[Thommas]

Chimps are at least 95 percent identical and we even share genetic code with the lobster (not a lot, but more than enough to rule out humans coming from another world).

Hmm. Just for the sake of debate, it could be argued that any creature, anywhere in the universe, has developed from a DNA infrastructure; that reproductive life in an atmosphere such as earth's can only exist with a DNA genetic structure. Furthermore, with all of the thousands of physical constructs observable, either past or present, on this planet, the most sentient, clever and creative construct is that of the hominid. The best of that group is homo sapiens sapiens.

Therefore, one could argue that no matter where the planet is in the universe, if it has the same elements and atmospere available, life development will be similar genetically.

[BeAllYouCanBe]

"anywhere in the universe, has developed from a DNA infrastructure"

I think in the 5th grade we learned that DNA = the building blocks of life. So if the analogy stands then everything would be made of the same chains of DNA since that is the component.

As a computer jock I make the connection that DNA is infact code and can be arranged and rearranged to make a variety of various outputs but the basic code is still the same.

The only problem I have is that random mistakes in code never cause a program to get better = evolve. Errors only create disfunction in computer code and I suspect DNA also.

[Junior]

I'm not sure you realize that, even if life on other planets used DNA, the odds of any extraterrestrial creature being as closely related to humans as are chimps would be astronomical. The alien DNA would not have the viral inclusions that are present in terrestrial DNA, nor would they have the particular patterns of transposed genes which point to the interrelatedness of terrestrial life.