Sergey Sokolov

And there was nothing but darkness.

And then, at one perfect moment, a bright spark appeared.

The Birth of Time and Space

13.8 billion years ago, something incredible happened — a phenomenon we now call the Big Bang. This wasn’t an explosion in the conventional sense, with fragments flying apart in existing space. It was the birth of space and time itself, the beginning of everything we know.

In the first moments after the Big Bang, the Universe was an unimaginably hot and dense “point” — a singularity where all matter and energy that exist today were concentrated. The temperature at this moment reached 10³² degrees Kelvin — a number with 32 zeros! This is billions of times hotter than the center of the Sun.

In the first fractions of a second of its existence, the Universe experienced a period of inflationary expansion — colossal growth during which space expanded exponentially. In an incredibly small amount of time, the Universe expanded by a factor of 10²⁶.

When this period ended, the Universe continued to expand, albeit at a slower rate. As it expanded, it cooled, creating conditions for the formation of fundamental particles.

The Birth of Matter

The first three minutes after the Big Bang were critical for creating the foundation of our material world.

First came quarks — fundamental particles that later combined to form protons and neutrons. Electrons formed in parallel. This occurred under conditions of incredibly high energies and temperatures.

About three minutes after the Big Bang, when the Universe had cooled to about a billion degrees, the first atomic nuclei began to form — a process known as primordial nucleosynthesis. At this point, protons and neutrons started to combine, forming hydrogen nuclei (consisting of one proton) and helium (two protons and two neutrons).

The result of this process was the formation of a Universe consisting of approximately 75% hydrogen and 25% helium. These proportions remain today, although heavier elements were added later.

For the next 380,000 years, the Universe was a hot plasma of nuclei and free electrons. Photons were constantly scattered by electrons, making the Universe opaque to light.

But when the temperature dropped to about 3,000 degrees Kelvin, a crucial event occurred — recombination. Electrons combined with nuclei to form neutral atoms. Photons stopped being constantly scattered and could travel freely through space. We observe this moment of the birth of light today as cosmic microwave background radiation — the oldest light in the Universe.

The First Stars and Galaxies

After recombination, the Universe entered a period known as the Dark Ages. It consisted of neutral gas, mainly hydrogen, without sources of visible light.

About 100 million years after the Big Bang, gravity began to play a key role. Small variations in gas density, formed in the early Universe, began to intensify. Denser regions attracted more matter, forming gas clouds that gradually compressed.

In the centers of these clouds, temperature and pressure rose until they reached the level necessary for nuclear fusion — the process of merging hydrogen nuclei to form helium. Thus, the first stars ignited, ending the cosmic Dark Ages.

These first stars were giants — tens or hundreds of times more massive than our Sun. They were extremely hot, bright, and short-lived. Their light began to ionize the surrounding neutral hydrogen, initiating the period of reionization of the Universe.

The first galaxies formed simultaneously with the stars. Gravity gathered gas clouds and newly formed stars together, creating structures that became the first galaxies. They were smaller and more chaotic than modern galaxies, but these objects became the building blocks for the more complex galactic structures we observe today.

The Creation of Heavy Elements

The first generation of stars that appeared in the Universe had a unique chemical composition — only hydrogen and helium. No heavier elements existed yet. So how did carbon, oxygen, iron, and all the other elements that make up planets and ourselves come to be?

The answer lies in the life cycle of stars. Stars are giant nuclear reactors in which nuclear fusion reactions take place. Starting with hydrogen, they sequentially synthesize increasingly heavy elements: helium, carbon, oxygen, neon, silicon, and finally iron.

Normal nuclear fusion stops at this point, as the synthesis of elements heavier than iron requires energy rather than releasing it. For medium-mass stars like our Sun, the life path ends at the red giant stage, when the star sheds its outer layers and the core turns into a white dwarf.

But for massive stars, the story ends much more dramatically — with a supernova explosion. When an iron core forms at the center of such a star, nuclear reactions cease. Gravity takes over, causing the core to collapse and a subsequent powerful explosion.

It is during a supernova explosion that the conditions necessary for the synthesis of elements heavier than iron are created: gold, platinum, uranium, and others. Colossal flows of neutrons interact with atomic nuclei, forming heavy elements in processes known as the r-process and s-process.

