CDZ Another "Evolution" Question

[Picaro]

Gives one pause when considering what humans are doing with and to life.

What I see humans doing with life is making more and more of it every day.

I seem them taking human lives to previously unimagined longevity compared to only 50 years ago.

I see literacy, empowerment. and the demise of oppressive regimes increasing every year.

I see humans living in what is statistically the most peaceful epoch in our entire history.

Is what what you see when you pause to consider what humans are doing with it?

A good and reasonable post.
It is right and proper to acknowledge these aspects, though some are highly debatable in themselves.
What disturbs and perplexes is the refusal of humanity in general to integrate what we know about our potential and the clinging to destructive mindsets and pursuits that menace existence.

Much of what we might consider destructive mindsets are responsible for where we are today. Competition and elimination are just as important for human evolution as they are for biological evolution.

The delicious human souffle many of us enjoy today contains literally billions of broken eggs,

The shell that needs breaking is the one that constrains us to the material.

As soon as we can eat, breathe, live in, play on, and pay our bills with the spiritual ... I'll vote for throwing it away.

Social evolution is just as important as the existential; without it there is no progress. Some tribes are still wandering around eating insects gathered by rolling ver logs, others send people to the moon and develop artificial hearts primarily because of 'spiritual' differences.

 

[Picaro]

Very interesting and informative comments. As to the statistical approach, there seems to be two mutually exclusive examples:

1. Enough monkeys at enough typewriters will eventaully reproduce the Encyclopedia Britannica verbatim.

2. If you take the typewriter apart and place the pieces in a washing machine, it will never be put back together.

In addition, taking statistical extrapolation to the extreme would guarantee that a duplicate Earth would exist somewhere in the universe, including all of the people on it. Is your identical double hiding somewhere out there?

Life and evolution happening completely randomly is statistically highly improbable, based on current knowledge and the premises of the current theory, which doesn't have any solid 'science' to back it, it's much more of a political belief than a scientific theory; might as well believe in magic given the mathematical probabilities. Some of us sleep just fine not knowing, others need to believe in 'evolution' in order to justify a lot of mindless self-indulgence, crank economic theories, weird fetishes, etc., and trying to get sociopathic behaviors 'normalized' via a fake veneer of 'science'.

 

[Picaro]

Carl Sagan once noted that if there is intelligent life out there, we shouldn't be in any kind of a hurry to find it, because there is little or no reason to assume it will be friendly.

 

[Mac1958]

I am not opposed to the theory of evolution or any other scientific inquiry, but I was pondering the fact that we have not discovered any evidence of life on other planets in our solar system. It seems curious that truly spontaneous life would be so limited to a unique set of conditions that exist only on Earth. In addition, it appears probable that at least 99.99% of the universe is utterly devoid of any life forms. What does this say about the Big Bang theory? Was an inevitable development of life built into this process, or is it a unique response to a unique set of conditions that exist only on Earth?

As we understand it, so far, life requires water as one of its basic elements, and only Earth, Venus and Mars could potentially harbor life in our solar system. Venus' hyper-global warming has sent temperatures to 900 degrees, robbing it of any water. It does appear that Mars had water at one time, but it lost its atmosphere.

So, where else in our tiny little solar system. It's possible that two moons of Saturn, Titan and Enceladus, probably have liquid water under their ice, warmed by their cores. And that's where we are looking locally. We'll see. One day. Not soon.

It is estimated that there are maybe 1 septillion (that's a one followed by 24 zeros) stars, or solar systems, in the observable universe. There is simply no way to know, nor will there ever be, how much life is out there.

However, if we discover that there is some kind of life, any kind, on either Titan or Enceladus, the likelihood of life, a shitload of it, elsewhere in the universe increases exponentially, essentially to a certainty.

There are people who don't want to believe life exists elsewhere, and their reasons are clear. But for anyone to say with certainty that it does not, is narcissistic delusion in the extreme. A few days ago, someone here wrote in another thread: "God didn't make aliens". There are no words for how shallow and ignorant that statement is.

We don't know. We probably won't know in our lifetimes. And that's okay.
.

 

[Circe]

The conditions for life on earth are very specific and of low probability.

You don't know if there is low probability. You've never been off Earth. You've never even been outside the Solar System! The universe could be over-populated with monsters of all kinds, terrible population pressure, swarming across the Galaxy.

I wish people didn't assume what they don't know.

 

[Circe]

Carl Sagan once noted that if there is intelligent life out there, we shouldn't be in any kind of a hurry to find it, because there is little or no reason to assume it will be friendly.

No, they'll be predators eager to kill us off and take the planet. That's what everyone and everything does. All life spreads as far as it possible can: Malthus.

