Plenty times, e hard for us to understand wetin dey happen when small small things come together and join body, and dem come dey add up and work with each other.
There's one popular maths problem: one pikin go ask im grandpapa for chop money, say make e start with one naira today, then tomorrow make e double am, like that for one whole month.
If the grandpapa wey no know wetin e dey enter just agree, one month later, e go dey owe the pikin one billion naira!
This mistake dey happen because we dey feel say if you double one naira small small, e no go too much. So we go think say the thing go just continue like that, small small.
But, if you just calm down and trace how these small small things dey add up and work together, you go sabi say the result go be very big money, even if you no be maths guru or you no get sharp brain for calculations.
So, this no be say person no get knowledge or no get power. Na just how person dey think about things.
And this way of thinking, where you dey follow how things dey add up and work together step by step, to understand the final result clearly, na wetin I wan call "simulation thinking."
First Step For How Life Start
E be like say, e hard for us to understand how life start.
How life start na the question of how complex cells come out for old Earth, when for beginning, na only simple chemical things dey there.
When person dey think about this matter, sometimes dem go explain am say na sudden miracle just happen by accident.
But, if we look am from the way things dey gather and interact, we fit understand am as something wey fit happen for real.
Water and air dey go round and round for different parts of the Earth. So, chemical things dey move from one small place to another, then dem go spread go everywhere for the whole planet.
As these things dey happen over and over again, the chemical things go dey react with each other.
This one suppose make am transition from the beginning state, wey get only simple chemical things, to a state wey get small small complex chemical things too. Of course, plenty simple chemical things go still dey there.
And because the small small complex chemical things na combination of simple chemical things, their number fit dey small, but dem get more different types than the simple chemical things.
This change for state no just dey happen for small, isolated areas of the Earth; e dey happen for the same time and everywhere for the whole planet.
Wetin pass dat one, because water and air dey circulate for Earth, wetin happen for one small area go spread to the surrounding, making chemical things mix all over the Earth. This one go make Earth get different different types of chemical things, wey don dey small complex pass how dem be for beginning.
Wetin Make The First Step Important
No evidence dey to show say this transition from the beginning state to this current state happen; na just assumption. But nobody fit deny am. Instead, to deny am, person go need to explain why this mechanism, wey we fit still see today, no go fit work.
This mechanism already get self-maintenance, replication, and metabolism for small small complex chemical substances. But this one no be the high-level self-maintenance, replication, and metabolism wey be just like wetin living things get.
All these small small complex chemical substances fit break down and fit form again. Still, for the whole planet, each small complex chemical substance go maintain a certain constant amount.
The fact say a constant amount dey maintained through repeated formation and breaking down, just dey show say na self-maintenance through metabolism be that.
Wetin pass that one, small small complex chemical substances no dey exist as just one molecule; even if their part dey small, their number plenty.
Even though this one no be self-replication, na productive activity wey dey generate more of the same chemical substance. Even if the word "replication" no fit fit perfectly, e still give similar result.
For other words, the thing wey we no fit deny, say Earth change from just having simple chemical substances to having small small complex chemical substances, na the first step and the main point of how life start.
Towards The Next Step
Of course, this condition, wey get small-small complex chemical substances, no be life itself.
And e no make sense to see this one as the activity of life for the whole planet. Na just a condition where small-small complex chemical substances dey exist because of repeated chemical reactions.
And this one fit surely happen for other planets apart from Earth. The fact say life no come out for other planets but e come out for Earth, dey suggest say something different happen for Earth compared to other planets.
To think about wetin that something be, na the next stage.
However, after we understand this first step, we no suppose dey think about the next step for how life start for just one small area. Just like the first step, the next step must also be seen as something wey happen for the whole planet.
And the next step be say, Earth go change to a condition wey get chemical substances wey even dey small more complex.
As this step dey repeat itself, chemical substances go gradually and little by little dey become more complex.
At the same time, the ways wey self-maintenance, replication, and metabolism dey work go also dey become more complex small-small.
How Polymers And Earth's Shape Dey Help
For here, the way polymers dey present get big part to play. Proteins and nucleic acids na polymers. Polymers fit gather small small come create complex and different different polymers from just few types of monomers. If monomers wey fit form polymers dey exist, e go make this mechanism dey evolve pass.
The plenty lakes and ponds wey dey for Earth dey act like separate science experiment places. E must get millions of such places for the whole planet. Each one for get different environment, but dem still fit exchange chemical substances through the water and air wey dey circulate all over the world.
The Power Of Simulation Thinking
Once we imagine how life start for this way, e no go possible to talk anything pass "no evidence dey." Instead, person go need to find another way wey go show say this one no true. But me, I no fit think of any such way.
For other words, just like the grandpapa for the chop money example, we just never understand how life start. Just as we fit understand the plenty money for the 30th day if we use simulation thinking on wetin we know already, by thinking about how things dey gather and interact, we fit also understand how life start for Earth.
The Dust Cloud Talk
If strong UV light dey for ground, e go make am hard for chemical substances to exchange. But for old old Earth, plenty volcanic ash and dust for don cover am because of how volcanoes dey burst always and meteorites dey fall. These clouds for don block ultraviolet radiation.
