[Grey Wolf]

I was reading an article at Space.com ( http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/meteorite_survival_001025-1.html ) and it led me to thinking. What are your views of the origin of life on Earth? Spontaneous formation of proteins, the theory espoused in the article, or something else entirely?

[Taristin]

I try not to think about it.

BTW; nice new GTD Wolf avatar.

[aldo_14]

Some form of spontaneous formation, partially caused by an as-yet-undiscovered, um, 'tendency' which leads to an increased chance of the creation of life.

Er...so not completely random - but not created - down to some aspect of subatomic physics or biolgy or something which in some way improves the odds on the formation of life.  Call it 'crystallisation' or something - I've always liked the notion, unfounded as it may be, that there is an inherent tendency within the rules of the universe for life to develop.

I've always felt that saying life was in some way 'transported' to earth is really dodging the issue, because life still has to emerge somewhere.

[Tiara]

T3H VORLONS DID IT!

eh...

never mind...

[Fineus]

When a man and a woman love eachother...

...oh, wrong topic.

To be honest I'm not sure - I do err towards the concept of evolution into Homo Sapiens though - it seems a logical concept. Though whether it all began with promordial soup... I really don't know.

[Rictor]

the Great Green Arklesiezure...

[StratComm]

Originally posted by aldo_14
I've always felt that saying life was in some way 'transported' to earth is really dodging the issue, because life still has to emerge somewhere.

Now this is exactly what I've been saying for years.  What difference does it make ultimately where the primordial soup was located.

In truth, there's less sense in it, because for life to have come to Earth at the time the fossil record shows it emerging, the entire solar system would have been far too young to have evolved a life form capable of surviving both the void of space and the shock of re-entry or planetary impact.  And if it came from somewhere older in the galaxy, how'd it get through the interstellar void?  Not much does, IIRC.  Ultimately the odds of that happening are less (far less) than the chances of spontaneous protien combination by simple random collisions.

[Petrarch of the VBB]

Originally posted by Rictor
the Great Green Arklesiezure...

Atchoooo!

[Darkage]

We are reborn Minbari souls.....

[Ashrak]

Originally posted by Tiara
T3H VORLONS DID IT!

eh...

never mind...

well maybe not vorlons ... but some other uber cool super advanced race yeah

[aldo_14]

Of course, the universe could just be a piece of mould growing on a discarded sock in a super-giga-quantum-universe.......

makes you think, doesn't it?

no

[Rictor]

or it could be just a marble in an intergalactic game of...oh wait.

[diamondgeezer]

A dollar says life began around black smokers... though sunlight or lightning could also have provided the neccessary spark. With God nearby screaming "IT'S ALIIIIIIIIVE", natch...

[Janos]

1. Take some organic chemicals
2. Take electric current
3. Take warm water
4. Combine
5. Try again and again for a couple milliard years (was it ~2,5 or what?)
6. Profit

Because the entire process lasted so long time, the odds for some self-replicating molecule to appear, even though initially small, grew as time went by. Most likely.

Or, if you wish..
A Wizard Did It!

[Taristin]

Al Gore created humanity. Right after he invented the internet, and just before he invented the environment.

[Setekh]

You guys know what I think.

Originally posted by Raa
BTW; nice new GTD Wolf avatar.

New?

[demon442]

Think about this, what caused the big bang?  I should think that our meager origins are considerably unimportant compared to the beginning of our universe.

[Black Wolf]

Originally posted by StratComm

In truth, there's less sense in it, because for life to have come to Earth at the time the fossil record shows it emerging, the entire solar system would have been far too young to have evolved a life form capable of surviving both the void of space and the shock of re-entry or planetary impact.  And if it came from somewhere older in the galaxy, how'd it get through the interstellar void?  Not much does, IIRC.  Ultimately the odds of that happening are less (far less) than the chances of spontaneous protien combination by simple random collisions.

Not neccesarily - in fact, much of what you've written here is pretty much common misconception.

First off, the simpler the life, the more robust it is. Thus, the younger the life, the more likely it would have been able to survive interstellar travel and reentry. Bacteria are damned robust things, and I have no trouble accepting they could have survived in the heart of a spaceborne meteorite, especially since the discovery of the subsurface Archaebacteria not that long ago.

Moreover, the earliest proper fossils have been traced back to about 3.5 billion years (There's evidence from isotopic carbon ratios and stuff that it actually arrived a little earlier, maybe 3.8, but the 3.5 is a more certain figure). The Earth is estimated to be around 4.5 billion. That's a billion years. A Bloody long time, even in the geological scale. Admittedly, most of that period was rather nasty, but still, the earth's been around awhile longer than life.

Personally, I'm with DG, and going with the black smokers rather than the primordial soup or even extraterrestrial origin. The probelm with the Earths surface at 3.5 billion years ago was that we were constantly being bombarded by huge meteorites than had the irritating habit of blocking out the sun for thousands of years at a time, which would have killed surface life. If you accept a surface origin, then life would have almost certainly have had to start several times over, which is possible I suppose, especially if you subscribe to the Life tendency theory (That basically states that life tends to arise wherever the conditions are right... I'm sitting on the fence on that one). Anyway, without a surface origin, you're left with geothermal heat providing the energy beneath the ground, or Black Smokers under the early seas. I prefer the black smoker theory because it'd be a lot easier to adapt to surface or near surface life from the oceans than it would from living in porous rock dozens of kms down, plus the Black smokers would provide a more ready supply of sulphur and the like for chemical breakdown.

[Petrarch of the VBB]

The Butler did it!

[Turnsky]

one problem: they still haven't found a large mass of intelligent life on this planet yet.

sporadic groupings of sentient life have been found..