There is definitely life in the universe. It is us! Is there other life in the universe, though? And if so, are "they" like "us"? The Drake Equation allows us to consider some of the variables that would influence the development of advanced, technological, intelligent life around the galaxy. Some others, including Dr. Michio Kaku of City University of New York, have speculated about the nature of advanced life based on the idea that the laws of physics are universal, and they place limits on the development of life. Some of his speculation focuses on the need for advanced civilizations to harness vast amounts of energy just to avoid being wiped out by natural disasters. And of course the biggest natural disaster of them all is the end of the universe- current theories suggest that the universe has an open structure, which means that the ultimate fate of the universe is ever accelerating expansion and cooling, a "Big Chill". If civilizations become advanced enough, they may be more interested in escaping this universe by manipulating space and time itself rather than contacting their neighbors...
But enough about physics. From what we k now about the evolution of advanced civilization on earth, which of the following statements would you think is most likely to be as universal as gravity itself? Write your answer as a blog comment below, before the end of the day December 19 2008.
· Life will inevitably emerge when conditions are suitable
· When life emerges, it will lead to advanced intelligent civilizations
· When life emerges, it will be based on cells
· When life emerges, it will be subject to natural selection
For more information about Dr. Kaku visit http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=939&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
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12 comments:
Life when inevitably emerge when conditions are suitable. This statement seems reasonable based on what we know in terms of how life on Earth came into existence. From what we know, different forms of life require different things to live: planets need carbon dioxide, people need oxygen, etc. And without different conditions to fit different needs,intelligent life as we know it probably wouldn't exist.
I think that the statement, “when life emerges, it will be subject to natural selection”, is most likely to be as universal as gravity itself. Due to the fact that the universe is so vast and so large, there are many parts of the universe that we cannot detect. Although their environments may be much different than ours that does not mean that there is not life. Not all life may be like the life on Earth, the life on Earth derives from the environment it lives in. The life in other places might be suited to live in environments like that. Natural selection is the most logical way to explain how life could exist in other parts of the universe.
I think the statement "Life will inevitably emerge when conditions are suitable" is the most similar statement. Life will emerge when the conditions are right, and it will develop from there. All of the statements may come true in time, but I think that the claim that life will appear when it is ultimately ready is a very fundamental idea.
I agree with both statements, "Life will inevitably emerge when conditions are suitable" and "When life emerges, it will lead to advanced intelligent civilizations". Both of these assumptions make sense. Life will only emerge other places if the conditions are suitable for living things. People can only survive if they have the proper necessities to keep them living, such as oxygen, an energy source, water, and food. If somewhere other than earth has all of these things, i thoroughly believe life could exist there. If life was then formed i believe that it would then lead to advanced intelligent civilizations. There is no reason to think they would not be able to, because that is exactly what happened on planet earth. I believe that if there are not already places other than earth with living things, then there definitely will be one day!
I agree with the following statement, “When life emerges, it will lead to advanced intelligent civilizations.” Life on our planet Earth shows that life started many, many years earlier before intelligent life started. The Earth seemed like a place not suitable for life at its beginning stages. It was extremely hot, had volcanic eruptions, and more. But because of this we got our atmosphere which is vital to our living conditions. When life has a liquid substance (like water), an energy source, and cells you will most likely see life evolve. Since our galaxy and universe is larger than I can even imagine I believe that there has to be some sort of other intelligent life out there. I believe that the intelligent life besides ours would have to be extremely different from what we humans look like. It is of the unthinkable of what other intelligent life would look like.
I believe the following statement: "When life emerges, it will be subject to natural selection."
This is because natural selection happens everywhere. Even us, humans, have adapted from prokaryotic cells. Eventually, many of these cells evolved into eukaryotic cells, because they needed to adapt to the rest of the environment, which was also changing. They needed a cell membrane, for example, so these organisms starting growing in size, therefore making new organisms, such as animals and insects.
Depending on where these organisms are, they will adapt traits that will help them better survive in their surroundings. The former versions of fish, for example, had to develop gills so they could live underwater. Some life forms began having wings, so they could fly from predators or migrate, such as birds.
