I get more convinced as time passes, that we *will*
find either active or fossil life forms on Mars in my lifetime.
Don't kid yourself Mark,
Did you ever do that calculation in physics where you If not, it works out that
the chances are that you
have to leave the box for something like 10^20 times
longer than the universe has been around for to have a
chance of it happening or something ridiculous like
that. My point is that random chemical production of complex
amino acids is one thing but DNA is quite the other
and how it manages to develop from a molecule to
sentience is off any scale.
Completely agree - but we're here to argue about it, right? So, given
the universe has a greater than zero chance of life emerging (which I
hope we can all agree on, even on metlist), it either happens in a tiny
fraction of potential cases, or we're unique. Since I specifically
mentioned Mars, I'd argue that the chances are somewhat higher than
(arbitrarily) 10^20, because we share a common environment. I'm not
positing panspermia (nor ruling it out); just noting the fact that we
have a stable single star, a habitable zone which extended further out
in geological time, and demonstrably a place where the right stuff
emerged to do it at least once. I think Mars is a hot bet, and getting
hotter by the year :)
A group of British scientists predicted finding life
on extrasolar planets in the next 10 years in the last
week. How presumptious is this???
Probably pretty presumptious, I agree; but this species does tend to
get a little excitable on this topic. I offer myself as a type specimen
in evidence ;)
You really have to believe that life will form wherever it can which is not the
same as life finding a way to hang on
Personally, I do believe that life will form, a lot of the time, in an
environment where the conditions are right. You're completely right in
about 'forming' vs 'hanging on' in a place where it's close to extant
life, like sulphur vents vs rainforests - but as I say above, narrow the
field of view. Maybe in our solar system, Mars is the sulphur vent to
our rainforest?
I REALLY think it will be. (ohhh, geez, I hope proof isn't found next week)
I'll happily join you in humble pie and a decent pint if we ever get
proof either way :) Hell, I'll buy you a pint anyway and we can argue
till the cows come home 8)
Best
Mark
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