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Author Topic:   Life could be abundant in the Universe
New Cat's Eye
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Message 12 of 32 (663147)
05-21-2012 6:28 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by Vanessa
05-20-2012 2:21 PM


I think one of the biggest reasons why people believe life on Earth is a 'lucky one-off' is that we don't see life on other planets. We appear to be alone in the universe. This gives support to the notion that life is arbitrary, without intent, without a plan.
I've seen more people argue that the scarcity of life suggests design than I have the above.
I don't see how the amount of life suggests either one... can you expound your argument?
Limited perception is a common feature in Nature. For example, to you and me a field is a cacophony of insect noises, but to the grasshopper, who has a very narrow auditory range, a field is a silent lonely place in which he hears his own kind. This limited perception ensures his survival - for he can identify a mate or rival at distance without the interference of other insect noises.
And we have determined things like that by reducing the limitation on our perception through technological advancement.
We are well aware of auditory spectrums, visual spectrums and it is very possible that we live within a density spectrum, in which we only perceive that which exists within our spectrum.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by a "density" spectrum? "Auditory" and "Visual" are adjectives describing what the spectrum encompasses but "density" is a noun, its a property of matter, mass per volume... how can that describe a spectrum?
Science has discovered that we only perceive 4% of our universe. That means 96% we don't perceive! We know there is 'something out there' because of how the universe and bodies in the universe 'act'.
Well, have we discovered it or are we not perceiving it? Those seem mutually exclusive.
The discovery of limited perception is important because it shows that matter acts like light and sound - there is a spectrum of perception and we only perceive that which lies within our range.
Discovering that we can only see and hear certain wavelengths of light and sound, does not necessitate that some other specific thing must also exceed our perception.
Like grasshoppers in a field, our perception could be limited by Nature to ensure our survival.
That analogy falls apart when we bypass those limitations with technology.
There could be life on other planets in our solar system, on other planets in other solar systems that exist alongside us but within different density spectra. Our limited perception then becomes an identifying feature of evolution (which again is common in Nature) in that it acts like the shell of an egg - isolating us as we develop/evolve.
So then, it seems to me that we need to focus on improving technology more so that we can then discover these life's that might exist out there.
Life could be abundant in the Universe
Yes, it could. And? Go on...

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by Vanessa, posted 05-20-2012 2:21 PM Vanessa has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 18 by Vanessa, posted 05-22-2012 1:46 PM New Cat's Eye has not replied

  
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