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This bold idea, yet examined seriously, originates from recent work by Robert Endres, a researcher at Imperial College London. Using mathematics and information theory, he estimates that the conditions necessary for the spontaneous emergence of life were extraordinarily restrictive over 4 billion years ago.
The improbable birth of the first cells
The researcher's calculations show that the probability of a primitive cell appearing by chance remains extremely low. Chemical systems naturally tend toward disorder, which complicates the formation of organized assemblies essential for life.
He describes this improbable process with a telling comparison: it would be like writing a coherent scientific text by randomly throwing letters onto a page. The accumulation of useful information is so rare that the creation of a coherent biological structure becomes almost impossible without a pre-existing framework.
This reflection does not mean that life could not arise naturally, but that scientists might be missing unknown physical laws to explain this transformation from inert matter to living matter.
Alternative hypotheses mentioned
Robert Endres recalls a theory already put forward in the 1970s by Francis Crick and Leslie Orgel: directed panspermia. It suggests that an extraterrestrial civilization could have deliberately seeded microorganisms on Earth.
He admits that this hypothesis is not the simplest among possible explanations, but that it remains conceivable nonetheless. It could, for example, explain why life seems to have appeared so quickly after the formation of the oceans.
This hypothesis also aligns with a broader reflection: if humanity is now considering transforming Mars or Venus to make them habitable, other civilizations, if they exist, could have done the same in the distant past with our planet.