Is Life a Random Pattern?

Have you ever had those crazy thoughts that give you an existential crisis at a fundamental level? Or perhaps a deep, dark feeling of wondering what the hell humans are doing in this vast universe? On the flip side, have you ever experienced a positive, liberating thought that nothing in this universe matters at all and you should live each moment to the fullest rather than constantly worrying about finding a reason for your existence?

I often have these thoughts and want to share them, hoping to find out if others out there have similar musings.

Randomness

Everything we see around us, including ourselves, is fundamentally made up of atoms driven by quantum forces. A random planet in a remote galaxy might have mountains, oceans, or exotic materials, but these are still governed by the same chemistry, physics, and math. It's as if there are incredibly simple rules, defined by gravity and other fundamental forces, that dictate the interactions between every single bit of information at the smallest level.

With this in mind, I often wonder: life as we know it — carbon-based existence on Earth — has fundamentally been about reproducing and spreading information through life as a medium. Every living thing, whether sentient or non-sentient, unicellular or plant, is driven to reproduce and pass on genes for ultimate survival (with a few outliers). But what, at a very fundamental level, is driving this? We are a pattern of information trying to reproduce and prolong its existence. But why? What motivates this pattern to reproduce itself? Is the constant replication of a pattern a random event, and is our life just one of those coincidences? Who or what sets the rules for this pattern to sustain for eternity? This reproduction doesn't seem to be influenced solely by the fundamental nature of forces — or is it? There must be either something beyond our comprehension, or this process itself — a random pattern reproducing itself for eternity — is a random event. I lean towards the latter, as the former requires blind belief in a god-like concept.

This theory might also explain the Fermi paradox: why haven't we encountered other life forms or sentient beings in the universe? It's hard to grasp that a random set of bits or information in the universe somehow wants to keep spreading its pattern and, on a macro level, fight for its survival for eternity.

To understand this concept, let's take an example. If I were trying to simulate life in a game, I would set some base mathematical rules to govern the physics, chemistry, and biology of the simulation and introduce a few groups of patterns that share a lot in common at the beginning. To make the simulation interesting, I'd introduce a few local influencing variables to let these patterns evolve. After many iterations (the passage of time), these initial groups of patterns may or may not be affected by the influencing variables and would end up in some unique state. But how would you make these patterns self-conscious or selfish? You'd need to add some game logic that rewards the patterns for surviving until the end, along with an awareness of the game's goal. After much trial and error, the patterns would learn that reproduction and adapting to new variables improve their chances of winning.

From this simulation, we understand that a goal is essential for the patterns to have motivation. Without it, why would a pattern continue to reproduce? If these patterns reproduce without any introduced game logic, it must be a random event, right? So by this logic, is our entire life a random event with no end goal? Or is it a physical phenomenon with a purpose? If it's the latter, who decided that end goal? Was that decision itself a random event? If yes, then we're back to the same problem. Arrrrghhhhh!