The details are good, but I reject the framing. Bacteria are simple because simple outcompetes complex. Eukaryotes fill a small niche. We care about complexity because we are in that niche. Phrased that way, it’s not surprising that only a single lineage fills that niche and that it took a billion years to try it.
If simple outcompetes complex, wouldn’t we expect to see more prokaryotic DNA in the biosphere? Whereas in fact we see 2-3x as much eukaryotic DNA, depending on how you count—hardly a small niche!
The details are good, but I reject the framing. Bacteria are simple because simple outcompetes complex. Eukaryotes fill a small niche. We care about complexity because we are in that niche. Phrased that way, it’s not surprising that only a single lineage fills that niche and that it took a billion years to try it.
If simple outcompetes complex, wouldn’t we expect to see more prokaryotic DNA in the biosphere? Whereas in fact we see 2-3x as much eukaryotic DNA, depending on how you count—hardly a small niche!