XPost: rec.arts.sf.movies, rec.arts.sf.written
From: YourName@YourISP.com
On 2018-04-27 05:32:22 +0000, Thomas Koenig said:
> Your Name schrieb:
>>
>> The real problem is that scientists are blinkered into the belief that
>> life of any sort /must/ have water, which is moronically silly.
>
> Water has a range of qualities that make it suitable for complex
> molecules. There is a lot of it around, it has such low energy,
> it will be found in a reasonably pure state, it allows for
> condensation reactions with polar leaving groups, it has
> very strong hydrogen bonds, it dissolves salts...
All true, on Earth. Many other planets and other life forms are almost
certainly completely different.
>> We have no idea what other, non-Earth, living may or may not need. In some
>> cases water is probably poisonness to them.
>
> We know organic chemistry pretty well.
We may know *Earth-based* organic chemistry "pretty well" ... we know
absolutely nothing about extraterrestrial organic chemistry. There are
very likely alien lifeforms that find water poisoness while happily
sipping away on a Sulphric-acid Cola and breathing arsenic gas.
Blinkering themselves to what they *THINK* they already know is what
too many scientists (and too many people in general) do well. They
can't accept that something might be different and not what they know,
and that hamstrings them from making some discoveries.
Scientists used to think nothing could live near "toxic" volcanic tubes
... yet they did discover life there when they bothered to look. Same
with deep caves, frozen land, deserts, etc., etc. Scientists used to
believe the Earth was flat and the Sun revolved around it ... until
someone decided to actually think otherwise and check into it.
Real science is about discovery, not blindly thinking you already know
it all and using tunnel vision to look at things.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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