Origins of life on Earth

[LucidDreamer]

I was just curious about what people thought about the origins of life on earth. I could not start a poll so Ill just do it like this. Do you believe that:

 

A) Life originated on earth through natural processes and has formed independently on many planets and it’s a common occurrence with the right circumstances.

B) Life originated on Earth by natural processes but it’s a very rare occurrence.

C) Life originated on another planet and migrated to Earth (Panspermia).

D) God must have created life all at once (creationism) or He helped out with evolution.

E) Aliens created life on Earth because they were lonely or because they wanted to see if they could do it.

F) Other

 

Give your choice and your reason.

If you believe life originated on Earth how do you think it occurred?

If you believe life originated on Earth, do you think that it's possible that earth has spawned life on other planets through panspermia?

[Skye]

B. It's only seems to have occurred once, so that's pretty rare.

 

[Edit] I don't know how it came about, there's plenty of possibilities but not much evidence to narrow it down.

[Treadstone]

A. Statisticly its very improbable that earth is the only life holding planet in the universe.

 

Nathan

[LucidDreamer]

I think your probably right treadstone. But wouldn't it seem that way from the only planet that it occurred on. I mean if you just happened to be on the only planet with life wouldn't you think that it must have occurred other places. Every planet probably has some unique factor or combination of factors. What if Earth's unique factor is life?

[DreamLord]

B) I doubt that earth is the only life-bearing planet, but from what we have seen of our solar system and others, most planets do not seem to have life.

[Sayonara]

I would say (A).

[john5746]

I would say D - God created life, then he made it look like evolution, to fool most people, thus condeming them to hell, except a few very smart fundamentalists!

 

Seriously, (B) Rare, relative to the size of the Universe.

[psi20]

C. Sure I believe it.

 

F. But how did life originate there? Maybe life is like the Big Bang. It just went "poof."

 

A. If life can go "poof" anywhere, maybe it was poofing on Earth independently, too.

 

E. But perhaps Earth wasn't the first planet to poof life. Perhaps life poofed very early in the Universe. They are refered to as you "aliens" in choice E. These aliens wanted to create artificial intelligience. And, poof, here we are.

 

Oh I didn't read the part on C about being on another planet. I think life was in outer space first because it's bigger out there than in here.

[Irken_Link]

I'm sharing my personal opinoin for each one:

A.very Possible

b.has my vote

c.maybe

d.I'm not religous at all, no way

e.unlikely

f.can't think of anything at the moment

[Ophiolite]

I agree with Skye - currently insufficient evidence to tie it down. A, B and C are the valid scientific alternatives and there just is not enough conclusive data to eliminate one or confirm another.

I'm very uncomfortable with the notion we went from simple chemistry to 'simple' life in only a couple of hundred million years. We may well identify the process in time, but at present we only have glimmerings of possibilities. At least some of the pre-biotic chemistry likely developed in interstellar clouds and on comets and provided Earth with raw materials that were a little less raw. So I lean towards panspermia - as psi20 says 'it's big out there'.

At best we are going to find microbial life is plentiful - multicellular organisms uncommon, complex life forms rare and, perhaps, intelligent life unique.

[Jake712]

I have to agree with Ophiolite and Skye. There just isn't enough evidence to prove or disprove any of these theories. However, some seem more likely than others. I'm not a religious person and, while most would say that C and E are plausible, I believe that there is a greater possiblity for A or B. I have a great interest in chemistry and it seems to me that, given the proper circumstances, something non-living could change into something living. In a sense, we are all made up of the same things as something inanimate, just organized differently. Plus, the idea that life came from another planet does not answer the question, "Where did that life come from?" Therefore, i must say F-other. We cannot know at this time how life began on this planet, and it is possible that we may never be certain.