The Second Law Of Thermodynamics Proves That Life Comes From Outer Space

[Dr Adequate]

... apparently (http://www.panspermia.org).

Panspermia, huh? I shall always think of it as the "bukkake theory of creation".

Do NOT google on that word. I said do NOT google on that word.

What did I tell you not to do?

This may be a deliberate satire on the fundies, but I incline to believe that it's an accidental one.

[Matabiri]

Originally posted by Dr Adequate
Do NOT google on that word. I said do NOT google on that word.

Alas, I already knew what it meant.

People like to say, as if it were obvious, that life is hard to define. This is misleading. Life has properties that clearly distinguish it from everything else. Firstly, every living thing is cellular.

Well, that's pretty narrow...

[bignickel]

Life has properties that clearly distinguish it from everything else. Firstly, every living thing is cellular.

I wonder if that includes cell phones?

[rppa]

Dr. A:

Where do you find these things? Doesn't it make your head hurt? Do you have to go to the library every once in awhile and wrap yourself in the Feynmann Lectures on Physics to recover?

[Dancing David]

At this point, the case for evolutionary progress in a biologically closed system depends heavily on the remotest evidence of all, the new perfect barrier to life, the big bang. If the whole universe is a permanently closed system that began in a lifeless state a finite time ago, then evolutionary progress, including the origin of life, must have subsequently happened in it. But the big bang theory is plagued with frequent surprises (e.g. Glanz, 1998). In some versions, big bangs are preceded by other big bangs ad infinitum (Guth, 1997), and ways for life to persist through big bangs have been proposed (Frautschi, 1982; Krauss and Starkman, 1999). In any case, to understand evolutionary progress biology should be able to cite firmer and more immediate evidence than the big bang!



;)

[pupdog]

Panspermia has been around a while. I think Fred Hoyle was a fan.

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

It gets much more complicated:

http://www.booklocker.com/books/1417.html

Do not miss reading "About the Author."

~~ Paul

[Elind]

Originally posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos
It gets much more complicated:

http://www.booklocker.com/books/1417.html

Do not miss reading "About the Author."

~~ Paul

You mean this guy?

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by Elind
You mean this guy?

That's his wifes new lover.

[espritch]

Alas. Now I know what it means. :( The next time you tell me not to google a word, I'm going to heed your advice.

[JamesM]

Hey there, chemistry trivia fans! A very early proponent (perhaps the originator, I'm not sure) of panspermia was none other than Svante Arrhenius.

Someone gave a seminar from the Open University about astrochemistry a few months ago and he mentioned the possibility of amino acid synthesis from precursor material from meteors (although I think it may have been that it was the heating in the atmosphere on re-entry that actually caused the reaction) and he was asked about panspermia. Apparently, Chandra Wickramasinghe had given a seminar to them on that subject recently. The OU guy was good enough to say that our knowledge of astrochemistry is not complete enough to rule out even the wackiest of theories, and Wickramasinghe was listened to politely, but it was considered to be a very very long shot indeed.

[Elind]

Originally posted by JamesM
Hey there, chemistry trivia fans! A very early proponent (perhaps the originator, I'm not sure) of panspermia was none other than Svante Arrhenius.

Someone gave a seminar from the Open University about astrochemistry a few months ago and he mentioned the possibility of amino acid synthesis from precursor material from meteors (although I think it may have been that it was the heating in the atmosphere on re-entry that actually caused the reaction) and he was asked about panspermia. Apparently, Chandra Wickramasinghe had given a seminar to them on that subject recently. The OU guy was good enough to say that our knowledge of astrochemistry is not complete enough to rule out even the wackiest of theories, and Wickramasinghe was listened to politely, but it was considered to be a very very long shot indeed.

I believe that amino acid signatures have been detected from some time ago, in interstellar space using radio telescopes.

Perhaps the place to look for primitive life should be inside comets, not only on mars or other large bodies, which might answer some of those questions.

[Soapy Sam]

I have news! Tidings of great joy for all mankind.

Latest astronomical research strongly supports the view....

the planet Earth.....

is actually in outer space.


(Sigh of astonishment from massed onlookers).