How plausible is the idea that life originated only on Earth?

How plausible is the idea that life originated only on Earth?

 

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Given the statistics of the number of galaxies and stars within each... and given enlarging statistics on the fact that there are planets around other stars... i think its merely a question of probability. Yes, there is probably life elsewhere in the universe... even if its not as evolved as us... but it could probably be more evolved too. Who knows.

 

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The known universe is big damned place, with lots and lots of stars/suns, and probably with lots of planets. The odds are overwhelming that life is occuring on some of them.

I, for one, consider that if no other planet has life as we know it, then it can only be due to god, not nature.

Baron Max

 

What does one mean when they say "more evolved"?

 

People usually use that as a measure compared to how far along humans evolved. "More evolved" would mean ...further along the evolutionary scale as measured by human evolution. I.e., better than humans are at present.

Baron Max

 

I don't think evolution would have to follow the same path it has taken here on earth even given the same initial conditions and timespan. In fact I see no reason why it would even be close to the path life has taken here. There does not have to be reptiles evolving into birds and mammals etc. I don't believe in an "evolutionary scale" as you put it.

Are we the best then? Are we the pinnacle of evolution on our planet?

 

I would think so. We have reached a point where our intellectual abilities are allowing us to adapt the environment instead of adapting to it.

Now is this is actually a good thing? Perhaps not. Perhaps a more "evolved" form of life would know how to do this without damaging his own environment like we've been doing.

 

not Plausible at all...comets*.

 

Considering the size of the universe, it's highly improbable that life exists only on Earth. You have to accept that bacteria also coutns as life.

We don't know much even about our own galaxy; but that doesn't mean there's no life anywhere else out there.

 

All life on Earth is based on DNA, including these microbes found deep in the Earth.

This is an interesting concept known as the Shadow Biosphere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_biosphere
http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/shadow_biosphere.shtml
One possible shadow biosphere is a population of microorganisms which might at one time been transported from Mars to Earth, or even from Earth to Mars and back again, inside meteorites. But this is speculation, as no such shadow biosphere has been found.

Keep looking; there is plenty of good stuff on this subject; but as I said, all informed speculation.

 

History has produced RNA lifeforms

 

Yes; but none are alive at the moment. The only exceptions to the DNA rule I know of are prion-based diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and non-biological artificial lifeforms such as robots and other a-life varieties such as simulations on computer.

 

there are 7 subdivisions in virusses only 3 of them use DNA the others use RNA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DsRNA_virus

Most life however uses DNA even the sulpher breathing/eating ones

 

I gotta agree with Tristan. Especially if the universe is flat---then there are not only other life forms in the universe, but exact copies of us (probably not in our Hubble volume, though).

 

yeah if your looking at a multiverse level where there are still planets where elvis lives then their are infinite earths alone and who know how many other places

 

Not necesarily a multiverse---if the universe is flat, then it is infinite. The part of the universe we see is finite, but universe as a whole (if this is even a meaningful statement) is infinte. That means there are infinite copies of Earth, all with their own unique histories. (This is analagous to finding, say, War and Peace encoded in pi. Funny things happen at infinity---nothing is improbable anymore, and everything happens infinitely many times.)

The more interesting question is if there are any intelligent life forms in our galaxy. Does anyone know Fermi's paradox? Can anyone explain it to me?

 

Interesting; thanks.
Of couse many people, even virologists don't think of virii, or prions, as living organisms, as they can't replicate independently. But there were supposedly independently living RNA organsisms billions of years ago, according to the RNA World hypothesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNA_world_hypothesis

 

Space is soo big and and we didnt explored a 0.000000000000000000000000001 part of it so in that fact i would say there is 99% to find a one living life form somwhere it could be a microbe or virus maybe alien but it has to be

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btw (0.000000000000000000000000001 ) <---this number is from my head just.but its something near truth maybe few 0 are still missing.