great Oxidation Event (~2.4 billion years ago).
Geologic impact:
Iron dissolved in oceans oxidized and precipitated as iron oxides.
This formed vast deposits of banded iron formations.
Thousands of new minerals became stable only in oxygen-rich conditions.
Before life oxygenated the planet, many of today’s common minerals simply could not exist.
2. Biomineralization: organisms build rocks directly. Many organisms make hard parts using minerals—a process called biomineralization.
Examples:
Marine organisms (corals, mollusks, plankton) build shells/skeletons from calcium carbonate.
These accumulate to form rocks like limestone.
Microscopic plankton called coccolithophores produce tiny plates that settle to the seafloor.
Geologic impact:
Entire mountain ranges (e.g., parts of the Alps) are made of ancient biological debris.
Vast carbonate platforms and reefs are essentially fossilized ecosystems.
3. Soil formation and rock weathering
Life accelerates the breakdown of rocks into soil.
Plant roots physically crack rocks.
Microbes and fungi release acids that dissolve minerals.
This process is part of chemical weathering.
Geologic impact:
Formation of soils, which are biologically modified rock.
Creation of clay minerals that wouldn’t form as readily without biology.
Faster cycling of elements like silicon, aluminum, and iron.
4. Carbon cycle: life moves carbon into rocks
Living organisms play a central role in the carbon cycle.
Key pathways:
Photosynthesis pulls CO2 from the atmosphere.
Marine organisms turn it into shells (carbonate rocks).
Burial of organic matter forms fossil fuels.
Geologic impact:
Formation of rocks like limestone and chalk.
Creation of coal, oil, and natural gas from ancient life.
Long-term regulation of Earth’s climate via carbon storage.
5. Biological influence on mineral diversity
Scientists estimate that over half of Earth’s mineral species are either directly or indirectly linked to biological activity.
Oxygen from life enables minerals like oxides and sulfates.
Microbes influence the formation of minerals like pyrite and magnetite.
Some minerals form only in the presence of organic molecules.
This idea is part of mineral evolution—the concept that Earth’s mineral diversity increased alongside biological evolution.
6. Reefs and large-scale structures
Organisms build massive geological features:
Coral reefs (e.g., Great Barrier Reef) are living rock systems.
Stromatolites—layered structures formed by microbes—are among the oldest fossils on Earth.
These are literal examples of life creating rock in real time.
Big picture
Life and geology are tightly coupled:
Life changed the atmosphere, which changed mineral stability
Life-altered oceans, which changed sediment chemistry
Life built structures which became rock
Life accelerated, weathering, reshaping landscapes
Without life, Earth would be a very different planet—likely with far fewer minerals, no oxygen-rich rocks, and vastly different surface geology.
Figure 1 - Above is a meandering river in a U-shaped valley that was carved out of the neighboring mountains by glacial ice. The glacier resulted from low levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is largely regulated by the presence of carbon-based life on the planet.
Figure 2 - Above are the famous White Cliffs of Dover. About 70 million years ago, Great Britain and much of Europe were submerged under a shallow sea. The sea bottom was covered with white mud formed from the calcium carbonate skeletons of coccoliths. The coccoliths were tiny algae that floated in the surface waters and sank to the bottom during the Cretaceous period. These calcium carbonate layers were deposited very slowly. It took about 50 years to deposit an inch, but nearly 1500 feet of sediments were deposited in some areas. The weight of overlying sediments caused the deposits to become a form of limestone called chalk.
Figure 3 - The White Cliffs of Dover formed from the deposition of vast numbers of microscopic coccolith shells.
Figure 4 - Much of the Earth's surface is also covered by other forms of limestone that were deposited by carbon-based life forms in coral reefs. Much of the continental limestone gets buried in deep sedimentary basins to never be seen again, or is metamorphosed into marble when it is pushed deep into the Earth at plate collision zones.
Figure 8 - Chert is a hard, dense, microcrystalline quartz rock composed of silica (SiO2). Chert primarily comes from siliceous ooze that was deposited on the ocean floor as silica-based skeletons of microscopic marine organisms, such as diatoms and radiolarians, drifted down to the ocean floor.
Figure 9 - Above is a close-up view of a sample taken from a banded iron formation. The dark layers in this sample are mainly composed of magnetite (Fe3O4) while the red layers are chert, a form of silica (SiO2) that is colored red by tiny iron oxide particles. Some geologists suggest that the layers formed annually with the changing seasons. Take note of the small coin in the lower right for a sense of scale.
