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I was watching a special on The History Channel about or solar system
and it made me think. Why is Earth the only planet with life in our solar system.It doesnt make any sense then i thought is God hiding us from a great danger like inhabitants from another part of the universe that would destroy or enslave us.
i know it sounds crazy
i was zooted
lol
that type of reasoning is fallacious and is categorized as the Weak Anthropic Principle
do you have any theories on why
everything seems lifeless in our solar system except Earth?
Have u lot heard of 'The Real History Channel' ?
you can find it on youtube catorgory section
should check it out!!
We only ask this question because we are alive and live in this solar system. The human way of thinking is based on simplification and trying to find patterns and assign causality (ie purpose and reason). This is known as the fallacy of the first cause postulate and is a form of circular reasoning.Quote:
Originally Posted by abasi
If one discovered life on another planet, the question would simply change to "why are these two planets the only ones with life in our solar system". If we discover life on 1000 other planets throughout our galaxy, the equestion would then irrationally devolve to "why is our galaxy in the infinite universe the only galaxy capable of supporting life?"
If we discover life on a billion galaxies, the question would devolve to "Why are these billion galaxies the only galaxies in the Infinite universe capable of supporting life?"
this could be repeated ad nauseum. this is the hallmark of circular reasoning and is a natural result of our way of thinking and constantly searching for patterns and causality.
the bottom line is that we are lucky. Earth just so happens to be in the right spot to support life (as we know it). In an infinite Universe, it is putting the cart b4 the horse to consider ourselves isolated.
The chemical composition of our atmosphere enables life and how it developed. Also the balance of radiation coming and leaving Earth.
You can't live on Venus and hard to collect data on the surface. Mars' atmosphere is almost gone and Mercury's atmosphere escaped it's gravitational pull eons ago.
Along with Earth being the right distance from the Sun (Sun at this time) It is the right size to have the elements in balanced state. For example water is on Earth in 3 states.
we are finding life in places once believed to be too extreme.
there is bacteria that lives in rocket fuel.
there are fish that live in pools of sulfuric acid.
on earth life is the rule not the exception.
Timbs i think you are oversimplifying the issue.
how am i over simplifying it? I am breaking the question down to its true root(s).
we will always wonder why we are alone. This is the natural fallacy of our way of thinking. In an infinite universe , words such as "isolated" and "alone" dont mean very much if we cant even comprehend the vast astronomical distances involved.
Earth is lucky that its in the right spot and has the necessary components for Earth life. As suh we are one of the creatures on this lucky earth, so its only natural for us to wonder why we are alone. (if we were on another planet we would still be wondering the same thing)
The universe is most likely teeming to the brim with life, so to consider ourselves isolated is moot if we dont have a reference.
There is probably life on mars, there is definitely life on Venus IMO. However both will be microorganisms.
Venus has a ton of geothermal and atmospheric stuff going on. It may sound bad, but i think that kind of environment of constant change would have lots of proto-bacteria and such.
There's a good chance of life on some of the moons of Jupiter. Things like geothermal vent worms and such may have evolved.
On some planets there may be life forms that run on sulfur instead of oxygen and as result they'd swim in oceans of sulfuric acid. I can't explain how, im not a biochemist, but we severely limit ourselves by assuming life will resemble anything on our planet.
i agree completely. The assumption that life has to operate by Earth-standards is a manifestation of the Weak anthropic principle. Its perfectly plausible that an extraterrestrial life form could breath methane and exhale cyanide (provided that it possesses "lungs") . Lungs and the concept of "breathing" are an Earth born phenomenon.
Do you think carbon has the ability to bond with just about anything regardless of condition?Quote:
Originally Posted by My First Timbs