3 ms·

Yeah, if it's really similar it will blow brains for one reason, and if it's really different for another. I hope it's really different. I don't want to be tha

Yeah, if it's really similar it will blow brains for one reason, and if it's really different for another. I hope it's really different. I don't want to be that special.

hnracer 6y ago
I hope it's the same, because if it's different it suggests our impending extinction. At least according to the logic of Bostrom's Great Filter.
- klysm 6y ago
  Conversely wouldn’t imply the other life’s impending extinction symmetrically?
  - hnracer 6y ago
    It would imply their extinction far into the future, after they've evolved to our level of intelligence, since our existence implies that the Great Filter exists ahead of us, not behind us
    - pharke 6y ago
      I don't think we know enough to say that for sure. If you are defining the great filter as the cause of the Fermi Paradox then it very well could be in our past. For example, the conditions or specific mutation that gave rise to multi-cellular life could be the great filter meaning that single celled life could be incredibly common but multicellular life might be almost entirely non-existent.
      - hnracer 6y ago
        We might want to say that our existence is some evidence that the filter is ahead of us but it could certainly be behind us (in which case the logic of the Great Filter doesn't apply for our civilization)
      - MiroF 6y ago
        > the conditions or specific mutation that gave rise to multi-cellular life Doubtful, given that we've been able to recreate multicellularity evolving in the lab. The initial jump to life, not so much.
  - MiroF 6y ago
    > Conversely wouldn’t imply the other life’s impending extinction symmetrically? Yes and?
    - klysm 6y ago
      Just wanted to clarify that the implication arrow pointed both ways if it pointed one way, so I guess and that?
marcusverus 6y ago
There are so many fascinating possibilities. 1) DNA based life with genetic overlap (potentially indicating that Mars life seeded earth life, or vs.vs). 2) DNA based life with no genetic overlap (possibly indicating original life on mars, or a common seed source for Earth and Mars) 3) Radical, non DNA based life (indicating original life on mars) 4) E. coli (indicating that NASA needs to fire their sterilization team). I'm sure there are more fascinating possibilities that I'm not aware of!
- dogma1138 6y ago
  DNA with different chirality (would likely prove distinct origins better than genetic overlap, if life was seeded from the same origin billions of years ago there could be no overlap today, and some overlap doesn't prove origin either since gene can develop independently even very specific mutations), proto-life - RNA world/self replicating proteins... Both of those would likely be a "more interesting" thing to study. The most boring part would likely be finding DNA life which is quite similar, I'm not sure it would point to any specific origin and if it's metabolically going to be quite similar to some life we can find on earth the overall new science from it might be fairly limited.

Yeah, if it's really similar it will blow brains for one reason, and if it's really different for another. I hope it's really different. I don't want to be that special.

hnracer 6y ago

I hope it's the same, because if it's different it suggests our impending extinction. At least according to the logic of Bostrom's Great Filter.

klysm 6y ago
Conversely wouldn’t imply the other life’s impending extinction symmetrically?
- hnracer 6y ago
  It would imply their extinction far into the future, after they've evolved to our level of intelligence, since our existence implies that the Great Filter exists ahead of us, not behind us
  - pharke 6y ago
    I don't think we know enough to say that for sure. If you are defining the great filter as the cause of the Fermi Paradox then it very well could be in our past. For example, the conditions or specific mutation that gave rise to multi-cellular life could be the great filter meaning that single celled life could be incredibly common but multicellular life might be almost entirely non-existent.
    - hnracer 6y ago
      We might want to say that our existence is some evidence that the filter is ahead of us but it could certainly be behind us (in which case the logic of the Great Filter doesn't apply for our civilization)
    - MiroF 6y ago
      > the conditions or specific mutation that gave rise to multi-cellular life Doubtful, given that we've been able to recreate multicellularity evolving in the lab. The initial jump to life, not so much.
- MiroF 6y ago
  > Conversely wouldn’t imply the other life’s impending extinction symmetrically? Yes and?
  - klysm 6y ago
    Just wanted to clarify that the implication arrow pointed both ways if it pointed one way, so I guess and that?

marcusverus 6y ago

There are so many fascinating possibilities. 1) DNA based life with genetic overlap (potentially indicating that Mars life seeded earth life, or vs.vs). 2) DNA based life with no genetic overlap (possibly indicating original life on mars, or a common seed source for Earth and Mars) 3) Radical, non DNA based life (indicating original life on mars) 4) E. coli (indicating that NASA needs to fire their sterilization team). I'm sure there are more fascinating possibilities that I'm not aware of!

dogma1138 6y ago
DNA with different chirality (would likely prove distinct origins better than genetic overlap, if life was seeded from the same origin billions of years ago there could be no overlap today, and some overlap doesn't prove origin either since gene can develop independently even very specific mutations), proto-life - RNA world/self replicating proteins... Both of those would likely be a "more interesting" thing to study. The most boring part would likely be finding DNA life which is quite similar, I'm not sure it would point to any specific origin and if it's metabolically going to be quite similar to some life we can find on earth the overall new science from it might be fairly limited.