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It would be far more surprising if somehow how it was discovered incontrovertibly that Earth hosts the only life in the Universe.

m3kw9 4y ago
I wonder how such a proof would look like lol. God coming here to tell us?
- Maursault 4y ago
  What if Earth's spinning core is incredibly rare or unique? How would life evolve without a magnetosphere? What if it not only takes a magnetosphere but precisely one moon of just the right size and period?
  - ceejayoz 4y ago
    We estimate there are two trillion galaxies. We think our galaxy has 100 billion planets. "Incredibly rare" isn't rare with those numbers, and "unique" is vanishingly unlikely. The chances of there being a planetary formation scenario that happens only once in 2^23 iterations is... low. > How would life evolve without a magnetosphere? Our magnetosphere isn't even unique in this solar system; Jupiter has an immensely strong one. We've likely detected at least one on an extrasolar planet (http://data.iap.fr/doi/bjaffel/20210727/ http://data.iap.fr/doi/bjaffel/20210727/). Plus, Earth-style life needs a magnetosphere; that doesn't mean all life does.
    - Maursault 4y ago
      > We think our galaxy has 100 billion planets. That pool reduces quickly eliminating all planets without surface temperatures permitting liquid water, and of the right mass to permit something to grow. Among those, how many have a magnetosphere for billions of years, water, and the right amount of selenium to permit cell growth but not enough to poison everything? Consider also that the Sun may not even be from this galaxy. Maybe its galactic migration, the Milky Way cannibalizing its host possibly dwarf galaxy, had something to do with it. It makes our circumstances even rarer. I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here. Of course there's other life in the Universe, likely intelligent life. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations.
      - ceejayoz 4y ago
        All of these points assume Earth-style life is the only option; like a desert animal deeming the Amazon too wet to support life. That is highly unlikely to be the case.
ceejayoz 4y ago
That would indeed be suprising from a logistical standpoint. How would we manage it? There's debate over whether viruses qualify, and trillions of planets to check for microscopic stuff.

m3kw9 4y ago

I wonder how such a proof would look like lol. God coming here to tell us?

Maursault 4y ago
What if Earth's spinning core is incredibly rare or unique? How would life evolve without a magnetosphere? What if it not only takes a magnetosphere but precisely one moon of just the right size and period?
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  We estimate there are two trillion galaxies. We think our galaxy has 100 billion planets. "Incredibly rare" isn't rare with those numbers, and "unique" is vanishingly unlikely. The chances of there being a planetary formation scenario that happens only once in 2^23 iterations is... low. > How would life evolve without a magnetosphere? Our magnetosphere isn't even unique in this solar system; Jupiter has an immensely strong one. We've likely detected at least one on an extrasolar planet (http://data.iap.fr/doi/bjaffel/20210727/ http://data.iap.fr/doi/bjaffel/20210727/). Plus, Earth-style life needs a magnetosphere; that doesn't mean all life does.
  - Maursault 4y ago
    > We think our galaxy has 100 billion planets. That pool reduces quickly eliminating all planets without surface temperatures permitting liquid water, and of the right mass to permit something to grow. Among those, how many have a magnetosphere for billions of years, water, and the right amount of selenium to permit cell growth but not enough to poison everything? Consider also that the Sun may not even be from this galaxy. Maybe its galactic migration, the Milky Way cannibalizing its host possibly dwarf galaxy, had something to do with it. It makes our circumstances even rarer. I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here. Of course there's other life in the Universe, likely intelligent life. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations.
    - ceejayoz 4y ago
      All of these points assume Earth-style life is the only option; like a desert animal deeming the Amazon too wet to support life. That is highly unlikely to be the case.

ceejayoz 4y ago

That would indeed be suprising from a logistical standpoint. How would we manage it? There's debate over whether viruses qualify, and trillions of planets to check for microscopic stuff.