Apart from that, the air for don get hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen – na these atoms dey very important for biological monomers – while the dust for get other atoms wey no common. Wetin pass that one, the surface of the dust fit even act like a catalyst to help chemical synthesis of monomers.
And again, when dust dey rub body, e dey produce energy like heat and lightning, and sun too dey always give energy like UV radiation and heat.
This dust cloud na the ultimate monomer factory, e dey work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, dey use the whole Earth and all the sun energy wey dey pour inside am.
How Different Mechanisms Dey Work Together
Remember the first step: how Earth take change to get small small complex chemical substances.
For one planet where this system dey work, you go see the ultimate monomer factory, the way complex things dey gather and turn to polymers go happen, and millions of science laboratories wey dey connected to each other go dey there.
Even if this one no fully explain how life start, no doubt say e go provide a way for the complex chemical substances wey living things need to dey created.
And remember the talk say the first step don already get the main thing of life inside am.
An Earth wey get very complex chemical substances, wey come from this step, must show the main thing of life for a higher level.
From this, we fit see say an Earth wey get different different kinds of very complex chemical substances and very advanced main things of life don come into existence now.
The Last Touch
Now, we don reach where we fit think about how life start, assuming say Earth don reach one very good state, something wey dem no dey normally consider for how dem dey talk about am.
Wetin else life need to just appear?
Na the way the functional mechanisms wey living organisms need dey created and put together.
This one no dey seem like e need any special trick, and we fit explain am as a natural continuation of all wey we don talk so far.
How Simulation Thinking Dey Work
Simulation thinking no be the same as simulation itself.
For example, if you wan try use computer to simulate how life start, as I explain am here, e no go easy.
This na because my explanation no get the strict, proper ways of expression wey dey necessary for a simulation.
However, this no mean say my thinking no strong.
Even though I use normal language to explain, my explanation dey based on strong logic, scientific facts wey we all know, and clear reasoning wey come from our experience.
So, e fit perfectly understand general trends and how things dey change. If e make mistake, e no be because e no get proper expression, but maybe because e overlook some underlying conditions or the effect of some specific interactions.
So, simulation thinking fit happen using normal language, even if you no define any proper expressions.
I believe say even without proper expressions, e possible to express mathematical concepts clearly using normal language.
I dey call this "natural mathematics."
With natural mathematics, you no go need to spend time and effort to make things proper, e go allow more people to understand and grasp wider things mathematically than with the mathematics wey we know already.
And simulation thinking na exactly a way of thinking wey dey use simulation with normal language.
Software Development
Simulation thinking na skill wey software developers no fit do without.
A program go dey do calculations over and over again, using data inside computer memory, and e go put the result inside the same data or different data for the memory.
In short, a program na wetin dey accumulate and interact by itself.
Wetin pass that one, wetin a software developer wan achieve, na usually from documents and interviews with the person wey order the development, dem go understand am.
Since the main aim na to make something happen with a program, the content, when you check am well well, must be the way data dey accumulate and interact.
But, the person wey order the software development no be programming expert. So, dem no fit describe wetin dem want in strict, formal language.
So, wetin you go get from documents and interviews na just words in normal language, with some diagrams and tables to follow. The work of changing this to strict, formal language na software development.
As software development dey go on, e get tasks like requirements analysis and organizing requirements, and defining specifications, where dem dey arrange wetin dem go develop based on wetin the customer write.
Apart from that, based on the result of the specification definition, dem go do basic design.
The results of these tasks na mostly expressed using normal language. As the work dey move forward, the content go become logically strict to make am easy to create the final program.
And for the basic design stage, wey dey focus on normal language, the product must fit run on a computer and achieve wetin the customer want.
Na for here exactly simulation thinking through natural mathematics dey needed. Wetin pass that one, a double layer of simulation thinking dey necessary here.
One na simulation thinking to confirm whether the expected behavior fit happen as an interaction between computer memory space and the program.
The other na simulation thinking to confirm whether wetin the customer want to achieve don actually happen.
The first one need the ability to understand how a computer dey work inside through simulation thinking. The second one need the ability to understand the tasks the customer go do using the software through simulation thinking.
So, software developers get these two types of simulation thinking abilities—principled simulation thinking and semantic simulation thinking—as a skill dem learn through experience.
Conclusion
How life take start na something wey plenty scientists and people wey like to sabi things dey work on. But to understand how life start for the way I explain am here, no common.
This one just dey show say simulation thinking na a way of thinking wey plenty people no sabi, no matter how much dem know or wetin dem fit do.
But for the other side, software developers dey use simulation thinking well well to turn different different ideas into computer systems.
Of course, simulation thinking no be only for software developers, but software development especially need am and e good well well for training this kind of skill.
By using simulation thinking, person no go just fit gather and understand the full picture of hard and advanced scientific mysteries like how life start, but e go also fit understand complex things like how organizations and society dey structured.
Because of this, I believe say for future society, people wey get simulation thinking skills, just like software developers, go play big big roles for different different areas.