I know we don't fully know the answer to this, but I want to know your thoughts on the topic, or where I can learn more about it. Why are some combinations of atoms "alive"? If in a hypothetical scenario every single combination of atoms was made, which ones would be "alive"? what would they have in common? what's the smallest possible sentient organism? etc.


Inspired by a poem by Richard Feynman:
> I stand at the seashore, alone, and start to think.
> There are the rushing waves
> mountains of molecules
> each stupidly minding its own business
> trillions apart
> yet forming white surf in unison.
> Ages on ages before any eyes could see
> year after year
> thunderously pounding the shore as now.
> For whom, for what?
> On a dead planet
> with no life to entertain.
> Never at rest
> tortured by energy
> wasted prodigiously by the sun
> poured into space.
> A mite makes the sea roar.
> Deep in the sea
> all molecules repeat
> the patterns of one another
> till complex new ones are formed.
> They make others like themselves
> and a new dance starts.
> Growing in size and complexity
> living things
> masses of atoms
> DNA, protein
> dancing a pattern ever more intricate.
> Out of the cradle
> onto dry land
> here it is
> standing:
> atoms with consciousness;
> matter with curiosity.
> Stands at the sea,
> wonders at wondering: I
> a universe of atoms
> an atom in the universe.