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Is it possible a previous space probe seeded the atmosphere though? For example, did the Soviets sterilize all the Venera probes perfectly?
by perl4ever 6y ago
Is it possible a previous space probe seeded the atmosphere though? For example, did the Soviets sterilize all the Venera probes perfectly?
- felipemnoa 6y ago>>Is it possible a previous space probe seeded the atmosphere though? Even if this were the case, it would still be quite amazing.
- hutzlibu 6y agoHell yeah, a microbe released on Venus atmosphere decades ago and has not only survived, but produces already a measurable atmospheric effect? That would be a amazing sensation. Terraforming would then be much, much easier, than expected. But I doubt it.
- bsder 6y agoAn Earth microbe evolving to be suddenly Venus-adjusted would possibly be more stunning than just "life evolved on Venus".
- gremlinsinc 6y agoI disagree, close in proximity to 'stunning', however, finding true unique life that originated on a planet by itself organically goes a long way towards proving/disproving the fermi paradox. I think it was maybe Carl Sagan who said (something like): if we find life in our solar system it's probably game over for us, as it means the great filter is likely ahead of us, not behind us. Though, you can take one look at the world right now, and not see how easy it would be to just destroy it if we aren't careful (and we're not being careful).
- thechao 6y agoI agree with Nick Lane: the great filter is likely to be the Eukaryotic event.
- cmrdporcupine 6y agoYep, I agree with him that we're likely to find bacterial type life all over the place where there's water. At least if we can travel to places. But 'complex life' is going to be beyond scarce. Though it's quite possible that if there is something on Venus or Mars it's Earth-origined, since conditions here 4 billion years ago look better for abiogenesis.
- ewindal 6y agoThere’s nothing stopping there from being several great filters.
- T-hawk 6y agoThere is the power law heuristic, that 90% of results are often due to 10% of phenomena. If there are several filters, then they may differ in effectiveness by many multiples, and then it's semantics as to whether you say any beyond the largest are "great".
- ls612 6y agoEither that or the Reapers I guess ;)
- hackeraccount 6y agoThanks for posting this- I've not heard of Nick Lane but this thought is exactly what I've considered the likely state of affairs.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- perl4ever 6y agoWell, if there is no environmental regime that overlaps, then it doesn't evolve. But if there is, why wouldn't it?
- umanwizard 6y agoNot for me. Finding life from elsewhere than Earth would be by far the most significant scientific discovery in human history. (Again, just a personal opinion; I have no objective argument to back it up).
- hutzlibu 6y agoJust finding life on venus does not mean, it evolved independent from the life on earth. Microbes travelling with asteroids is possible.
- gambiting 6y agoJust FYI - no probes have ever been 100% sterilized, because it's simply impossible without destroying them. Even the most sterilized probes and rovers that we've sent to other planets will have contained at least some bacteria.
- TheDesolate0 6y agoindeed, but being baked by warming glowing warm glow of solar radiation sure does help with that.
- kittiepryde 6y agoIf that happened, I think we'd be able to determine that by sampling and analyzing the microbes. I think a more interesting concept would be exchange of microbes between Venus and Earth at some point in their distant past, and then could we might be able to date that (those) event (s) via their molecular clocks (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_clock https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_clock)