The Evolution of Plants

When first presented, plants obviously were quite primitive. DNA may have been a step forward, but most plants were little more than a green sludge on an unremarkable, wet planet. However, as we have learned, once Complexification happens, complexity sets in.

I mention this in particular because it isn’t always obvious how profound a Complexification event actually is. Algae may seem little different from a normal chemical process. But when we compare an algae growth to something like a tree, suddenly we can see the vast difference that it actually entails.

Consider the complexity in a tree compared to what came before plant life. Compare, say, hydrogen and oxygen atoms coming together to form a uniform water molecule – each perfectly just like the other. Now, compare it to an oak tree, with its winding branches and leaves. Looking at the two, there is little comparison.

Plants gave a profound new complexity to the very things that exist in the universe. That complexity is not only in what they were but what they could create.

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