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What would "primordial soup" have tasted like?
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cheese_greater lemmy.world cheese_greater@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-11
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29   Original
slazer2au lemmy.world slazer2au@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-30
#2 · Quote Reply

Vegemite. Or Marmite if you are weird.

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🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 pawb.social Kolanaki@pawb.social
Joined: 2024-10-06
#3 · Quote Reply

Chicken.

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Quilotoa lemmy.ca Quilotoa@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2025-04-01
#4 · Quote Reply

Distilled sterile water. There was nothing living in it. There was no living things before to add any flavours.

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Sludgehammer lemmy.world Sludgehammer@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-03
#5 · Quote Reply

My guess is very, very bad. It's basically a collection of random oily organic compounds with all manner of other elements mixed in. So my guess would be something like used, burnt motor oil.

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CorrectAlias piefed.blahaj.zone CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2025-07-22
#6 · Quote Reply

Distilled sterile water. There was nothing living in it. There was no living things before to add any flavours.

This implies that minerals and organic compounds have no taste, which is not the case.

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Sergio piefed.social Sergio@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-08-01
#7 · Quote Reply

Why would anyone downvote this question? It's a good one.

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crispbacon99 lemmy.zip crispbacon99@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-06-01
#8 · Quote Reply

My guess is very, very bad. It's basically a collection of random oily organic compounds with all manner of other elements mixed in. So my guess would be something like used, burnt motor oil.

Or an everything bagel

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MajorMajormajormajor lemmy.ca MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-06-12
#9 · Quote Reply

Or an everything bagel

Mmm everything oil.

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grue lemmy.world grue@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-13
#10 · Quote Reply

Seawater, probably.

5
Quilotoa lemmy.ca Quilotoa@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2025-04-01
#11 · Quote Reply

This implies that minerals and organic compounds have no taste, which is not the case.

There were very few minerals, no complex organic compounds and very few simple organic compounds in the primordial soup. I severely doubt they'd give it any taste.

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Pratai piefed.ca Pratai@piefed.ca
Joined: 2026-02-12
#12 · Quote Reply

Potatoes.

1
alow lemmy.ca alow@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2026-09-01
#13 · Quote Reply

Like nothing, as there was nothing to taste it yet.

1
Mycatiskai lemmy.ca Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-06-27
#14 · Quote Reply

A bit like pre-LUCA-um

1
codydodd lemmy.ca codydodd@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2026-08-22
#15 · Quote Reply

Like nothing, as there was nothing to taste it yet.

Not true! Flavours existed, taste buds didn't yet.

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Tollana1234567 lemmy.today Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-06-04
#16 · Quote Reply

probably poisonous, as there would be either compounds mixed into it.

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Sludgehammer lemmy.world Sludgehammer@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-03
#17 · (edited) Quote Reply

There were very few minerals, no complex organic compounds and very few simple organic compounds in the primordial soup. I severely doubt they'd give it any taste.

I think there would be plenty of complex organic molecules. I mean you basically have a planet wide Urey-Miller experiment running for millennia with no life to eat any of the molecules generated, so they'd just... build up. I can't remember where I read it (so you'll just need to take my word for it), but some scientist posited that the pre-biotic Earth's oceans may have had a foot or so of oily sludge floating on them.

But it's important to consider that, even though they aren't eaten, these generated compounds aren't just idly siting around on this pre-biotic Earth. Waves are whipping the ocean sludge into an emulsion on every shore line of the world, tide pools are filling, getting baked by the sun and then washed into the ocean again. Lightning strikes are electrolizing the sludge and lava from primordial volcanos is scorching it. Most importantly with no ozone layer the sun's UV is blasting the Earth, breaking apart molecules or crosslinking them together into new more complex molecules.

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Smaile lemmy.ca Smaile@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2026-01-28
#18 · Quote Reply

Probubly similar to sewage

2
cheese_greater lemmy.world cheese_greater@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-11
#19 · (edited) Quote Reply

Or an everything bagel

Everything bagels (fo)Я lyfe!

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TheGoldenGod lemmy.world TheGoldenGod@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-28
#20 · Quote Reply

Likely warm mineral water with a strong saline taste, a slight metallic bitterness, and possibly a sulfurous aftertaste. So nasty.

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cheese_greater lemmy.world cheese_greater@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-11
#21 · Quote Reply

I think there would be plenty of complex organic molecules. I mean you basically have a planet wide Urey-Miller experiment running for millennia with no life to eat any of the molecules generated, so they'd just... build up. I can't remember where I read it (so you'll just need to take my word for it), but some scientist posited that the pre-biotic Earth's oceans may have had a foot or so of oi...

I quite enjoyed this blurb here, fascinating stuff. I wonder if there are any documentaries about this or like Spore's Level 1 type stuff

3
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