We may not find ET after all..

[qso1]

alokmohan:<br />I am as optimistic on Lunar tourism as on<br /><br />Me:<br />I wasn't able to go to your link. I typed in a cryonics link but I see what your saying. Lunar tourism may or may not happen. Mainly depends on whether private industry/enterprise can make it economically sustainable with large profits. At any rate, if it were to happen. I'd guess it to be at least half a century or more from now. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

he origin of life is one of the great unsolved problems of science. Nobody knows how, where or when life originated. About all that is known for certain is that microbial life had established itself on Earth by about three and a half billion years ago. In the absence of hard evidence of what came before, there is plenty of scope for disagreement.<br /><br />Thirty years ago the prevailing view among biologists was that life resulted from a chemical fluke so improbable it would be unlikely to have happened twice in the observable universe. That conservative position was exemplified by Nobel Prize–winning French biologist Jacques Monod, who wrote in 1970: “Man at last knows that he is alone in the unfeeling immensity of the universe, out of which he emerged only by chance.†In recent years, however, the mood has shifted dramatically. In 1995 renowned Belgian biochemist Christian de Duve called life “a cosmic imperative†and declared “it is almost bound to arise†on any Earth-like planet. De Duve’s statement reinforced the belief among astrobiologists that the universe is teeming with life. Dubbed biological determinism by Robert Shapiro of New York University, this theory is sometimes expressed by saying that “life is written into the laws of nature.â€<br /><br />How can scientists determine which view is correct? The most direct way is to seek evidence for life on another planet, such as Mars. If life originated from scratch on two planets in a single solar system, it would decisively confirm the hypothesis of biological determinism. Unfortunately, it may be a long time before missions to the Red Planet are sophisticated enough to hunt for Martian life-forms and, if they indeed exist, to study such extraterrestrial biota in detail.<br /><br />An easier test of biological determinism may be possible, however. No planet is more Earth-like than Earth itself, so if life does emerge readily under terrestrial conditions, then perhaps it formed many times on ou

 

[shadow735]

someday some klingons will be flying thru space and need some target practice, this is voyagers fate..... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[tom_hobbes]

Fascinating article Alok, Thanks. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#339966"> I wish I could remember<br /> But my selective memory<br /> Won't let me</font><font size="2" color="#99cc00"> </font><font size="3" color="#339966"><font size="2">- </font></font><font size="1" color="#339966">Mark Oliver Everett</font></p><p> </p> </div>

 

[vandivx]

bottom line is nobody knows how life has originated or how common or rare it may be in universe, all options are still open and we can only guess but cannot be sure<br /><br />if we should discover microbial life tomorrow on Mars say it will likely prove to be only a pointer and will leave lots wanting, also we still won't know how it is with life out there around other stars and generally in universe and if the solar system might have been seeded with life from outside via comets<br /><br />comet to think of that, could comets arrive here from the neighborhood of other nearby stars? are they galactic wide phenomenon or are they indigenous to each star system? I suspect very much the latter menaning finding life around other star would prove to have independent origin<br /><br />the life in solar system if we find anything on other planets will probably be found to have common basis because of meteor(oid?) exchange btw planets and microbial life would be sort of unsatisfying because even scientists won't be able to guess what kind of macroscopic life it might have given rise to<br /><br />also while it seems logical that life develops from microbial stage to plants (??) and animals I wouldn't be surprised to learn one day that is mistaken notion and the implication of that would be enormous TBS<br /><br />vanDivX <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

Hobbes thank you.

 

[siarad]

Interesting article thanks alokmohan