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Our Universe: unfit for life? (Earth just might be the exception to the rule)
Hotair ^
| 09/21/2011
| Jazz Shaw
Posted on 09/21/2011 1:09:55 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: Personal Responsibility
Odds say there is sentient life somewhere else in the universe.
We can’t rationally asses the odds because despite some imaginative guesses we don’t know how life begins. And we currently can’t imagine any kind of life except our own DNA based life though we don’t know that it’s the only basis of life.
21
posted on
09/21/2011 1:55:23 PM PDT
by
DManA
To: Moonman62
While there are probably an incredible number of planets in the Universe, the probability for conditions and the sequence of events needed for intelligent life is incredibly small.
One way to look at it is basic life vs intelligent life. We have had a good loo at 8 planets and their moons. Of those we have one direct hit (Earth) one near miss (Mars) and one probable (Europa). 2.5 out of 8 for doesn't seem like bad odds. But two could never develop advanced life. Life on Europa (if it exists) can't get out of the oceans. Life on Mars (if it ever existed) was snuffed out when the planet lost its atmosphere due to a lack of plate tectonics and strong magnetic field.
Besides in evolutionary terms being smart isn't much of an advantage. Ants are a much more successful animal group than hominids. All the tool using hominid species except one have gone extinct. And we came within a few individuals of going away after the Toba eruption There are thousands of species of ants. And none are even threatened despite our best efforts to wipe some of them out.
From an evolutionary standpoint hominids are a dead end. Always just one catastrophe from the big dark. Sponges, crabs, ants, termites and cockroaches. Now those are some serious success stories right there. Asteroids, ice ages, super volcanoes, nothing stops the bugs. Brains, in evolution it turns out they aren't all that necessary for success. In fact their requirement for high metabolism and lots of protein make them a definite liability.
22
posted on
09/21/2011 1:57:22 PM PDT
by
GonzoGOP
(There are millions of paranoid people in the world and they are all out to get me.)
To: SeekAndFind
Much speculation has been bandied about over the conditions necessary for life to arise. If no one knows what those conditions are then no one can say whether conditions somewhere else are suitable for life to begin.
It’s one thing to study an engine that is already running and quite another to figure how to build and start it up.
23
posted on
09/21/2011 1:57:45 PM PDT
by
count-your-change
(You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
To: texmexis best
I actually think the professor is wrong.
We see patterns repeated throughout the natural world, and now that we can glimpse further and further out there — into the natural universe — we continue to see patterns repeated.
Life is a part of the natural universe; we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t. There is absolutely nothing to suggest it shouldn’t fall under the same natural repetition seen in planetary systems, stars, and galaxies.
While sentient life may be rare, I think the universe is teeming with life, and that some of that life is sentient. If we’re ever fortunate enough to discover advanced life, I think we ‘ll be more amazed that it seems so familiar.
To: SeekAndFind
The odds of intelligent life developing anywhere is about the same as 100 monkeys at 100 typewriters banging out the complete works of Shakespeare before three billion years are up.
25
posted on
09/21/2011 2:03:01 PM PDT
by
Happy Rain
("Yer it!")
To: GonzoGOP
Always just one catastrophe from the big dark. Sponges, crabs, ants, termites and cockroaches. Now those are some serious success stories right there. Asteroids, ice ages, super volcanoes, nothing stops the bugs. Or Keith Richards.
I enjoyed your post.
Just for fun, look up Enceladus. Some scientists think life is more likely there than Europa.
26
posted on
09/21/2011 2:04:47 PM PDT
by
Moonman62
(The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
To: SeekAndFind
Well, first we have to find life elsewhere. Otherwise, this is just an interesting discussion.
27
posted on
09/21/2011 2:06:24 PM PDT
by
chesley
(Eat what you want, and die like a man. Never trust anyone who hasn't been punched in the face)
To: Happy Rain
RE: The odds of intelligent life developing anywhere is about the same as 100 monkeys at 100 typewriters banging out the complete works of Shakespeare before three billion years are up.
__________________________________________________________________________
What about the odds of intelligent life having developed here on earth?
To: GonzoGOP
Yeah?
