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Hi
JohnM,
Hmm, I am
surprised you would consider the exploration for life elsewhere as
"navelgazing". To me, finding living organisms on another planet would be
a significant and amazing discovery. Even the discovery of life around the
ocean floor vents and other extremophile life strikes me as profoundly
intrinsically interesting and important for science.
Also, as we
inevitably push outwards in our explorations to other planets, it behooves us to
be aware of what other organisms might exist so that: 1) if we
do return samples from other planets that we do not inadvertently bring
back extraterrestrial organisms which could be infectious or otherwise
devastating to our biosphere, and 2) conversely, that we do not inadvertently
infect that planet with organisms of Earth-origin that might devastate that
biosphere.
I think the
hypothetical question I posed also has some broader implications:. Two that
come to mind are:
- What would it
mean to be able to detect things like 'metabolism' and 'repair'? What
would constitute the observables our test equipment would have to look
for? (This seems closely related to the recent topic of 'process'.)
- Test equipment
that is a mechanism (in the Rosennean sense) could certainly be built to
detect various aspects of life, but can a mechanism detect a complex
system, or can the complexity in a system (e.g., the closed
loops of functional organization in an organism) only be
detected by another complex system?
Regards,
Tim
I find the ET life question and 'test(?)' a
typical "SOWHAT?".
We have ~10-~14b years backwards to match OUR
status with others in the universe and andother ~200+b years ahead. You,
math.-impaired minds, find out the timing probability of these 1-2 centuries
to match any other occurrence. Then the quality?? If we restrict ourselves to
the terrestrial chemistry, we can find at least 25 atoms to build
self-propagating constructs with. Restrict the physical processes as well, not
to our 1910, or 2o10, but the today's level, we have 3 type waves to bank on.
Temperature, gravity, time-flow, mental buildup, all have to match.
How long does a letter take to travel by 'less
than lightspeed', to the nearest solar-system planet? 140 years one way? I'll
wait.
I suggest to budget the money instead of that
navelgazing social entertainment to building better flood-dams.
John M.
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