Earth the Progenerator

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by Epictetus, May 2, 2012.

  1. Epictetus here & now Registered Senior Member

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    I believe that life is probably rampant throughout the universe and that wherever it can possibly exist, it probably does, and that if/when we ever breakout and make it to outer space we will wonder at the diversity and often not even recognize some manifestations as living organisms

    And yet, what if the Earth is the one and only? Just suppose the creationist with their nutty analogies of a blind man finding one red ping-pong ball among zillions of white ones covering the entire surface of the world six feet deep is accurate... That of the zillions of planets that must exist, ours is the red ping-pong ball...

    In Star Trek lore there is an original pro-generating earlier race of humanoids who gave rise to Earthmen, Klingons, Romulans alike. What if we, here and now are that pro-generating earlier race?

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    Wouldn't that be a huge responsibility? Doesn't it make you want to cherish and foster life on Earth? If just twenty generations ahead every human is related to any one of us who is alive today, are we not all as great as Abraham, patriarchs and matriarchs of our future space-faring descendants?

    Although I am taking it out of context, this concept reminds me of the final line of Henry David Thoreau's Walden:

    There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.

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  3. Dinosaur Rational Skeptic Valued Senior Member

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    Analysis of the history of our planet suggests the following.
    Simple life seems likely anywhere that the proper conditions occur. On Earth it occurred almost as soon as it was possible.

    A technological culture seems to be a very unlikely occurrence. The dinosaurs, for example, were spectacularly succesful from an evolutionary point of view. They existed for circa 150 Million years. Note that in all that time, they did not show any evidence of evolving toward a technological culture.

    Neandertals & Denosivans (?spelling) seemed to be on the path to a technological culture, but went extinct. Homo Sapiens almost went extinct circa 150,000 years ago.

    Note that there are many different primates, but only we developed a technological culture.

    The evolution of a technological culture seems to more of a lucky fluke than a evolutionary inevitability.​
    My guess is that some form of life is likley to exist in many places in our galaxy, but that we might be the only technological culture in our galaxy. It seems very likely that some galaxies will have no technological cultures & a galaxy with more than one such is highly unlikely.
     
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  5. Epictetus here & now Registered Senior Member

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    Thanks for all that dinosaur, I see what you mean. However, another school of thought is that life on this planets evolves toward intelligence, so that even if the dinosaurs hadn't been wiped out, they would have, by now, become large-brained bipeds with thumbs, language, culture and perhaps even black velvet paintings and soft ice cream. But who know!?

    Anyway, for my purpose it's just enough that there is any kind of life at all on this planet. As I said, I agree that life is probably rampant throughout the universe. I am just supposing what our responsibilities might be if in fact we are the only ones, and from what we know from our ever so scant evidence - we are the only ones. It's just something to think about.
     
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  7. Dinosaur Rational Skeptic Valued Senior Member

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    Epictetus: Can you provide some cogent support for the following?
    However, another school of thought is that life on this planets evolves toward intelligence, so that even if the dinosaurs hadn't been wiped out, they would have, by now, become large-brained bipeds with thumbs, language, culture and perhaps even black velvet paintings and soft ice cream.​
    Dinosaurs existed for circa 150 million years. The last of them seemed no closer to developing a technological culture that the early ones.
     
  8. Epictetus here & now Registered Senior Member

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    I have run a search, but I am afraid I can find nothing on the net. However, I did read a magazine article once years ago that made the supposition. Can anyone else help us out?
     
  9. Robittybob1 Banned Banned

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    Life is more likely to have started on Mercury than on Earth.
    http://www.physforum.com/index.php?showtopic=29842
    As the thread has grown more and more evidence has been gathered to support this hypothesis. The absolute crucial evidence has not been found yet so I'm still searching for the biological evidence.
     
  10. Buddha12 Valued Senior Member

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    There has been no evidence that an early form of human ever existed here say 5 million years ago. According to all facts and findings scientists all agree that we are the first humans here according to the known facts that we have discovered.
     
  11. Epictetus here & now Registered Senior Member

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    I fear you have misunderstood me Friend Buddha. I mean that we of Earth, present day homo sapiens sapiens may be the very first intelligent life in the universe, and that someday, keep your fingers crossed, we may go forward and populate the galaxy and then some. We are the real-life model for the founding race mentioned in StarTrek. They don't say that their imagined pro-generating race was originally from Earth. I think it is implied that Earth was just one of the many planets they 'seeded'. Of course, their prior race that populated the galaxy and evolved into the various humanoid species is fiction. I am thinking we have the potential to be the real McCoy.(pun intended)

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