Life's lucky 'kick start'

BBC News ^ | October 13, 2003 | Dr David Whitehouse

[steve8714]

Do you mean Gaia?(sarcasm alert)

[js1138]

Whatever became of the hypothesis that the direction of life flipped due to the production of oxygen?

[pgyanke]

Well then, it seems that everyone in history is lost... except for you.

[pgyanke]

Sarcasm noted. :-)

[AntiGuv]

The Iliad and the Odyssey have never been proven any more inaccurate than have been the Hebrew Testaments, do you therefore believe in the existence of Zeus and Ares and Athena and Poseidon?

[pgyanke]

Probably the same thing that happened to the theory that explained "Global Cooling" in the '70s.

[dirtboy]

But what actually caused the Cambrian Explosion is unknown.

Personally, I think it's rather simple. I believe that all the oxygen sinks present on Earth were finally filled, allowing sufficient atmospheric oxygen for larger animals to form.

[Bigh4u2]

"Whatever became of the hypothesis that the direction of life flipped due to the production of oxygen? "

But the production of oxygen did not 'create' life. It just gave it the conditions necessary to survive.

The bigger question is where did 'life' come from in the first place?

[pgyanke]

Nice try... I'm was a Greek and Latin scholar in high school. The Greeks and Romans didn't believe in Zeus or Juno... they were stories they made up to explain the things they didn't understand (see "Big Bang Theory). They admitted as much. Their real religion was worship of their ancestors.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Instead of working so hard to prove new ideas correct to change the historical record, it would be interesting to see how much we could learn by just examining the world around us and drawing conclusions.

This is the object of scientific activity.

[js1138]

life does not require free oxygen.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Whatever became of the hypothesis that the direction of life flipped due to the production of oxygen?

One of Clinton's executive orders overturned that.

[asformeandformyhouse]

The difference between this and religion is that religion seldom admits uncertainty that might be resolved later by human inquiry. It either dictates the truth, or it claims the truth is some mystery beyond human understanding.

That makes as much sense as the guy who wants proof of God. If God can be proven, then he's not much of a God, is he? If God states something, then by the very definition of God, it must be so to that believer and a believer would be disingenuous to admit any 'uncertainty'. That may sound like a cop-out to you, but if you're honest with yourself and put away your disdain for 'religion', then you'll have to at least see that just as any religion is made up of it's 'believers', so is this doctor's.

[AntiGuv]

I see. Well, it appears that our perceptions of reality are too far removed from one another to make debate of any use. I'm disinterested in arguing over the accuracy of historical accounts describing Greco-Roman beliefs. My point has been made (irrespective of whether the Greeks actually believed those accounts which have never been proven any more inaccurate than have the Hebrew Testaments) and it suits me fine whether you acknowledge its relevance or not.

[js1138]

So that's why folks say the Clintons suck up all the oxygen.

[headsonpikes]

Your #7 is a good statement of the rational position.

It's the 'literal metaphysical tradition' that gets folks in trouble intellectually. These unfortunates imagine metaphysics to be a field of study not unlike physics, but with less math. ;^)

[pgyanke]

No, this is the goal of scientific objectivity. It's not the goal of scientists who will only accept conclusions that don't involve God.

God can't be proven by science, therefore God doesn't exist. Which of these two competing factions is God... the scientist or the supreme being?

[steve8714]

Life without Faith is thin, cold soup.

[pgyanke]

Don't forget your toys!

[js1138]

If God can be proven, then he's not much of a God, is he?

I dunno I've seen lots of freepers claim to have proofs of the existence of God.

The interesting thing would be to prove that God conforms to the beliefs of any particular church or denomination. Nailing down exactly which church has it right -- that would be interesting.

Personally I belong to the church of the seven blind men. None of us has the whole picture.