Consequences of a two-dimensional universe on cells and life

Suppose you have a 2+1 dimensional universe where the physics of that universe (we'll assume that the physics causes something similar to chemistry and that there is no gravity, but there is special relativity) allows life in the form of single cells to form. This universe will also be finite in space. Not that it has an edge, but more that it curves in on itself to form a sphere in three dimensions. The scale of this sphere would be pretty big relative to the sizes of the "atoms" of that universe so the large-scale positive curvature of space won't be significant at the scales we are talking about. My questions can basically be summed up by "what are the consequences?" Here are my questions:

• Is it possible for a self-replicating cell (that means it has a membrane or some form of protection, it has "string-like instruction molecules" and it has molecules to carry out these instructions at the minimum) to be able to exist and function properly?
• If it can (I think it would be able to), would this cell be able to evolve?
• If this cell can evolve, is multicellular life a possibility? (e.g. 2-eyed creatures moving around with flippers and eating bits of edible material with mandibles or something like that)

I understand this question may be a bit broad, but I don't have many ways of narrowing it down due to it being highly theoretical. However, the sorts of answers I am looking for are things like:

• Fundamental problems/challenges that specifically 2 dimensional life would have to overcome
• Consequences of the properties of the universe that could heavily impact supposed two-dimensional life
• Side-effects affecting life
• How realistic life's existence in this universe would be

posted over 8 years ago

god of llamas‭

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