Nothing

“In the beginning was simplicity. It is difficult enough explaining how even a simple universe began. I take it as agreed that it would be even harder to explain the sudden springing up, fully armed, of complex order-life, or a being capable of creating life.”-pg. 12

When I started reading this book, all sorts of questions about existence popped into my mind. Why are we alive? How is it possible that simple molecules formed a human being? where did these molecules even come from? Ever since I was a child I have wondered about the origin of everything we know. I would always ask my father about what there was before the universe. He would simply tell me, there was nothing there. I was (and still am) intrigued by the  thought of nothing. What is nothing? At first I would relate the concept to a huge open space submerged in darkness. But then I realized darkness is something, so that couldn’t be.  I guess nothing would be complete transparency. No colors, nothing at all.  But for a moment try to picture this in your mind. What was there before there even was a universe?  I find it impossible to picture.

 Dawkins starts explaining us how when atoms meet they may undergo a chemical reaction and become a molecule. One day, a new molecule was created by accident. It was the replicator. It was a special type of molecule that could create copies of itself. These molecules had a competition of who had the best survival machine. Dawkins refers to us as the genes survival machines. “They have come a long way, those replicators. Now they go by the name of genes, and we are their survival machines.” –pg. 20  This makes me feel as if we were actually controlled by the genes. It sounds as if they are the real person, and you were only created to protect them and give them something to control.