Figure 4.

The three general categories of origins-of-life narratives: historical, synthetic, and universal. In purple are trajectories that describe historical narratives: how an abiotic Earth developed into life as we know it. The many trajectories with the same beginning and end points represent the different proposed hypotheses for the origin of life on Earth. In dotted orange are synthetic explanations. These may seek: (1) to recreate natural life on Earth, though likely through a different trajectory than the natural origin; (2) alter natural life to create new forms of life. In blue and green are hypothetical alien origins of life (lyfe); these and the trajectories that resulted in Earth life converge at a point in parameter space that universal narratives seek to describe. In red is a system that did not pass through those universal requirements, thus evolving into an end product that fulfills some but not all of life’s pillars. Based on [18,19].