Posted on 12/29/2014 7:55:13 AM PST by Salvation
A Recent Article Ponders the Rarity of Earth And How Astronomical Are the Odds Against Complex Life in the Universe!
Monsignor Pope Ping!
The big problem is this... If life is common when circumstances are right, then complex life systems should already exist, some being millions of years old. Imagine homo sapiens one million years from now... At the very least we would have invested in beacons transmitted intelligent signals to star systems with the potential for life... Where are the signals?
Amazing! Some scientists don’t like hearing that, and so they have invented ridiculous things like “the multiverse” or a “fifth dimension.”
You assume that “they” would be more or less as sophisticated as Earth. That might not be the case. You can find a dozen-odd cases where civilization on Earth might have been set back a hundred years or a thousand years....if one single event had gone in a different direction. Just imagine if the Black Plague had not finished itself off around 1666, and reoccurred another dozen times. Or if the 1918 Flu had mutated a bit and come around a second time by 1921. Or if the Soviets and the US had gotten into a nuke-fight over Cuba.
There might be a hundred more Earths out there with civilizations....but a thousand years behind us.
Science is a tool for testing the validity of theories. But there is a tendency for some to misuse it and make ridiculous comparisons in order to “disprove” the existence of God. They’ll treat religion as some kind of disease to be cured, as if science is somehow a suitable replacement. Wasn’t Nazi Germany the most scientifically enlightened society of its day? That certainly turned out well.
It’s pretty hard to speculate when you are working off of an example of one. For instance:
“It is in a “habitable zone” in the galaxy. Radiation and the presence of wandering planetoids make life closer to the center of galaxies unlikely.”
That is only true if life is similar to us. So far we only have one example of life, us. It’s fine to suppose that all life would be vulnerable to high intensity cosmic radiation, as we are. But it’s still a supposition based on an example of exactly one.
Freegards
The big problem is this... If life is common when circumstances are right, then complex life systems should already exist, some being millions of years old. Imagine homo sapiens one million years from now... At the very least we would have invested in beacons transmitted intelligent signals to star systems with the potential for life... Where are the signals?
...
The Fermi Paradox.
Also imagine where our technology will be thousands of years from now, or even millions.
There are also possible psychological factors. It’s hard for us to imagine a super advanced civilization that wouldn’t at least send out probes or even utilize FTL communication if they had the means to do so, because that’s the way we are. But maybe that would never occur to them, or the desire to explore is an ultra rare trait.
Another possibility is that once a species gets so advanced that they do something noticeable, they get stepped on by something. That’s the Berserker explanation.
FReegards
Just imagine if the Black Plague had not finished itself off around 1666, and reoccurred another dozen times.
...
It’s believed that there were less than 1000 modern humans at one time.
There could be anything, or nothing. The point is that evolutionists offer the examples that point to life as being ubiquitous. If it is that, then complex life should be inevitable in many instances. Some of that life would have acquired complexity millions of years ago. Imagine us in a million years... Will we still be held captive by our solar system? On the contrary, we’ll be leaving within 500 years, which is a mere blip in cosmological time. WHERE ARE THE ANCIENT ONES? They should be here by now.
I enjoy "What if" alternate histories... like "What would have happened if the Mongols had not turned back before invading Western Europe?"
This thread is kinda like that.
The argument that life is rare cuts both ways:
(1) to the believer, it affirms that life is a miracle; that God loves us and must surely have providentially designed the universe for our benefit.
(2) to the non-believer, it affirms that life is an accident, and the continuation of life tenuous.
Hence, the post-Christian world dwells on man-made climate change or rather a series of catastrophe stories whereby life “as we know it” comes to an end. Pope Francis, in throwing his lot in with the progressive socialists on matters of economics and science, shows that he doesn’t really believe in God.
Praise God, the King of universe, who has preserved us alive and sustained us, who not only revealed himself to us in the Law, but provided for us a Redeemer!
The late Dr. D. James Kennedy wrote a tract about the absolute astronomical uniqueness of planet Earth as the only place in the universe with a myriad of circumstances essential for sustaining life, and if but one of those was missing, life would be impossible.
I read this as a Catholic, and Dr. Kennedy’s theorem confirms beyond any doubt the existence of God and His divine Purpose in ordering the physical world.
Good to read Monsignor Pope affirming the same truth.
(2) to the non-believer, it affirms that life is an accident, and the continuation of life tenuous.
...
Why is it when a gem or metal is rare, it’s precious, but not so with humans?
But let's say that earth and humans are a rarity. How rare are you thinking? 1 in a million? 1 in a billion?
There could be anything, or nothing. The point is that evolutionists offer the examples that point to life as being ubiquitous. If it is that, then complex life should be inevitable in many instances.
...
Do they? If we take an objective measure of life such as a ratio of biomass to mass, life is very rare, even here on Earth.
I think that science and religion seek to answer fundamentally different questions, and that to use arguments from the one to address issues in the other is a badly misguided exercise.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.