XPost: rec.arts.sf.movies, rec.arts.sf.written
From: dtravel@sonic.net
On 4/28/2018 10:04 PM, Your Name wrote:
> On 2018-04-29 01:18:42 +0000, Paul Colquhoun said:
>
>> On Sat, 28 Apr 2018 18:37:50 +1200, Your Name
>> wrote:
>> | On 2018-04-28 04:50:15 +0000, J. Clarke said:
>> |> On Sat, 28 Apr 2018 14:28:53 +1200, Your Name
>> |> wrote:
>> |>> On 2018-04-28 02:05:53 +0000, J. Clarke said:
>> |>>> On Fri, 27 Apr 2018 18:40:08 +1200, Your Name
>> |>>> wrote:
>> |>>>> 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.
>> |>>>
>> |>>> Unless you are postulating that the laws of physics are different on
>> |>>> other planets, a notion which you will need to support with
>> something
>> |>>> beyond opinion, it will be true on any planet.
>> |>>
>> |>> Oh, dear, as usual the reading-challenged fools on the internet
>> fixate
>> |>> on one tiny irrelevant detail rather than the actual point. Believe
>> |>> whatever crap you want. :-\
>> |>
>> |> So to you physics is "crap".
>> |>
>> |>
>> |
>> | If you want to bleieve all possible life in the universe is exactly the
>> | same as life on Earth (same chemical makeup, same needs and
>> | requirements, etc.), then you're simply a complete moron.
>>
>>
>> If you think the 2 options are "exactly the same as life on earth" or
>> "not based on carbon compounds" you are missing a huge middle ground.
>>
>> Starting right from the basics, amino acids come in right and left
>> handed versions. Life on earth uses one, but nobody thinks the other
>> would not work just as well.
>>
>> We only use 4 bases in our DNA, but there have been recent experiments
>> that inserted another 2 in a test organism, so that is another option
>> for life elsewhere.
>>
>> Here we use base triplets to encode for each amino acid in a protein,
>> with quite a bit of redundancy in the coding. There is probably some
>> chemistry backing the basics of the coding, but using 4-base sequences
>> is probably possible, just less efficient.
>>
>> So, the basic chemical makeup will be similar, but the details will
>> probably vary quite a lot.
>>
>> As to "needs and requirements", on a simple level, yes they will
>> be the same (or very similar). Organisms will require food, energy
>> (maybe from food, maybe from light), shelter. Or did you have something
>> else in mind?
>
> It's amazing how many people have a complete and utter lack of reading
> comprehension ability. :-(
>
> As I said all along: extraterrestrial life does not necessarily have to
> need water. Looking for life *only* where water occurs is blinkered
> stupidity.
>
So how do we look for life that doesn't need water? Until you can
answer that we're not the ones having a comprehension problem.
--
Inquiring minds want to know while minds with a self-preservation
instinct are running screaming.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
|
