3 ms·

Life formed quickly on earth, but earth has so much special going on: iron core, habitable zone, lots of water, three phases of water, good distribution of elem

Life formed quickly on earth, but earth has so much special going on: iron core, habitable zone, lots of water, three phases of water, good distribution of elements and minerals, oxygenated atmosphere, magnetosphere, lunar shield, lunar tides, Jupiter to clear out junk, etc. etc. We hit the lottery. And intelligence is an even harder step given how much absurdly longer it took to evolve than basic life. And technology is probably also a hard step where we had tailwinds like massive oil deposits, smallish gravity well, etc. But it's also kind of crazy to assume that we should be able to detect the techno signatures of advanced aliens or AIs given our small and limited understanding of the universe.

jlmorton 2y ago
> oxygenated atmosphere Of course, the oxygenated atmosphere only exists due to life. Otherwise, it would just rapidly oxidize everything else.
- chongli 2y ago
  Right, though the evolution of photosynthesis in early anaerobic microorganisms and then their ability to adapt to the oxygen they produced is quite amazing. Oxygen itself is also really fascinating when talking about life because its oxidizing power accelerates the life that makes use of it. As many experienced gardeners with compost piles know, anaerobic decomposition is much slower and messier than aerobic. Regularly turning the compost pile helps aerate it and makes the aerobic decomposers thrive.
- echelon 2y ago
  Because molecular oxygen is a highly reactive species, it would also rapidly deplete. And its reactivity is what makes it so useful for powering advanced life. It's an abundant and highly energetic fuel. The fossil fuels that gave rise to our industry and innovation are also something we lucked into. The right decomposition environment, eg. in the Carboniferous, made these massive deposits possible. This has greatly accelerated our innovation as a species.
alganet 2y ago
Have you heard of the anthropic principle? The only thing I find truly special about our place is the moon. The moon is really weird. Same geological material as earth, huge size for a natural satellite, appears the same size as the sun. It's an unusual set of coincidences that (as far as I know) our solar system formation models, so far, can only explain using an extraordinary event (Theia collision, etc).
BurningFrog 2y ago
The oxygenated atmosphere is created by life, not a cause of it. It happened 2.4 billion years ago, and wiped out most of the existing life: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event

jlmorton 2y ago

> oxygenated atmosphere Of course, the oxygenated atmosphere only exists due to life. Otherwise, it would just rapidly oxidize everything else.

chongli 2y ago
Right, though the evolution of photosynthesis in early anaerobic microorganisms and then their ability to adapt to the oxygen they produced is quite amazing. Oxygen itself is also really fascinating when talking about life because its oxidizing power accelerates the life that makes use of it. As many experienced gardeners with compost piles know, anaerobic decomposition is much slower and messier than aerobic. Regularly turning the compost pile helps aerate it and makes the aerobic decomposers thrive.
echelon 2y ago
Because molecular oxygen is a highly reactive species, it would also rapidly deplete. And its reactivity is what makes it so useful for powering advanced life. It's an abundant and highly energetic fuel. The fossil fuels that gave rise to our industry and innovation are also something we lucked into. The right decomposition environment, eg. in the Carboniferous, made these massive deposits possible. This has greatly accelerated our innovation as a species.

alganet 2y ago

Have you heard of the anthropic principle? The only thing I find truly special about our place is the moon. The moon is really weird. Same geological material as earth, huge size for a natural satellite, appears the same size as the sun. It's an unusual set of coincidences that (as far as I know) our solar system formation models, so far, can only explain using an extraordinary event (Theia collision, etc).

BurningFrog 2y ago

The oxygenated atmosphere is created by life, not a cause of it. It happened 2.4 billion years ago, and wiped out most of the existing life: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event