Posted on 02/24/2006 4:12:32 AM PST by PatrickHenry
Thanks! interesting theory, even if a little 'far out' with the interstellar ships.
"...all at once ..."
This is the "fizzle" as compared to an "explosion".
There are those who believe, as did Velikovsky, that things as complex as houseflies can simply pop into existence given the right conditions. The same term applies.
Must be careful with this term since it's not necessarily linked to evolution in many of its manifestations.
Since you have great library facilities available, get this book "Invertebrate Paleontology and Evolution" by E.N.K. Clarkson, 4th edition. It is highly readable. It will help you understand about those sponges (BTW, many still have Si spicules).
You're an interesting guy. You must live near a University if you have serious libraries nearby. Walking has all kinds of health benefits.
What is the significance of your name, muawiyah? Is it an American Indian name?
That's why it is "Directed Panspermia". The ships could protect the bugs on their way, which would be a very long distance and a very long time. Bugs or viruses floating in space (undirected) wouldn't last long.
No, it's an Arabic name I happened to pick up in college years ago. I've found it to be a very useful pen name.
This is in the Washington DC suburbs. We have Library of Congress available 20 minutes away, but the university libraries here are OK, as are the public libraries.
We probably have that one around here somewhere. Last year I moved out several thousand books that we no longer needed because they were out of date or were on-line.
It's why we use "Abiogenesis" - life arising from non-life. Whether it's a pop! or many baby steps (more likely) is the same. It is only related to evolution in that successful Abiogenesis gives something for evolution to operate on. The Pasteur/Spontaneous Generation aspect is unrelated to either Abiogenesis or Evolution.
Let me say right here I didn't think so until a couple of years ago a guy ran an electric current through a strand of DNA.
Also read Penrose's Emperors New Clothes too.
A good case can be made that we are just machines ~
My original question still stands.
How did the "bacteial slime" get here?
When will they make a spell checker that will correct my mistakes, whatever kind they are.
The point I was making, though, is that simply because we have life on Earth is no reason to rule out life elsewhere.
Here's a thought experiment for you. Let's say there's a gazillion genes out there in the ocean already "designed/capable" for/of various purposes ~ that is, they are "parts" and they're ready to go.
If those new "parts" get installed in the genome of a cell (let's call it a "critter"), does that result in an evolutionary change, or rather something more like putting a supercharger in a '57 Chevy (and not the one up on blocks we discussed in another thread earlier)?
Remember, that supercharger has to fit, and that may take an additional mounting bracket to match up the Chevy head with the new device, and it's guranteed to improve performance (if not MPG).
Evolution, by definition, does not necessarily result in an improvement in performance, just adequacy given conditions. We certainly cannot say that Chevy evolved! At the same time there appears to be a general trend in critters over the last couple of hundred million years to be smarter and to work more efficiently in adverse conditions. For example, Polar Bears are rather quick witted and certainly live under nasty conditions, yet, voila, they have hair that's "hollow" and conducts light to their skin! One really does have to ask how it was Polar Bears happened to pick up that gene! Other critters have it as well. These guys don't necessarily share a recent common ancestor either.
So, are we looking at evolution or new parts from a vast storehouse of "new parts".
We must imagine that this is the case everywhere else in the Universe.
Used to be ~ last year I suppose ~ most biologists believe that viruses were created after the bacteria ~ not that they arrived after them.
Now, there's an idea afoot that bacteria arose out of an RNA world, or from viruses.
Recently there was an astronomy report that there was a vast region of space discovered that had complex chemicals in it typical of bacterial cells. Didn't mean cells had actually been found, but the stuff to make them had been found in space.
"Used to be ~ last year I suppose ~ most biologists believe that viruses were created after the bacteria ~ not that they arrived after them.
Now, there's an idea afoot that bacteria arose out of an RNA world, or from viruses."
This has long been a friendly controversy among microbiologists. It appears some viruses are degenerate, but the work with self-replicating RNA shows that it could have been before cells. 10-20 years from now, we'll have a much better picture and I predict that both will be right.
I would like a reference to the "vast" areas of space with chemicals "typical of bacterial cells", please.
BTW, not looking it up at this late time of day, but there was a recent discussion of a "scientific nature" about the possibilities of a crysalized insect egg actually making it all the way across the galaxy in a meteor.
I gather the purpose of the discussion was to pursue the limits.
Will try to remember it.
Might try the NASA site on the net.
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