Barren Mars (Introduction)

by dhw, Friday, March 15, 2013, 12:40 (4061 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: If there is no other form of life out there, it would be a major blow to the theory that life automatically emerges when conditions are right. It would also raise the question of why a god would bother to create favourable conditions and not use them. It could mean that "intelligent energy" simply made the best choice. The other day I watched a programme about ants being studied under laboratory conditions. The insects were offered a selection of artificial nests of different quality. They sent out scouts, and of course chose the best.-DAVID: E.O. Wilson thinks ants are smart. They are simply programmed with excellent instincts.-We are also smart and have excellent instincts (as well as some that are not so excellent!). We have no idea where one quality ends and the other begins. We do not speak ant language (they communicate through chemicals and sounds), but researchers are continually setting tests for insects, birds, animals, and they are continually finding evidence of intelligence that goes beyond the range of automata. However, if you were to say that chemicals instinctively made the right choice when they fitted themselves together here on Earth, well, I'd say that's no more unlikely than them being assembled by chance or by an unknown and unknowable super-intelligence that never needed assembling.
 
DAVID: The Mars conditions might appear to be right, but that involves many assumptions totally unproven at this moment. The inorganic contents of the sample are consistent with an attempt at life, but we have no idea if an attempt could be made. You are extrapolating far too much theory. Until proven otherwise, life is only on a very privileged planet, Earth.-I agree with the above, except that I have not extrapolated any theory or made any assumptions. My post simply speculated on the possible consequences of three hypotheses: 1) nothing but microbial life; 2) evolved life; 3) no life at all. If I didn't like speculating on different possibilities, I wouldn't be discussing any of our subjects!