Re: Evolution and other planets

From: Anthony Cerrato (tcerrato_at_optonline.net)
Date: 12/28/04 

Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 06:26:23 +0000 (UTC)

"Peter F" <fell_spamtrap_in@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
news:cqpc5m$25n5$1@darwin.ediacara.org...
> "Anthony Cerrato" <tcerrato@optonline.net> wrote in
message news:cqitce$ag1$1@darwin.ediacara.org...
> >
> > "Perkowski" <perkowski1@optonline.net> wrote in message
> > news:cqi6rl$475$1@darwin.ediacara.org...
> > > Quick question...
> > >
> > > If life can possibly exist on other planets that are
> > similiar to Earth,
> > > what are the chances of animal and plant life on those
> > planets following
> > > the animal and planet life here on Earth?
> > >
> > > For example, could a planet somewhere in our galaxy be
the
> > home
> > > of past creatures like the dinosaurs that appeared
here on
> > Earth?
> > >
> > > All things being equal, would animals/plants on other
> > world follow
> > > the same evolutionary map that animals/plants on Earth
do?
> > >
> > > Joe Perkowski
> >
> > IMO, it's very unlikely they would follow the same
> > evolutionary map that animals on Earth do, and only a
bit
> > less likely plants would too. Firstly, the exact
> > environments of such planets, even if relatively
friendly to
> > our kind of life, is sure to differ in many respects,
> > ranging from small to very large ones. This will
certainly
> > factor into structure and function of living things.
Even if
> > the planet were a duplicate of Earth in its early days,
> > there are just too many possible options available for
> > evolutionary paths for them to be exactly _identical_ to
the
> > historic ones here. Life will undoubtedly take a whole
new
> > path unique to each planet and its own geological
history.
> > ...tonyC
>
> For a chance to 'sow' something of serious significance
into a reply to this question, the only way is to
> answer it from 'the side' where of possible similarities
can be seen and from which some "significances"
> (such as EPT-specific insights) may then be spun off and
spouted (and hopefully be seen, by someone
> else, to have been sprouted).

That would be ok, if only we knew roughly what average kinds
of
environments we could expect. I suspect that, galaxywise,
the variations in the environments which obtain are
multifold, and the kinds of life that _can_ develop will
have myriad forms, most of them very dissimilar from
Earth's. I do think the majority of lifeforms will be simple
rather than complex, as is espoused by the Rare Earth
Hypothesis of Ward and Brownlee. Cheers,
...tonyC

> That was all I wanted to say. :->
>
> P
>
>

Relevant Pages

  • Re: "The Scarcity of Life Bearing Planets"
    ... large number of planets in our galaxy that are suitable for life. ... If an Earth sized planet existed 93,000,000 miles ... too small and too close to the Sun to have prevented its atmosphere, ...
    (sci.physics.particle)
  • Re: Evolution and other planets
    ... >> If life can possibly exist on other planets that are similiar to Earth, ... > cells living symbiotically. ...
    (sci.bio.evolution)
  • Re: Do dogs go to heaven?
    ... planets, means precisely the same thing, and in no sense whatsoever, in ... life in the first place. ... elsewhere but not that there might be a creator God. ... on earth are estimated to have first appeared around 4 billion years ago ...
    (uk.religion.christian)
  • Re: Do dogs go to heaven?
    ... }> those other planets" by ... ... }> on earth are estimated to have first appeared around 4 billion years ... }> for life to evolve elsewhere in the universe other than Earth. ... Another assumption that seems reasonavble to the one making it. ...
    (uk.religion.christian)
  • The Scarcity of Life Bearing Planets
    ... The Scarcity of Life Bearing Planets ... If an Earth sized planet existed 93,000,000 miles ... too small and too close to the Sun to have prevented its atmosphere, ...
    (sci.physics)