[mindburglar]

They’re already here. Mining our phosphorus.

[Yo-Yo]

Aliens would never know what a CRT is.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

"Whether a life-form is based upon carbon or silicon makes no fundamental difference!"

[I want the USA back]

No wonder the mother ship send down a probe last night, and it stole all my matches.

Complete nonsense.

[21twelve]

“Earth just happened to be in close proximity to the right kind of supernova, making it unusually lucky.”

That’s one way to put it.

On the other hand - if one believes in evolution, why would a presence of phosphorous be one of the keys? Things would just evolve differently without it.

[ClearCase_guy]

I believe mathematicians have calculated the odds of our situation — just the right kind of planet, atmosphere, sun, moon, size of moon, distance of moon, etc.

When you add up all of the very special things that are needed for us to actually exist on this planet as living beings, it becomes darn close to statistically impossible (without some like of *ahem* miracle).

And now I guess we have to factor in Phosphorus, making it that much more miraculous.

[onedoug]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

[PIF]

Substantial Lack Of Phosphorus In The Universe Makes Finding Alien Earth-like Life Unlikely

[cgbg]

Anthropomorphizing alien life is bad science, bad philosophy, and just plain stupid.

[jonno]

“Phosphorus is formed in supernovae when massive stars explode...”

So this phenomenon has been tested and verified?

Or - do the words “Scientist believe...” need to be inserted?

[JoeProBono]

[Heartlander]

What are the odds of all of this occurring as a cosmic accident?

Cosmic Constants

• Gravitational force constant
  
• Electromagnetic force constant
  
• Strong nuclear force constant
  
• Weak nuclear force constant
  
• Cosmological constant

Initial Conditions and “Brute Facts”

• Initial distribution of mass energy
  
• Ratio of masses for protons and electrons
  
• Velocity of light
  
• Mass excess of neutron over proton
• Principle of quantization
  
• Pauli Exclusion Principle

Solar System Conditions

• Near inner edge of circumstellar habitable zone
  
• Low-eccentricity orbit outside spin-orbit and giant planet resonances
  
• A few, large Jupiter-mass planetary neighbors in large circular orbits
  
• Outside spiral arm of galaxy
  
• Near co-rotation circle of galaxy, in circular orbit around galactic center
  
• Within the galactic habitable zone
  
• Human advancement occurs during the cosmic habitable age

“Local” Planetary Conditions

• Steady plate tectonics with right kind of geological interior
  
• Right amount of water in crust
  
• Sun is the right type star for life
  
• Large moon with right rotation period
  
• Stable atmosphere
  
• Proper concentration of sulfur
• Ability to create fire
  
• Right planetary mass
  
• Unique solar eclipse
  
• Cosmic shield
  
• Information rich biosphere

Human Life

• Origin of life hurdles
  
• DNA has; Functional Information - Encoder - Error Correction - Decoder
• DNA contains multi-layered information that reads both forward and backwards - DNA stores data more efficiently than anything we've created - and a majority of DNA contains metainformation
  
• Complex pieces of molecular machinery in the cell
• Human body
  
• The information enigma
  
• Morality
  
• Consciousness
  
• Free will
  
• Justice
  
• Perception
  
• Human language
  
• Recognizing art in nature
  

[fella]

We inhabit a very rare place and should stop our very childish squabbling over exercising power over our fellows.

[fruser1]

The purpose of the universe is to make lead (Pb).

[TalBlack]

Earth just happened to be in close proximity to the right kind of supernova, making it unusually lucky.

Yeah. Luck had nothing to do with it...

[Ransomed]

“Phosphorus is the 11th most common element on Earth, and it is fundamental to all living things.”

We only know of exactly one example of life existing so far and it invariably needs phosphorus, so therefore any other hypothetical life will need phosphorus? Seems like the premise is coming from an example of one.

Freegards

[ifinnegan]

“Phosphorus is one of only six chemical elements on our planet ...”

“Chemical element”?

As opposed to a non-chemical element?