“That many bodies, of various kinds and shapes, are borne by amputation from the infinite, into a vast vacuum; and then, they being collected together, produce one vortex; according to which they, dashing against one another, and whirling about in every direction, are separated in such a way that like attaches itself to like. But as they are all of equal weight, when by reason of their number they are no longer able to whirl about, the thin ones depart into the outer vacuum, as if they bounded through, and the others remain behind, and becoming entangled with one another, run together, and produce a sort of spherical shaped figure. This subsists as a kind of membrane; containing within itself bodies of every kind; and as these are whirled about so as to revolve according to the resistance of the centre, the circumambient membrane becomes thin, since bodies are without ceasing, uniting according to the impulse given by the vortex; and in this way the earth is produced, since these bodies which have once been brought to the centre remain there.” — Diogenes Laertius, *Lives of Eminent Philosophers*, Book IX, *Life of Leucippus*, III (trans. C. D. Yonge, 1853) **Surface Gloss:** Worlds form mechanically when a swarm of atoms cuts loose from the infinite into empty space, forms a whirlpool that sorts shapes like-to-like, and weaves an outer spherical membrane that traps a dense core at the centre. **The Vortex-and-Membrane Generator**: You don't need a central planner to build a complex, differentiated structure out of raw chaos. You need three mechanical conditions: (1) an isolated batch of varied parts ("amputation from the infinite"), (2) high-frequency rotational collision ("the vortex") that sorts like-to-like by geometry, and (3) a semi-permeable boundary ("the membrane") that retains dense core elements while shedding incompatible noise.
— In our words · Source: Lives of Eminent Philosophers (Diogenes Laertius)