3 ms·

"It is often said that all the conditions for the first production of a living organism are now present, which could ever have been present. But if (and oh what

"It is often said that all the conditions for the first production of a living organism are now present, which could ever have been present. But if (and oh what a big if) we could conceive in some warm little pond with all sorts of ammonia & phosphoric salts, light, heat, electricity, etc present, that a protein compound was chemically formed, ready to undergo still more complex changes, at the present day such matter would be instantly devoured, or absorbed, which would not have been the case before living creatures were formed" ~Charles Darwin, in a letter to Joseph Hooker (1871) I heard researcher Bruce Damer explain how Darwin was likely correct in this letter. As we understand it today, enzymes and oxygen would prevent a second biological genesis. Also, there is less "feed stock" of star dust falling on our present warm little ponds. https://www.mindpodnetwork.com/future-fossils-109/ https://www.mindpodnetwork.com/future-fossils-109/

acqq 7y ago
A truly very impressive quote, given what was available to Darwin in 1871. At that time many scientists didn't want to accept that atoms exist: Adolf Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe "(1818-1884), a German organic chemist described as one of the greatest of that time" denied that molecules as we know them today existed. "The French chemist Pierre-Eugéne Marcellin Berthelot (1827-1907)" "exerted his considerable power as a government official to prohibit the teaching of atomic theory." "Austrian physicist Ernst Mach (1838-1916), and German physical chemist Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald (1853-1932)" "preferred the consideration of perceived data to that of hypothetical atoms." Only much later "in 1908 Ostwald became convinced that experiments had finally given proofs of the discrete or particulate nature of matter. In 1912 Poincaré declared that "[A]toms are no longer a useful fiction … The atom of the chemist is now a reality."" Sources: https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/science-magazines/historic-dispute-are-atoms-real https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/science-magazines/histo...
pgt 7y ago
I had not considered that initial life, which created enzymes and oxygen would inhibit subsequent biological genesis. This seems to contribute to the Fermi Paradox.

acqq 7y ago

A truly very impressive quote, given what was available to Darwin in 1871. At that time many scientists didn't want to accept that atoms exist: Adolf Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe "(1818-1884), a German organic chemist described as one of the greatest of that time" denied that molecules as we know them today existed. "The French chemist Pierre-Eugéne Marcellin Berthelot (1827-1907)" "exerted his considerable power as a government official to prohibit the teaching of atomic theory." "Austrian physicist Ernst Mach (1838-1916), and German physical chemist Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald (1853-1932)" "preferred the consideration of perceived data to that of hypothetical atoms." Only much later "in 1908 Ostwald became convinced that experiments had finally given proofs of the discrete or particulate nature of matter. In 1912 Poincaré declared that "[A]toms are no longer a useful fiction … The atom of the chemist is now a reality."" Sources: https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/science-magazines/historic-dispute-are-atoms-real https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/science-magazines/histo...

pgt 7y ago

I had not considered that initial life, which created enzymes and oxygen would inhibit subsequent biological genesis. This seems to contribute to the Fermi Paradox.