Disclaimer:

In summary; Generating novel cell mechanisms with existing outlines, or what we call systemic constraints of living systems - can help look at other outcomes than next steps in evolution.

Over the course of millions of years, life has evolved from simple molecular systems, unicellular organisms & eventually to complex multicellular beings like us. I find the development of our conscience, the idea of “self”, very intriguing. While we have an almost solid understanding of how these evolutionary transitions occurred, the underlying question of why remains less clear & surprisingly less asked + discussed.

Specifically,

Why did unicellular organisms evolve into colonies and subsequently into multicellular organisms? Why did asexual reproduction give way to sexual reproduction? What role did the transfer of information play in these transitions, and to what extent was information shared within and across populations in the earliest stages of life? Heres a more in-depth reference: https://www.ldeming.com/bacteria-bionumbers Lastly, what drove the emergence of autonomous or sentient beings? Aka the age-old question, how am I enabled to define myself?

Why did the simplest system of lets say 1 molecule or 3 molecule feedback loop evolve or move into another system? Similarly, at each stage of development, there is a question of "why". A hypothesis is that these transitions are driven by the interplay between time and the universal tendency of systems to organize into states that minimize energy consumption. A system's "memory" of its least energy-consuming configuration is tied to its prior states. Over time, this principle encouraged the development of mechanisms to maintain self-sustaining methods, such as homeostasis and self-repair. However, as organisms became more complex, the energy costs of maintaining self sustenance & repairing damage likely exceeded those of reproducing entirely. This may have led to the emergence of reproductive strategies, including the formation of two sexes, to optimize survival and adaptation over generations.

At the core of this evolutionary process lies the transfer and integration of information—both laterally and vertically across generations. This information-sharing likely evolved as a means to enhance adaptability and efficiency, ultimately reducing energy consumption over extended timescales.

Evolution is local optimization - as a result of energy minimization. A direct outcome is to understand that after a more billion years, humans (homo sapien like biological systems) can evolve to become a non-aging entity, i.e. reach a global optima. A contrarian belief is that cancer showing morphological developments is another such local optimization step.

A ray of hope: Without the constraints of energy conservation in the form of a local optima chasing optimization method adopted by evolution - I think we have a shot at reaching the global optima directly (this is an analogy). We are definitely not obliged to follow the same traditional trajectories towards the next step in evolution.