[Ian] Arlo, I fail to see how finding life in the Universe will be a Copernican revolution ? Surely we "know" it's there already, waiting to be found. Yawn, tell us something new ? No evidence of non-existence Arlo, lack of evidence of existence. Your logic is slipping.
[Arlo] I disagree. We speculate that it is there. And many hope it is there. And logic tells us it MUST be there. But the nature of what this will mean is a mystery, and I do think will reshape how we see ourselves (imagine if man does find itself at the hands of a species that considers us to be no greater than we consider ants). [Ian] Contact is a different matter. The revolution would be if they were an evolved intelligence and "taught" us something culturally [Arlo] Well, forgive me. I was thinking more along of the lines of contact than remote evidence. [Ian] Seriously Arlo, I think you have to find a better argument than arrogance for some of the more sophisticated AP's concerning the fine-tuning arguments. You're not arguing with Platt or Ham here ;-) [Arlo] I'm not arguing with anybody. What is the point of contention here? That I do not see the cosmos as being "perfectly balanced for life"? Sorry Ian, until we have more solid evidence of life "out there", I don't see our little abode here being evidence of any such thing, actually evidence to the contrary. But before you going jumping all over me here, all I did was reaffirm the Fermi Paradox, and if you think I am unaware of "sophisticated AP's" in response to that, you are wrong. [Ian] BTW I said "finely tuned" - perfectly balanced is someone else's language. [Arlo] That's even worse. At least balance suggests naturality, "finely tuned" suggests craftsmanship. But I'll ask it again, on what evidence do you make this claim? Theorizing about the vast quantities of life you "know" must be out there does not count in my book, or saying the evidence MUST be out there, we just have not found/seen it yet doesn't count either. What evidence, other than life on earth, do you base this claim on? Asteroidal microbes? So again, I'll say its the opposite. The cosmos seems "untuned" to support life, and the rarity of life suggests its is an occasional happenstance that defies the odds. Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
