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Author Topic:   Has there been life for 1/4 of the age of the Universe?
jar
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 44 of 114 (369902)
12-15-2006 12:39 PM
Reply to: Message 43 by Fosdick
12-15-2006 12:29 PM


Re: The odds of life are unknown
Panspermia seems to me, at least, to be mechanically simply compared to abiogenesis. But of course that is a speculative opinion.
Wouldn't panspermia simply move the question of abiogenesis off planet? Regardless of where the first life originated, at some time there was no life. Later there was life.
We will never know what life is, in a technically important way, until we know where it came from.
Does it really matter if we never find out exactly how the transition happened?
Would it not be sufficient if we can find one or more ways that it can happen?

Aslan is not a Tame Lion

This message is a reply to:
 Message 43 by Fosdick, posted 12-15-2006 12:29 PM Fosdick has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 45 by Fosdick, posted 12-15-2006 12:46 PM jar has replied
 Message 46 by Chiroptera, posted 12-15-2006 12:46 PM jar has replied

  
jar
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 47 of 114 (369907)
12-15-2006 12:52 PM
Reply to: Message 45 by Fosdick
12-15-2006 12:46 PM


Re: The odds of life are unknown
jar asked:
Does it really matter if we never find out exactly how the transition happened? Would it not be sufficient if we can find one or more ways that it can happen?
to which Hoot Mon replied:
Do you mean making life from scratch in a lab without understanding abiogenesis?
Sure. Is it likely that we will ever know for sure what happened? Would it not be more likely that all we learn is how it could happen?

Aslan is not a Tame Lion

This message is a reply to:
 Message 45 by Fosdick, posted 12-15-2006 12:46 PM Fosdick has not replied

  
jar
Member (Idle past 416 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 48 of 114 (369914)
12-15-2006 1:11 PM
Reply to: Message 46 by Chiroptera
12-15-2006 12:46 PM


Re: The odds of life are unknown
Panspermia certain expands the time window, but does not address the question of abiogenesis.
There are two possible answers though (perhaps more than two).
It could well be that given the suitable conditions, the transition of non-life to life has a very high probability. I personally think we will find that to be the case. Once the first life is produced in a lab, I expect there will be a flurry of additional methods found. That is only a personal opinion but it is based on what has happened in the past. Almost every advancement in chemistry (and in the end abiogenesis will be a chemistry issue) shows that there are multiple ways to get the same results.
A second possibility will be if we find that the conditions that do result in the transition from non-life to life are such that it could not happen on a terrestrial body. For example we may find that a condition of low gravity is needed or an absence of a magnetic field. We may even find that the type of life that results is dependent on orientation of magnetic field or gravity levels.
The key event that will support panspermia IMHO will be finding non-terrestrial life forms. It will be particularly interesting if we find life forms that are fundamentally different than the sample we know.

Aslan is not a Tame Lion

This message is a reply to:
 Message 46 by Chiroptera, posted 12-15-2006 12:46 PM Chiroptera has not replied

  
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