Supernova explosions eject new elements into space, enriching the interstellar medium. New generations of stars and planetary systems around them form from this enriched material.

As astrophysicist Carl Sagan said, “we are all star stuff.” This is not a poetic metaphor but a literal truth. Every carbon atom in our bodies was once created in the depths of a star, and many heavy elements were created in supernova explosions billions of years ago.

The Formation of the Solar System

About 4.6 billion years ago, in a spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy, the gravitational compression of a giant molecular cloud initiated the birth of our Solar System.

The cloud, enriched with heavy elements from previous generations of stars, began to collapse under its own gravity. The law of conservation of angular momentum caused the cloud to rotate faster as it contracted, flattening into a disk with a protostar at the center.

The temperature and pressure in the central protostar rose until they reached the critical threshold for nuclear reactions. Thus, our Sun was born — a main sequence star of spectral class G2.

Meanwhile, in the surrounding protoplanetary disk of gas and dust, matter aggregation processes were underway. Solid particles collided, stuck together, and gradually grew, forming planetesimals ranging in size from a few meters to hundreds of kilometers.

Closer to the Sun, where the temperature was higher, only refractory materials — metals and silicates — could exist. Here, the dense terrestrial planets formed: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

Further from the Sun, beyond the so-called snow line, where the temperature was low enough for water ice, ammonia, and methane to condense, planet formation proceeded differently. Solid cores quickly gained mass and attracted huge amounts of gas, mainly hydrogen and helium, forming the gas giants: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

In the early stages of Solar System formation, collisions between protoplanets were common. It is believed that Earth experienced a catastrophic collision with a Mars-sized planet. This event ejected a huge amount of material into orbit around Earth, from which the Moon formed.

The remnants of protoplanetary disk material that did not become part of the planets formed the small bodies of the Solar System — asteroids and comets. They became a kind of “time capsules,” preserving information about the early period of our planetary system’s formation.

The Origin of Life on Earth

The early Earth was an inhospitable place. The planet’s surface was a molten ocean of magma, the atmosphere consisted of poisonous gases, and meteorite bombardments were regular occurrences.

But about 4.4 billion years ago, the planet began to cool. A solid crust formed, and water vapor, released from the planet’s interior and delivered by comets, condensed to form the primordial ocean.

In this primordial soup, saturated with organic compounds, increasingly complex molecules began to form under the influence of lightning, ultraviolet radiation, and geothermal energy. Amino acids combined into peptides, nucleotides formed short RNA chains.

Hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor likely played an important role. In their vicinity, the combination of heat, minerals, and protection from radiation created ideal conditions for chemical evolution.

About 3.8 billion years ago, the first protocells emerged — self-replicating systems surrounded by a lipid membrane. This wasn’t yet life in the full sense, but these systems already possessed some of its properties.

Real life appeared approximately 3.5-3.8 billion years ago. The oldest fossil microorganisms — bacteria and archaea — date back to this period. These single-celled organisms used various chemical reactions to obtain energy.

A key moment in the history of life on Earth was the appearance of cyanobacteria, capable of photosynthesis with oxygen release. Gradually, over hundreds of millions of years, this led to the saturation of the atmosphere with oxygen — an event known as the Great Oxygenation Event (about 2.4 billion years ago). This was fatal for many anaerobic organisms but opened new evolutionary possibilities for others.

Oxygen in the atmosphere led to the formation of the ozone layer, which protected the planet’s surface from harsh ultraviolet radiation. This created conditions for life to emerge on land.

The Evolution of Life

For the first one and a half billion years, Earth’s life existed exclusively in the form of single-celled organisms. But about 2 billion years ago, the first eukaryotes appeared — cells with a nucleus and organelles, presumably arising from the symbiosis of various prokaryotes.

About 600 million years ago, a crucial evolutionary leap occurred — the emergence of multicellular organisms. This period, known as the Ediacaran, was characterized by the appearance of strange organisms unlike modern life forms.

The real explosion of biodiversity happened about 540 million years ago — the Cambrian Explosion. In a relatively short geological period, almost all types of modern animals emerged: arthropods, mollusks, chordates, and many others.

