The original post: /r/aliens by /u/wihdinheimo on 2024-10-10 09:46:10.
As there's a lot of buzz around the "immaculate constellation" leak and the spun rumors related to planetary seeding, it’s better to provide some insight into the matter.
If we accept the planetary seeding hypothesis, the chain of events happened something like this:
Around 2.5 billion years ago, advanced non-human intelligence began a planetary seeding program on Earth. The NHI deployed an autonomous swarm of Von Neumann-type probes across the galaxy. These probes reached the Sol system, identified Sol-3, primordial Earth, with liquid oceans and a primitive atmosphere, making it a suitable candidate for the planetary seeding protocol.
The goal of planetary seeding is quite straightforward: accelerate biological development using genetically engineered organisms to transform the environment, making it more suitable for hosting life—a process more commonly referred to as terraforming. These organisms were designed to lay the groundwork for more complex life to emerge, with the likely ultimate goal of cultivating superintelligences across the universe, which the NHI could later harness in its benefit. This method of seeding life and intelligence is highly cost-effective, albeit time consuming, using compact, self-replicating Von Neumann probes to manage controlled panspermia and planetary terraforming, effectively acting as an intergalactic gardener.
Cyanobacteria were likely among the first bioengineered life introduced. These microbes oxygenated Earth’s atmosphere, triggering the rise in oxygen levels. As the planet began stabilizing, other engineered life forms were introduced. Planetary seeding requires robust terraforming agents capable of integrating with a planet’s environment, driving essential cycles like carbon processing. Marine-based organisms are ideal candidates due to their ability to thrive in vast, nutrient-poor environments like Earth's early oceans. Pelagibacter ubique emerges as a prime suspect for having been engineered for such a role.
Pelagibacter ubique is the most common organism on Earth, surpassing the biomass of all marine life. It possesses a uniquely streamlined genome with hyperconservative DNA regions, showing minimal signs of evolution or adaptation. It is as close to a stable life form as one could achieve through genetic engineering, exhibiting extraordinary efficiency and the ability to thrive in the harshest environments. Despite being ubiquitous in marine environments, Pelagibacter wasn’t discovered until the 1990s because it doesn’t show up in standard cultures.
By examining the sequenced genome of Pelagibacter ubique, we find that despite having one of the shortest genomes among all free-living organisms, it contains unusually long adenine and thymine chains. Researching this anomaly in the genome could open a line of inquiry that might prove, or disprove, whether it was involved in the planetary seeding program.