History Main / SpontaneousGeneration

See also LoveImbuesLife. Supertrope to ItCameFromTheFridge.

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* An episode of ''HistoryBites'' explained spontaneous generation to the audience of a kids' show hosted by Peter Oldring and Squeakus the Mouse.

It should be noted that anabiosis, the ''extremely'' simple chemical processes scientists propose as the origins of life, is ''not'' the same as spontaneous generation, the emergence of complex organisms from non-lang matter, such as maggots forming from rotting flesh or truffles from small rocks. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement So don't even go there. Just don't.]]

* ''JourneyToTheWest'' gives us Sun Wukong, who hatched full-grown from a giant stone egg. [[BellisariosMaxim Not much detail is given as to how or why this happens.]]

[[AC:NorseMythology]]
* In NorseMythology, life began when the warm air of Muspelheim hit the cold ice of Niflheim, creating the giant Ymir and the cow Audhumla. Other giants grew from Ymir's sweat and Bori, the first of the gods, appeared from Audhumla's salt lick. Fun times.

[[AC:ClassicalMythology]]

[[AC:EgyptianMythology]]

It should be noted that anabiosis, the ''extremely'' simple chemical processes scientists propose as the origins of life is ''not'' the same as spontaneous generation, the emergence of complex organisms from non-lang matter, such as maggots forming from rotting flesh or truffles from small rocks. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement So don't even go there. Just don't.]]

It should be noted that the ''extremely'' simple chemical processes scientists propose as the origins of life are ''not'' the same as maggots forming from rotting flesh, let alone a chicken popping out of a pile of primordial sludge. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement So don't even go there. Just don't.]]

* Pasteur at one point proved ''himself'' wrong, if [[http://www.whale.to/a/b/pearson.html this]] is any guide. Pasteur apparently found life spawning from compost, but decided "only the Creator-God had ever exercised the power to convert the inanimate into the living" and suppressed his own work.
** Given that the author of that book strenuously defended the (proven wrong) theory that microorganisms were not agents of disease at all but mere "scavengers" that happened to be present in sick people, I would not give much credence to whatever he wrote in a book originally titled "Pasteur: Plagiarist, Imposter" ...

* Pasteur at one point proved ''himself'' wrong, if this ([[http://www.whale.to/a/b/pearson.html]]) is any guide. Pasteur apparently found life spawning from compost, but decided "only the Creator-God had ever exercised the power to convert the inanimate into the living" and suppressed his own work.

* Pasteur at one point proved ''himself'' wrong, if this ([[http://www.erratum.org/datas/SPIRIT-PHILO-THEORY/50%20Things%20Youre%20Not%20Supposed%20To%20Know%20-%20Russ%20Kick.pdf]]) is any guide. Pasteur apparently found life spawning from compost, but decided "only the Creator-God had ever exercised the power to convert the inanimate into the living" and suppressed his own work.

* Greek philosopher Creator/{{Aristotle}}, and by extension, his massive slavish medieval following, believed that insects had no parents, but were born right out of mud, corpses, etc.

Funny thing, science. For ages, there was no certain way of determining that maggots grew from eggs laid by flies, so it was generally assumed [[HandWave they arose naturally]] from putrefying meat and other sources. It was a different time then-- heavier rocks fell faster; bloodletting cured illness; ect.

* Fictional example. In ''BabylonFive'', Lorien claims that his entire super advanced species was created spontaneously by the universe. He might have just been metaphorical about it, though.

Funny thing, science. For ages, there was no certain way of determining that maggots grew from eggs laid by flies, so it was generally assumed [[HandWave they arose naturally]] from putrefying meat and other sources. It was a different time then-- heavier rocks fell faster; bloodletting cured illness; we didn't know Film/SoylentGreen was people!

** Some of his semen also fell on the earth, i.e. his wife/mother ''Gaia'', and made yet more offspring, which is somewhat more borderline SpontaneousGeneration, as godly gametes ''were'' at work, and wombs weren't considered more than passive vessels for male-contributed genes.

Funny aside: SpontaneousGeneration is an ancient example of ArtisticLicenceBiology. It makes it possible for living things to spring up from non-living-- or at least non-''fecund''-- things through [[AWizardDidIt a vague and inexplicable process]]. It's most noticeable in myths-- creation myths generally have no choice but to resort to this explanation for the First Mover that comes into existence after chaos. However, some scientists continued to believe in spontaneous generation of small creatures (e.g., flies appearing on carrion) up until the 18th century or so, when experiments with sterile, vacuum-sealed containers disproved it for good.

Funny aside: SpontaneousGeneration is an ancient example of YouFailBiologyForever. It makes it possible for living things to spring up from non-living-- or at least non-''fecund''-- things through [[AWizardDidIt a vague and inexplicable process]]. It's most noticeable in myths-- creation myths generally have no choice but to resort to this explanation for the First Mover that comes into existence after chaos. However, some scientists continued to believe in spontaneous generation of small creatures (e.g., flies appearing on carrion) up until the 18th century or so, when experiments with sterile, vacuum-sealed containers disproved it for good.

* Fictional example. In [[BabylonFive Babylon 5]] Lorien claims that his entire super advanced species was created spontaneously by the universe. He might have just been metaphorical about it, though.

* JourneyToTheWest gives us Sun Wukong, who hatched full-grown from a giant stone egg. [[BellisariosMaxim Not much detail is given as to how or why this happens.]]
* An episode of HistoryBites explained spontaneous generation to the audience of a kids' show hosted by Peter Oldring and Squeakus the Mouse.
* Fictional example from the Literature/{{Discworld}} is the Dwarf god Tak.

* In the original Sims, all the Sims had to do in order to make a baby (before expansion packs and later editions with the [[IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow "Woo Hoo" function]] came out) was kiss passionately, and suddenly a baby bassinet would arrive in a shower of daisies.

See also LoveImbuesLife.

* Pasteur at one point proved ''himself'' wrong, if this ([[http://www.erratum.org/datas/SPIRIT-PHILO-THEORY/50%20Things%20Youre%20Not%20Supposed%20To%20Know%20-%20Russ%20Kick.pdf]]) is any guide. Pasteur apparently found life spawning from compost, but decided "only the Creator-God had ever exercised the power to convert the
inanimate into the living" and suppressed his own work.

* Aphrodite, among others, sprung into existence when sky-god Uranus's newly liberated ballsack hit sea foam. '''Ouch.''' (Thanks to his son/brother Cronus.)

* Fictional example from the {{Discworld}} is the Dwarf god Tak.

[[AC: Film]]
* In ''Film/TronLegacy'', the Isos spontaneously generated themselves from the Sea of Simulation and became an unknown, uncontrollable factor on the Grid. Flynn was thrilled, but his administrator / counterpart Clu viewed them as a threat, setting into motion the events of the film.

* In the original Sims, all the Sims had to do in order to make a baby (before expansion packs and later editions with the [[IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow "Woo Hoo" function]] came out) was kiss passionately, and suddenly a baby bassinet would arrive in a shower of daisies.

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<<|YouFailBiologyForever|>>

* The aspect of the Big Bang theory that draws the most questions is where the original particle came from. Since the possibility of eternal recurrences became widely acknowledged, consensus among proponents is that it came from the Big Crunch at the end of a previous universe. That's not the only explanation out there, however.