, and the tape records all the operations necessary for that
production. After that, the operator needs only to insert the metal
stock and press the start button.

"There could be a million memories in storage, and the lathe could draw
on any one of them to repeat what it had done before at any time in its
history."

"I don't see what this has got to do with Sam and you," said Fenwick.

Baker ignored him. "A long time ago a bit of life came into existence.
It had no memory, because it was the first. But it faced the universe
and made decisions. That's the difference between life and nonlife. Did
you know that, Fenwick? The capacity to make decisions without
pre-programming. The lathe is not alive because it must be
pre-programmed by the operator. We used to say that reproduction was the
criterion of life, but the lathe could be pre-programmed to build a
duplicate of itself, complete with existing memories, if that were
desired, but that would not make it a living thing.

"Spontaneous decision. A single cell can make a simple binary choice.
Maybe nothing more complex than to be or not to be. The decision may be
conditioned by lethal circumstances that permit only a 'not' decision.
Nevertheless, a decision _is_ made, and the cell shuts down its life
processes in the very instant of death. They are not shut down for it.

"In the beginning, the first bit of life faced the world and made
decisions, and memory came into being. The structures of giant protein
molecules shifted slightly in those first cells and became a memory of
decisions and encounters. The cells split and became new pairs carrying
in each part giant patterned molecules of the same structure. These were
memory tapes that grew and divided and spread among all life until they
carried un-numbered billions of memories.

"Molecular tapes. Genes. The memory of life on earth, since the
beginning. Each new piece of life that springs from parent life comes
equipped with vast libraries of molecular tapes recording the
experiences of life since the beginning.

"Life forms as complex as mammals could not exist without this tape
library to draw upon. The bodily mechanisms could not function if they
came into existence without the taped memories out of the ages,
explaining why each organ was developed and how it should function.
Sometimes, part of the tapes _are_ missing, and the organism, if it
endures, must live without instructions for some function. One human
l