But who wants to be a sponge, a crab, an ant, a termite, or God help us, a cockroach? Where’s the fun in that?
29
posted on
09/21/2011 2:15:27 PM PDT
by
chesley
(Eat what you want, and die like a man. Never trust anyone who hasn't been punched in the face)
To: SeekAndFind
What about the odds of intelligent life having developed here on earth? Call me when that happens. The definitive test will be when socialist ideas die out completely and are not just repackaged.
I won't hold my breath.
30
posted on
09/21/2011 2:19:33 PM PDT
by
chesley
(Eat what you want, and die like a man. Never trust anyone who hasn't been punched in the face)
To: Mr. K
Those were our ancestors. Every bit as smart and industrious as any people alive today, why in the world could they not figure out how to stack stone without outside help?
31
posted on
09/21/2011 2:28:21 PM PDT
by
dangerdoc
(see post #6)
To: chesley
But who wants to be a sponge, a crab, an ant, a termite, or God help us, a cockroach? Wheres the fun in that?
OK I get not wanting to be a sponge, because living next to that starfish would drive me nuts. But cockroach world domination could be quite entertaining. Kind of like San Francisco, except with lower taxes a viable economy. Seriously would you rather live next to a roach or a hippie. With the hippie you have the bad music, pot smoke, demands for high taxes, and you end up with roaches anyway. With the roaches at least you don't end up with hippies, and the impact on your property values is a lot less. And the roaches don't smell nearly as bad a hippies.
Heck giving LA or Detroit to the roaches would be a definite improvement. Finally Cyber Roach has disco lights right on his head so you know he has to be fun at a party.
32
posted on
09/21/2011 2:47:21 PM PDT
by
GonzoGOP
(There are millions of paranoid people in the world and they are all out to get me.)
To: KoRn
Venus is just on the inner edge of the solar system’s Goldilocks Zone, and Mars is just outside it.
No chance of life as we know it on Venus, despite its being almost the same size as Earth, and little chance on Mars.
To: Mr. K
I agree with your premise that sentient life exists elsewhere. The Universe is a very big place, but I personally believe that interstellar space travel is impossible and always will be so.
34
posted on
09/21/2011 2:50:45 PM PDT
by
HenpeckedCon
(What pi$$es me off the most is that POS commie will get a State Funeral!)
To: GonzoGOP
Well, you’re right, of course. The cockroach is not only cleaner than the hippie, but more intelligent and less annoying. That last applies to any liberal, naturally, even if they are a little cleaner.
35
posted on
09/21/2011 4:11:29 PM PDT
by
chesley
(Eat what you want, and die like a man. Never trust anyone who hasn't been punched in the face)
To: SeekAndFind
To: SeekAndFind
Examine this statement:
Evolution doesnt lead to complex life forms: evolution leads to well-adapted life forms.
First off, I am not sure it means anything. It is simply redefining "evolution" as "adaptation".
Living things adapt to the varying dynamics of external and internal drivers within an ecological system. Just as a designer evolves his designs as the system and it's purpose and needs are understood, as the practical realities impacting the designed thing are discovered, living things also evolve within their wide-abilities as built in by their Creator. And sometimes, rarely, our Creator, the Everpresent, reaches right in and modifies the designed artifact. At all times the design reflects the intent and creations of the Designer.
37
posted on
09/21/2011 4:23:00 PM PDT
by
bvw
To: HenpeckedCon
only by physics that we know right now- and we do not know a lot
FTL travel is mathematically possible
And besides- Bob Lazaar worked on FTL alien spacecraft at Groom Lake
38
posted on
09/21/2011 4:40:55 PM PDT
by
Mr. K
(Palin/Bachman 2012- unbeatable ticket~!!!)
To: sodpoodle
39
posted on
09/21/2011 4:43:15 PM PDT
by
Mr. K
(Palin/Bachman 2012- unbeatable ticket~!!!)
To: sodpoodle
I am going to prove time travel is possible - I am going to go back in time and post BEFORE this...
40
posted on
09/21/2011 4:44:14 PM PDT
by
Mr. K
(Palin/Bachman 2012- unbeatable ticket~!!!)
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