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Heck, you started life as a unicellular. Then you were a simple colony of related cells. Then your cells started to differentiate ...

There are simple, non-obligate colonials today. Volvox. Slime molds. They can live separately or form colonies. They can survive disassembly. Even sponges can do that. Where are you imagining the difficulty?

Heck, you started life as a unicellular. Then you were a simple colony of related cells. Then your cells started to differentiate ...

You cannot use the adaptivity of a multi-cellular organism, or the growth of a complex organism from the egg and sperm that already have the DNA coding to grow into a complex organism to explain how a single-celled organism creates an advantage by accidently sticking to its neighbor.

The slimes and sponges are multi-cellular creatures that can survive being split. They then reproduce, essentially repairing the damage from being torn apart. They also already have the DNA coding to perform this function. This is not the same as transitioning from a single cell, mutating, joining to another cell, and then realizing some advantage that makes this pair more resiliant than the single celled predecessors.

Post 182, however, does not beg the question in providing an answer. It deserves some follow-up.

I'm ok with the alternate hypothesis that the cell did not stick to a neighbor, but instead split into two cells that stuck together. Eliminates one of the two random factors that were required with my scenario. From many - one has some good points, providing a mechanism to provide a chain of cells. We do need to inspect the claim that the chain of cells absorbs nutrition more efficiently, but he's got a good start. We should postpone the light-sensitive part for a later mutation, however. This chain needs to survive, and thrive to get there.