ARTICLE 7. MEMORY THEORY: MULTIPLE ORIGINS OF LIFE ON EARTH

According to the Non-Information Theory of Life (NJT), life is defined as the ability of a supramolecular ensemble to maintain its identity in a continuous exchange of matter and energy. The concept of a single last universal ancestor (LUCA), which dominates modern evolutionary biology, is a mathematical artifact, not a physical reality. Based on the theory of tetrasignatures and tetraphase states of water, an alternative scenario is proposed: life arose repeatedly in different geochemical niches, where local S-, γ- and δ-tetraphases of water created conditions for condensate cycles and the formation of supramolecular ensembles. This scenario naturally explains the fundamental differences between bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes, as well as striking examples of convergent evolution. Recent experimental data—the independent transition of bacteria and archaea to a free-living state (2025), the genetic basis of echolocation convergence (Nature Communications, 2025), CAM photosynthesis as a multiply-arising solution (2024), the quantum CISS effect in magnetoreception (2025), and the complexity of the LUCA genome (Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2024)—provide empirical support for the hypothesis of multiple generation. The unity of the genetic code and basic metabolic pathways is interpreted not as the legacy of a single ancestor, but as a consequence of the universality of the physicochemical constraints imposed by water. The diversity of domains appears not as a divergence of a single tree, but as a parallel emergence from different niches with subsequent hybridization and convergence.