 

[there4eyeM]

The conditions for life on earth are very specific and of low probability. They are also difficult to detect at the distances we find ourselves from other regions of the universe. Logic would say life could emerge in other places, and perhaps in unimaginable conditions. Logic could be wrong. Life could be unique to earth.
Gives one pause when considering what humans are doing with and to life.

What is the mathematical probability for life on earth? The very slightest search on the 'net will find quantities of reports, etc., bearing out the proposition that it is very improbable. So far, nothing seen indicates a serious thought that earth life was easily achieved. To tell me I don't 'know' what I say is true says I'm either a fool or liar. In this case, science was cited, not an opinion. Thus, "you don't know' could be said to anyone using science alone, not empirical evidence.
That makes "You don't know" a rather vacuous observation.

 

[rightwinger]

Carl Sagan once noted that if there is intelligent life out there, we shouldn't be in any kind of a hurry to find it, because there is little or no reason to assume it will be friendly.

No, they'll be predators eager to kill us off and take the planet. That's what everyone and everything does. All life spreads as far as it possible can: Malthus.

Not to mention virus we can’t tolerate

 

[rightwinger]

The conditions for life on earth are very specific and of low probability.

You don't know if there is low probability. You've never been off Earth. You've never even been outside the Solar System! The universe could be over-populated with monsters of all kinds, terrible population pressure, swarming across the Galaxy.

I wish people didn't assume what they don't know.

It takes exacting circumstances to enable life to survive. The more complex life, the more difficult to sustain

 

[there4eyeM]

The conditions for life on earth are very specific and of low probability.

You don't know if there is low probability. You've never been off Earth. You've never even been outside the Solar System! The universe could be over-populated with monsters of all kinds, terrible population pressure, swarming across the Galaxy.

I wish people didn't assume what they don't know.

It takes exacting circumstances to enable life to survive. The more complex life, the more difficult to sustain

Especially difficult when the life form seems bent on self destruction.

 

[fncceo]

Aliens will come to serve man ...

 

[there4eyeM]

Aliens will come to serve man ...

"

Twilight Zone", wasn't it?

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

1. Enough monkeys at enough typewriters will eventually reproduce the Encyclopedia Britannica verbatim.

Monkey Sees Only What Monkey Can Do

That lie is one of the many superficial sayings that don't take into account a deeper analysis. Even with an infinite amount of monkey literature, it will all be within a limited range that gets repeated an infinite amount of times.

 

[TNHarley]

I am not opposed to the theory of evolution or any other scientific inquiry, but I was pondering the fact that we have not discovered any evidence of life on other planets in our solar system. It seems curious that truly spontaneous life would be so limited to a unique set of conditions that exist only on Earth. In addition, it appears probable that at least 99.99% of the universe is utterly devoid of any life forms. What does this say about the Big Bang theory? Was an inevitable development of life built into this process, or is it a unique response to a unique set of conditions that exist only on Earth?

Water is the key to life

It exists in liquid form between 32 and 212 degrees F
Most planets can’t support that

that we know of

 

[TNHarley]

Rarely do i see anyone consider the possibility that Earth houses the first life in the Universe.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

I should live long enough, but when we find coral, jellyfish, octopus and shrimps in the seas of Europa I want to revisit this stupid idea of "Evolution". If it's "true", then there are no odds at all that the same types of creatures should develop on 2 separate worlds. It should be mathematically impossible, it's a number with 100,000 zeros to 1, that "Random mutations" evolved similar creatures.

But if there's an intelligence behind creation, that would be a more reasonable explanation

 

[Circe]

Rarely do i see anyone consider the possibility that Earth houses the first life in the Universe.

We're "special," are we?

 

[deanrd]

We (earth) spends more money on defending crazy religions than on understanding the Universe and how we got here.

To be fair ... the crazy religions have been around a lot longer. They have first dibs.

Longer than what? The earth?

 

[deanrd]

I should live long enough, but when we find coral, jellyfish, octopus and shrimps in the seas of Europa I want to revisit this stupid idea of "Evolution". If it's "true", then there are no odds at all that the same types of creatures should develop on 2 separate worlds. It should be mathematically impossible, it's a number with 100,000 zeros to 1, that "Random mutations" evolved similar creatures.

But if there's an intelligence behind creation, that would be a more reasonable explanation

Your ignorance is astounding. Truly mind boggling. Do you even feed yourself or do others have to do it for you?

 

[TNHarley]

Rarely do i see anyone consider the possibility that Earth houses the first life in the Universe.

We're "special," are we?

I have no idea. I like to think we are not. I just think that is a very real possibility that should be discussed.
Somewhere far away could be crawling with life as we speak. It just isnt intelligent yet.
Hopefully we will know one day.
Of course, i am always considering different possibilities. I consider us being an alien experiment a possibility lol.