1haydninvienna
Why Extraterrestrial Life May Not Seem Entirely Alien.
I've added the book to my wishlist.
UPDATE: Bought it.
I've added the book to my wishlist.
UPDATE: Bought it.
2stellarexplorer
The article is interesting. I thought from the title this was going to go in a different direction. Life on Earth is built primarily from many of the simplest and most abundant atoms in the universe: hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus. We see this in the wider universe, and there’s every reason to believe alien life would have started based on these abundant building blocks.
But the author is going in a different direction. The physical principles governing work and evolution are likely to be the same, so we should see life using parallel strategies to succeed. Wings to fly, photoreceptors to interpret light signals, etc.
Interesting and plausible. On the other hand, I keep thinking that you don’t know what you don’t know. I wonder if a broadening of the imagination could arrive at entirely different strategies, ones entirely foreign to us and to the direction of life on Earth. And might there be forms of life so alien we wouldn’t even recognize them as life? I would love to stay around long enough to find out, but that’s life!
But the author is going in a different direction. The physical principles governing work and evolution are likely to be the same, so we should see life using parallel strategies to succeed. Wings to fly, photoreceptors to interpret light signals, etc.
Interesting and plausible. On the other hand, I keep thinking that you don’t know what you don’t know. I wonder if a broadening of the imagination could arrive at entirely different strategies, ones entirely foreign to us and to the direction of life on Earth. And might there be forms of life so alien we wouldn’t even recognize them as life? I would love to stay around long enough to find out, but that’s life!
3spiralsheep
>1 haydninvienna: Thanks for the link. It was interesting.
>2 stellarexplorer: I recently read Becky Chambers' novella To Be Taught If Fortunate and it explores some of the more alien-to-us possibilities for life on other planets, allowing for the basic building blocks and physics and other necessities that are the mothers of invention or, in this case, evolution.
>2 stellarexplorer: I recently read Becky Chambers' novella To Be Taught If Fortunate and it explores some of the more alien-to-us possibilities for life on other planets, allowing for the basic building blocks and physics and other necessities that are the mothers of invention or, in this case, evolution.
4pgmcc
>2 stellarexplorer: It would be great to get involved in the fieldwork required to gather evidence to determine the reality. :-)
5stellarexplorer
>3 spiralsheep: Thanks - look forward to checking it out
6stellarexplorer
>4 pgmcc: Where do we sign up? :-)
7pgmcc
>6 stellarexplorer: If Elon Musk gets wind of this conversation he will start collecting names straight away.
9pgmcc
>8 DugsBooks: When does the field-trip start? I will bring a packed lunch.
You’re taking me back to my Geology studies in the 1970s.
:-)
You’re taking me back to my Geology studies in the 1970s.
:-)
Devenir membre pour poster.