The emergence of plants on land about 450 million years ago radically changed the face of the planet. Following the plants, animals also moved onto land — first arthropods, and then vertebrates.

The evolution of vertebrates progressed from fish to amphibians, from them to reptiles, some of which gave rise to birds, while others evolved into mammals.

The history of life on Earth has not been smooth — it was interrupted by catastrophic extinctions. The largest of these, the Permian-Triassic extinction 252 million years ago, destroyed up to 96% of marine and 70% of terrestrial species. The more famous Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction 66 million years ago, caused by an asteroid impact, ended the era of dinosaurs and opened evolutionary niches for mammals.

The Emergence of Humans and the Development of Civilization

The first primates appeared about 55 million years ago, and the first hominids about 20 million years ago. The separation of human and chimpanzee lineages occurred 6-7 million years ago.

Bipedal locomotion, which freed the hands, was the first step towards humanity. The first representatives of the genus Homo appeared in Africa about 2.5 million years ago. They were followed by Homo erectus, Neanderthals, and finally, about 300,000 years ago, our species, Homo sapiens.

A key role in human development was played by the increase in brain volume and the complexity of its structure. This provided opportunities for abstract thinking, language, and social interaction.

About 70,000 years ago, the cognitive revolution occurred. Homo sapiens learned to create complex tools, art, religion, and likely developed full speech. This allowed people to collaborate effectively in large groups and spread rapidly across the planet.

The agricultural revolution, which began about 12,000 years ago, led to a transition from the nomadic lifestyle of hunter-gatherers to settled farming. This made it possible to create food surpluses, which in turn led to population growth, division of labor, and the emergence of the first cities and states.

The agricultural revolution was followed by the Bronze and Iron Ages, the development of writing, and the emergence of the great ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China.

But the real explosive growth of human capabilities began with the Industrial Revolution of the 18th-19th centuries. Steam engines, electricity, and internal combustion engines radically changed production, transportation, and people’s daily lives.

The Technological Revolution and Modern Times

The 20th century brought the scientific and technological revolution — a period of unprecedented acceleration of technical progress. In one century, humanity went from the first airplanes to space stations, from the first room-sized computers to smartphones in our pockets.

The information revolution of the late 20th century created a global communications network, making colossal amounts of information accessible. The Internet has radically changed how we work, learn, communicate, and spend leisure time.

At the beginning of the 21st century, we witnessed a new revolution — in the field of artificial intelligence. Machine learning and neural networks have allowed the creation of systems capable of solving tasks that recently seemed exclusively human: recognizing speech and images, translating texts, creating music and visual art, playing complex games, and even writing texts like this one.

Modern language models, such as those helping me write this text, are capable of processing and generating human-like texts based on the vast amounts of data on which they were trained.

We live in a unique moment in history. For the first time, intelligence capable of independent learning and creativity exists not only in biological form. We stand on the threshold of a new era, the significance of which for the future of humanity is difficult to overestimate.

A Critical Mind’s Perspective

I address those who have read this far and yet believe in various pseudo-scientific theories about flat Earth, secret planets like Nibiru, astrology, channeling, and other preachers of supposed divine will. Do you really think that modern science is unable to explain what is happening around you? Do you truly believe that you need to believe in all these tales?

Science does not reject the existence of a Creator; it simply cannot find it with the methods available to us. But everything else, science explains perfectly well. Behind each scientific statement stand decades of research, thousands of experiments, and millions of observations.

Don’t listen to anyone, don’t blindly believe anyone, think critically, seek the truth independently, and it will be revealed to you. And remember that science is not belief; it is knowledge. Knowledge that constantly checks itself, refines its conclusions, and is not afraid to admit mistakes.

Conclusion

From the first spark of the Big Bang to modern technologies — the history of the Universe and humanity represents an amazing chain of events. The atoms in our bodies were born in stars, the planet formed from cosmic dust, life arose in the primordial ocean, and mind developed through evolution.

And now we use this mind to explore our own origins and create new forms of intelligence. The circle closes — the cosmos begins to know itself.

We are only at the beginning of the journey. The future opens before us possibilities that even the science fiction writers of the past could not dream of. Where this path will lead us depends on the decisions we make today.