> > [Krimel] > > > I seriously can't imagine anyone who studies biology or basic > > > physics failing to understand that life on earth is a direct result > > > of the constant influx of solar radiation on our planet's surface.
mel: That life requires energy gradients on which to base ongoing metabolism is certainly true, but solar energy is not exclusive. Most of the current regime of life is solar oriented, true. But, there is an implication in the above sentence that this MUST be so. Presuming I did not mis-read that implication, I disagree. While of course all elements, trans-hydrogen were birthed in the bellies of stars, there were indications that the oldest families of life so far identified on earth may bear more resemblance to the extremophile bacteria around fumarole vents in the ocean, where conditions more closely approximate those present at the likely time of the first stirrings of life. ( Based on sulfur compounds of deep earth-crust origin for energy, not sun-kissed carbon.) [okay, I'm a geek] [Krimel] True enough the evolution of life in the heat vents is my own current favorite theory for the origin of life but it does not run counter to the laws of thermodynamics and it is not something in nature struggling against the laws of nature as Pirsig portrays the situation. mel: First, carbon is the definition of organic-- there is no 'inorganic carbon'. [Krimel] There is in the MoQ. Carbon and its compounds are classified as inorganic. The problem with Pirsig's levels are most obvious at the intellectual level but they are there up and down the ladder. mel: Seems to me the term "supernatural" should have been long ago retired. In place we ought to consider, analogous to visible light in the the E-M Spectrum, that we have always lived in a very narrow band of a far larger continuum of a "spectrum of existence" that we are really only just beginning to explore. [Krimel] So you think we are on the verge of discovering our superpowers or something? All we have to do is burst out of the narrow spectrum of our existence? Isn't death what lies beyond the narrow spectrum? 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/
