All life on earth is made up of intelligent single cell organisms, whose only desire is life.
It cares not where, nor how, it just knows that it will find a way to adapt and keep on living.
Scientists talk of mutation, where random changes are made, and those that work best are kept, because the creature lives.
While some of this is true, most 'mutation' is a willing change by the individual cells to adapt to new environments and find a way to survive.
There are creatures in the ocean that spend part of their life like a plant, with roots in the bottom, and stalks.
Later, they pull up root, so to speak, and change into a snakelike creature that swims through the ocean.
Rhinoceros beetles decide how to make their 'armor' look. It doesn't just grow, they participate in exactly how it (the chitin) grows.
A virus enters the body and makes up a combination of molecules(chemicals) shaped like various keys or geometric shapes, that will enter a normal cell, lock into place, and disable it. They do this without before running into the first normal cell. They know what and how to make the 'keys' before they get to the lock. Pretty smart, huh?
A human changes according to the way we think about ourselves and see ourselves. Our intelligence is made up of the collective intelligence of each individual cell.
The first creature on Earth, the oldest, and the most in number, is the same creature we are, and are made of.
Eukaryotes.
P.S. Sorry, the PROKARYOTES were first. The Eukaryotes were second, having an internal engine (nucleus) which the PK's don't. A Eukaryote is a prokaryote with a booster engine.
They helped convert the atmosphere so further life could develop.
They are our God, but who created them?