If life on other planets exists, it is most likely similar to life on our planet
By
Cyberguy
on May 19, 2007
Firstly, I do not agree or disagree with this claim myself. I simply posted it as a truth to make discussion easier. The basic idea here is that the evolution of life is fairly constant around the universe. Natural selection, for example, should, in theory, work in any setting where there is competition between life forms. So, if we were to find life someplace else, it would be similar to life here. Perhaps they would have two genders, perhaps they might be comprised of cells, perhaps they might even use a similar genetic code. I'm not, however, implying that they would look, or even function the way we do. So, to restate the question posed:
Would Earth's orgin and evolution of life be the case on other worlds, more or less?
OR
Would the differences between our world and other worlds cause an entirely new kind of life to emerge.
And, now, just as an afterthought, if you do Disagree, please state an example of what other system of life you envision. I think it would be interesting to see what you come up with,
Agreed
12
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41.4% 58.6%Similar claims
- 20-0 The evidence that life has changed dramatically in the course of its existence on Earth is incontrovertible.
- 64-14 Evolution is not random.
- 52-11 If it looks like a duck, waddles like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck!
- 5-8 I may not have agreed with or understood it but I have read Michael Behe's Darwin's Black Box:The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution
- 13-7 Every culture has a creation story, and every culture has a priesthood to interpret the story for them.
Discussion (6)
Insects ....
At least on planets similar to ours, at least some of the time. Because convergent evolution will tend to produce similar solutions to similar problems. For gourmands, there's also the important question of whether it'll be similar enough to be edible.
I suspect that on planets with similar conditions, cellular life not unlike that found on Earth is not uncommon. It seems likely to me that DNA/RNA based protein synthesis and possibly cholesterol-based cell membranes arose independently elsewhere in the universe. Beyond that, it seems to me that there are enormous possibilities for variety and different tracks of evolution.
What Rorek said.
The general rules of biology will probably be similar. Beyond that, I can't imagine that they'd be very similar at all.
What Rorek said, with an addendum: I suspect life tends towards taking the simplest route... assuming life on Earth formed in the simplest fashion I suspect there's tons of similar life out there.