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I highly recommend the book The Equations of Life: How Physics Shapes Evolution[0] . While we don't have a clear understanding of what other types of life are p
by joshuahedlund 7y ago
I highly recommend the book The Equations of Life: How Physics Shapes Evolution[0] . While we don't have a clear understanding of what other types of life are possible, we can look at the empirical evidence of all the conditions on Earth where life has failed to succeed (temperature limits, water viscosity, etc) and the convergence of where it has, combined with fundamental constraints of elements in the period table, the universal laws of physics, the most common distributions of elements around stars, etc, to at least make reasonable claims that dramatically different forms of life, while not impossible, are much less likely than the forms we have here.
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Equations-Life-Physics-Shapes-Evolution/dp/1541617592 https://www.amazon.com/Equations-Life-Physics-Shapes-Evoluti...
- undersuit 7y agoThe article mentions that the high degree of ultraviolet light emitted by Proxima Centauri and Trappist-1 stars would create large amounts of carbon monoxide which would bind to hemoglobin suffocating an oxygen breathing lifeform. This is an assumption. I might have to read the book you linked, it looks very interesting, but I think lifeforms that have evolved to not use hemoglobin in their circulatory systems isn't that far of a stretch.
- joshuahedlund 7y agoI do agree that specific of an assumption seems a little unwarranted.