Theoretical and Experimental Prerequisites of Exobiology

Exobiology and the origin of life: The Inseparable Connection

The world we live in is constantly changing through a process of evolutionary development
that is gradual, and which leads to emergence of ever newer, more complex, more diverse, and
richly differentiated forms of reality. This process may not occur simultaneously and identically
everywhere, but in different ways at different rates in various places in the universe and on
various objects in the celestial world. Thus, evolution must not be diagramed as a single
direct line, but rather as a cluster of various paths, whose separate branches may lead to
very complex and complete forms of organization and movement of matter. Nothing is known about many of these forms, and in numerous instances, their existence is not even suspected. Any one form should not be considered prematurely as a special category of life, only because of its complexity or perfection. Life is far from a result of all the numerous branches in the development of matter; its specific qualities and ways of emerging and improving are inherent. Only a
single example of life, terrestrial life, is known at present, from which judgments must proceed
of other possible forms of biological organization. The Earth and the events which originated on
it must, to a great extent, serve as a model for broader judgments of life in the universe.