Jeff Kooistra wrote:
Somewhere, sometime intelligent life must have evolved entirely by
>natural forces. Since it happened somewhere there is no reason to think it
>did not happen again on earth.
Annoyed or not, one of the questions evolution tries to answer (or is
supposed to try to answer) is whether or not life such as we are even CAN
evolve on its own. It either can or it can't--this is a worthwhile thing
to know.
If life cannot evolve on its own, then where did the extraterrestrials come
from? Don't say "some other extraterrestrials planted the seed for them."
Somewhere back in the chain, some intelligent creature capable of
interstellar space travel must have evolved on its own, without artificial
outside influences.
One hypothesis would be that the original life form at the beginning of the
chain evolved naturally, but it is quite different from us. For some reason
it created us with biochemistry completely different from its own, that
could not have evolved independently and naturally. This is somewhat
analogous to domesticated maize (corn). Natural maize could not have seeds
jammed so closely together.
I find that hypothesis so far-fetched it is absurd. Also, it is unnecessary
because there is actually no evidence -- and no reason to think -- that
biological organs and functions did not evolve, no matter how complex they
may seem. In species still living there are precursor forms of all of the
so-called irreducibly complex organs, such as the eye.
- Jed
