Replication as we know it: modern cells divide by mitosis or binary fission, duplicating their internal machinery and splitting into two.
Your scenario: the first proto‑cell encounters an “empty vesicle” (like a lipid bubble) and assembles a new cell inside it by placing molecules where they belong.
This is plausible in principle: early life likely involved lipid vesicles forming spontaneously, with RNA or proteins slipping inside. A “builder” cell could have seeded another vesicle with the right toolkit.
and this is how my nightly chat with AI goes, the origin of life.
how the first living cell probably didn't divide itself but rather, built a new one in the primordial pool.
like how earth would colonize mars.