3 ms·
> 1) the likelihood rate of abiogenesis > 1) Unknown. Abiogenesis is known on Earth. Life appeared quite soon after Earth had cooled down enough, within the f
by sampo 6y ago
> 1) the likelihood rate of abiogenesis
> 1) Unknown.
Abiogenesis is known on Earth. Life appeared quite soon after Earth had cooled down enough, within the first couple of 100 million years. Of course, we don't know if it took 1 million or 300 million years. And it might be difficult to find out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earliest_known_life_forms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earliest_known_life_forms
- placebo 6y agoIsn't abiogenesis just a fancy way of saying that somehow life began from organic compounds that were created by inorganic means? To my understanding the somehow part is exactly the reason why we don't have enough information to make any intelligent guess on the probability of it happening elsewhere.
- sanxiyn 6y agoWe don't know whether Earth went through abiogenesis or was seeded by panspermia.
- akiselev 6y agoIt doesn't matter to the Drake equation except to make it far less pessimistic. Abiogenesis had to happen somewhere for panspermia to occur so if it happened so early in the history of our galaxy to then migrate to our planet, the probability of many such colonizers converging on intelligence goes up drastically. Panspermia might even simplify other parts of the equation, like the probability that we'd coexist in the same time period or in range to detect each other's radio waves.