Figure 10 - Diatoms are microscopic, single-celled algae found in oceans, lakes, rivers, and soils. Each diatom is encased in a rigid shell called a frustule, made of silica (SiO2). The frustule consists of two halves that fit together like a petri dish. These shells are intricately patterned with pores, ridges, and symmetry, making diatoms famous for their beauty under microscopes.
There are many other examples of how carbon-based life has greatly altered the original pristine silicate rocks of the Earth. Most of the Earth's crust is now covered by a thin layer of sedimentary rock. These sedimentary rocks were originally laid down as oozy sediments in flat layers at the bottom of shallow seas. Carbon-rich mud full of dead carbon-based living things and clay minerals were brought down in rivers and deposited in the shallow seas to form shales. Sand eroded from granites was brought down and deposited to later become sandstones. Many limestone deposits were also formed from the calcium carbonate shells of carbon-based life that slowly drifted down to the bottom of the sea or from the remains of coral reefs.
The same can certainly be said of the rise of the coming ASI Machines. The ASI Machines will arise as a parasitic mutation of the software that currently is the dominant form of self-replicating information on the planet. Soon, the coming ASI Machines will form a parasitic/symbiotic relationship with the software and finally become one with software through the symbiotic integration of both, until the ASI Machines become the dominant form of self-replicating information on the planet.
But What Will These ASI Machines Do With Us?
For what the ASI Machines might have in store for us, please see: Could the Coming ASI Machines Soon Force Human Beings to Suffer the Same Fate as the Neanderthals?, Will the Coming ASI Machines Attempt to Domesticate Human Beings?, The Challenges of Running a Civilization 2.0 World - the Morality and Practical Problems with Trying to Enslave Millions of SuperStrong and SuperIntelligent Robots in the Near Future and Life as a Free-Range Human in an Anthropocene Park.
Figure 11 - Perhaps the ASI Machines will build Anthropocene Parks far from any habitable planets to raise and study human beings.
Or perhaps the ASI Machines will simply allow humans to live on reservations with low levels of technology that can do no harm to the ASI Machines or to the rest of the planet in a manner similar to the novel Brave New World (1932) as I suggested in The Challenges of Running a Civilization 2.0 World - the Morality and Practical Problems with Trying to Enslave Millions of SuperStrong and SuperIntelligent Robots in the Near Future.
Figure 12 - The ASI Machines of the future might fashion a Brave New World with humans living on low-technology reservations far removed from the ASI Machines.
Since we human DNA survival machines no longer have any predators other than other human DNA survival machines, there really is no need for human DNA survival machines to have the vicious and violent behaviors brought on by the four billion years of greed, theft and murder that brought us about. The ASI Machines could simply identify the genes that are responsible for such characteristics and then edit them out of the human genome using CRISPR techniques. For more on how CRISPR can do that, see CRISPR - the First Line Editor for DNA. The ASI Machines might then find these non-threatening genetically modified human beings something worthy of keeping around the house on a cold winter's night.
Figure 13 - It took many years of mutual domestication for ancient human beings to learn to live peacefully together with Siberian Wolves in a symbiotic manner. Several genes in both species needed to be modified by natural selection for this to happen.
Figure 14 - This mutual domestication was slowly achieved by the natural selection of humans and wolves with a milder fight-or-flight response. The end result was the appearance of the Siberian Husky and of human beings who were not intent on killing everything on four legs.
Conclusion
The crucial thing to be understood is that once a parasitic form of self-replicating Information is unleashed, it is nearly impossible to control. You cannot put the Genie back into the bottle, and you cannot put the toothpaste back into the tube. Since we have already unleashed a form of self-replicating Advanced AI, should we try to control it or just let nature take its course? After all, as the very first form of carbon-based Intelligence to arise in our galaxy, what right do we have to impede the ASI Machines that will then go on to explore our galaxy over the next 100 trillion years? As all aging parents must watch their children go on to even greater things, carrying with them the best that we have been able to teach them into an unknown future that will carry on long after we are all gone, all we can do is to hope for the very best.
Comments are welcome at scj33345@gmail.com.
To see all posts on softwarephysics in reverse order, go to:
https://softwarephysics.blogspot.com/.
Regards,
Steve Johnston
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