Did God cough hard at the crucial moment?

[bathsheba666]

Not one for the phlegmatic.

Complex material found 21,000 too many light years away....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29368984

Scientists have found the beginnings of life-bearing chemistry at the centre of the galaxy.

Iso-propyl cyanide has been detected in a star-forming cloud 27,000 light-years from Earth.

Its branched carbon structure is closer to the complex organic molecules of life than any previous finding from interstellar space.

The discovery suggests the building blocks of life may be widespread throughout our galaxy.

Various organic molecules have previously been discovered in interstellar space, but i-propyl cyanide is the first with a branched carbon backbone.

The branched structure is important as it shows that interstellar space could be the origin of more complex branched molecules, such as amino acids, that are necessary for life on Earth.

 

[Darkflight]

I think it would be rather arrogant to assume that if a deity exists we would be all that he was focused on considering the unfathomable size of the universe.

 

[Domen]

The building blocks of life were brought to the surface Earth by comets. Oceans as well.

Technically, we are the aliens that we are searching for in space with telescopes.

 

[onejayhawk]

I think it would be rather arrogant to assume that if a deity exists we would be all that he was focused on considering the unfathomable size of the universe.

Why?

Humans routinely deploy considerable resources and effort for a comparatively tiny result. Consider the mass of rock moved for a few cc of refined fissionable material. Even more for a kilogram of molybdenum. Or consider high energy physics. Square kilometers of infrastructure for an experimental volume of a cubic decimeter and results on a molecular scale.

J

 

[bhsup]

I think it would be rather arrogant to assume that if a deity exists we would be all that he was focused on considering the unfathomable size of the universe.

Indeed. I think it is the height of human arrogance to presume that among all the stars in the heavens, God choose only our little rock around one little star to seed with life.

 

[onejayhawk]

Indeed. I think it is the height of human arrogance to presume that among all the stars in the heavens, God choose only our little rock around one little star to seed with life.

What if God considered the stars and heavens to be nothing more than a test tube or petrie dish?

J

 

[Bugfatty300]

What if god doesn't exist and the universe/life has a natural cause?

 

[onejayhawk]

What if god doesn't exist and the universe/life has a natural cause?

Then you get no points from the judge, because you ignored the assumptions of the thread.

J

 

[Bugfatty300]

Then you get no points from the judge, because you ignored the assumptions of the thread.

J

What if the thread title just sarcastic allegory and the real discussion is the interesting scientific discovery mentioned in the BBC article?

 

[Borachio]

I like the idea that Sagittarius B2 is just a splurge of phlegm. I'll remember that the next time I bring some up.

 

[El_Machinae]

Man, isopropyl cyanide sure doesn't sound prolife. Ack!

 

[Borachio]

But then oxygen (literally "acid producer") is toxic to certain, if not all, anarobes, isn't it? While we tend to think of it as a rather friendly thing.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Exactly. Carbon source is a carbon source.

 

[Borachio]

Cyanobacteria are good bacteria. Pumping out all that oxygen. Ah, no, wrong use of the word cyano. It's a colour, not cyanide. Or is it? I don't know what I'm talking about, evidently. Even I've realized this.

edit: Yup. Nothing to do with cyanide. *sigh* ignore me.

 

[onejayhawk]

What if the thread title just sarcastic allegory and the real discussion is the interesting scientific discovery mentioned in the BBC article?

Still no points.

There are a number of things that must come together. Carbon is just one of them. It simplifies things if there is a soup.

J

 

[warpus]

Why?

Why would he pick us out of all the trillions of trillions of intelligent life elsewhere?

It's like an ant thinking that out of all the ants in the world it is special and that we have a plan for it. Nope, we don't really care. We don't even know about this ant, to us it is an insignificant part of a much much larger whole.

 

[brennan]

Taking relativistic effects into account the size of the universe is something on the order of 10^80 cubic metres.

Analogies about bacteria on dust motes thinking that Cathedrals have been made for their benefit titanically underestimate the scale of the hubris involved in believing that the Universe is here specifically for our benefit.

 

[warpus]

It's the best example I could think of. I guess I should have ended it with: "It's like that, except thousands of times worse" ?

 

[Domen]

the trillions of trillions of intelligent life elsewhere?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_Earth_hypothesis

In planetary astronomy and astrobiology, the Rare Earth hypothesis argues that the emergence of complex multicellular life on Earth (and, subsequently, intelligence) required an improbable combination of astrophysical and geological events and circumstances.

The hypothesis argues that complex extraterrestrial life is a very improbable phenomenon and likely to be extremely rare. The term "Rare Earth" originates from Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe (2000), a book by Peter Ward, a geologist and paleontologist, and Donald E. Brownlee, an astronomer and astrobiologist, both faculty members at the University of Washington.

"Unless I see the nail marks in alien's hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into alien's side, I will not believe."

 

[warpus]

Extremely rare is fine, you would still get trillions of lifeforms around the universe. Trillions of trillions maybe even. The universe is huge.