So to conclude, I think that if there is life, it will evolve into different living beings, depending on their environment, because of natural selection.
From Gates- Life will inevitably emerge when conditions are suitable" is a hypothesis that i belive is suitable for the coming about of another life in the universe. Just as life began on earth becuase there was the correct and stable energy source, water (some liquid form), and way of transporting information (DNA) allowed the enviroment to be suitable for the growth and evolution of our kind and species. Observing the way we live and other plants, animals, and organisms explains the conditions of living off each other, trees giving off oxygon which humans need to survive and in return we breath out CO2 which trees need to survive. This example of exchange makes organisms thrive and survive. These conditions and exchanges on earth provide us with a suitable place to live. In other galaxies or planets there may be other living things that require a different setting to live. Explained in Anthropic Principle, we could be staring life right in the face but the fact that we arent used and farmiliar with that kind of "life" we dont consider it life. I believe humans are so narrow minded that life elsewhere is so possible but we arent open to new ways of life other than the way the earth works. This prediciton allows humans to reilize that we only emerged becuase conditions on earth were right for us which will be true for other forms of life that we havent discovered.
I believe that "Life will emerge when conditions are suitable". We, as humans have emerged on the earth because the conditions were suitable. We developed from cells because that is what would work for life due to earth's environment. Not every planet has, or will have an enviornemtn like ours. That means that life will emerge according to that particular enviornment. Different conditions are there to satisfy different needs. So in my opinion, life will emerge when it physically can. As of now, we do not know of any planets with life. Or at least no form of life like us humans!
"Life will inevitably emerge when conditions are suitable." I think that this statement is the most universal, and likely of all the statements. There is really no accurate way to predict if life would become intelligence or not, or what it would be made up of, but there is an obvious answer to when life will form: when the conditions are suitable. When an environment sets up the perfect conditions for life to form, it is very likely that it will develop!
Life will inevitably emerge when conditions are suitable. this seems the most reasonable because we may base it off of how life came to be here on earth! it has taken billions and billions of years for us to form the advanced form of civilization that we live in today, part of the reason it has taken this long period of time is because we had to wait until our surroundings were suitable. we have formed to fit the nature surrounding us, allowing it to fit us to the best of our ability, but until another atmosphere is available to support life, whether that life resembles ours or another form, it will eventually adapt and emerge.
I think that all of these predictions except the third one are true. Life does not necessarily have to be based on cells, but it is the only form of life that we know. For a civilization to survive, it must have natural selection to last more than one generation; if this happens, then the civilizations will become more intelligent as time goes on. And obviously, life will not emerge if conditions are not suitable.
I do not believe that any of the above statements are inevitable. I would say that the statement “life will inevitably emerge when conditions are suitable” is true; however, I do not believe that life will always, 100%, without a doubt emerge under suitable conditions. True, that life will emerge under suitable conditions, but it does not have to. I don’t want to get into religion, but I believe in a combination of evolution and creationism. Therefore, I believe that when life emerges and evolves it is because a god or higher power wants it to, not because it is a universal constant.
I would also say that the statement “when life emerges, it will be subject to natural selection” is true, but I also have a problem with natural selection. I do believe that natural selection is accountable for evolution; there is no doubt about that. But I think that natural selection applies only to physical traits and not to mental or health related (and probably some others that I can’t think of) traits such as genetic disorders. For example, I think that many mental and neurological disorders are genetic and that they are all located in the same part of the brain. I think that ADD/ADHD, addiction, depression/bipolar disorder, anxiety, OCD, learning disabilities, speech disorders like stuttering, and other disorders. I have ADHD and so does my father and some members of his family. I stutter and so do two of my cousins. I believe that my stuttering and ADHD were caused by genetics. Many health problems are also genetic. For example, my mom’s entire side of the family has genetic high cholesterol (familial hypercholesterolemia) and it has been passed on to me and all my cousins. These different medical and mental genetic disorders and conditions are not desirable traits. So why do we still have them? Because natural selection does not, in my opinion, apply to the brain or medical related areas.
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