A PBS production, this three part series on YouTube (Part 1), IMO, is a good presentation of the idea.
Order of Kilopi
A PBS production, this three part series on YouTube (Part 1), IMO, is a good presentation of the idea.
Established Member
To me, 'Panspermia' sounds like the name of a very naughty airlne.
Order of Kilopi
To me, it could sound like yet another Greek myth...
Did you watch the video?
Order of Kilopi
Originally Posted by A.DIM
Panspermia (Gk. πάς/πάν (pas/pan, all) σπέρμα (sperma, seed)) is the hypothesis that "seeds" of life exist already all over the Universe, that life on Earth may have originated through these "seeds", and that they may deliver or have delivered life to other habitable bodies.
Exogenesis (Gk. "outside origin") is a more limited hypothesis that proposes life on Earth was transferred from elsewhere in the Universe but makes no prediction about how widespread it is. Because the term "panspermia" is more well-known, it tends to be used in reference to what would properly be called exogenesis.
...The first known mention of the idea was in the writings of the 5th century BC Greek philosopher Anaxagoras...
wiki...Some people ask me about where the Cherokee came from. Let's say we came from different directions and different places. Some originated on this land, others from Atlantis and before that, a seven-pointed star out there...Pleiades, I think you call them, and that's where some of the Cherokee originally came from...
Rolling Thunder Speaks © 1999
Established Member
The theory of life's building blocks coming from space debris is possible. But I'm not certain how such materials could survive the trauma of entry into our atmosphere.
Order of Kilopi
Like Mr. G. Od , all this does is push the question back. That is my opinion anyway.
Established Member
"Where did the first rose come from?"
"Well we didn't have time for it to evolve here, so it came from that garden over there."
"But then where did that garden come from?"
"..."
Order of Kilopi
Exactly, it just pushes it into the unknowable. We don't know anything about this hypothetical planet we allegedly panspermia-ed from.
Order of Kilopi
It's speculative, but that's all it is.
The video was decent, though. Good filming, and wasn't entirely too light on the facts.
But it's still speculative in it's conclusion. Panspermia is possible, but it's requiring key bits of evidence. For example:
1) What evidence is there of bacterial life from outside of Earth? As in, we haven't even found evidence that there is bacterial life outside of Earth. I'm not saying that it's not possible (even probable) that it does exist somewhere -- of course I think that it exists somewhere. The question is, without even evidence of outside bacteria, how can we draw a probable conclusion that life here came from outside?
2) What about the possibility of abiogenesis? As far as I understand it, it was proven that basic enzymes could be created in many different conditions with the right recipe. As far as I know, Abiogenesis has not been suitably disproven as an alternative theory, and Panspermia hasn't offered much to replace it as a theory.
3) What evidence is there that any of this bacteria hit the earth in the first place?
4) What planet could this bacteria have potentially come from? What direction?
There seems to be no real evidence at all.
However, the idea of bacteria surviving entry into the atmosphere I don't think is necessarily impossible. Ships carry living bacteria with them all the time into space. So there is the slight possibility -- but the question is, what makes the theory probable?
A good idea. But nothing conclusive.
((NOTE: I didn't purview the video fully; I may have missed a few points that may apply to the above. If so, please point them out, including the time on the video.))
Order of Kilopi
Yes, there is no evidence of any sort of life outside of Earth. BUT there is evidence of the building blocks - carbon, molecules, atoms stringing together, etc. - throughout space.
"Panspermia" is actually kind of a given. We are originally from space. This solar system is made up of a cloud of H/He gas interlaced with a bunch of space debris. Fortunately, we got a very diverse set of element and molecular building blocks, which is all you need for some sort of auto-catalysis to naturally occur, according to Stuart Kauffman's research, and given some number of million years, you're off to the races.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
Order of Kilopi
Yes, everything in the universe is thanks to the basic building blocks of the stars. Thus, even if you accept Abiogenesis, yes, technically, our ancestors were once inhabitants of stuff that existed outside of the Earth's atmosphere.
However, I thought Panspermia had nothing to do with "technically" being the children of stars, but instead being a "seeded" planet with already-developed biological material from another planet?
Order of Kilopi
Perhaps you're right. I just got carried away.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
Established Member
Doesn't panspermia still require abiogenesis, since the chain had to start somewhere?
Order of Kilopi
It can, and that is what irritates me about it. Like I said, it pushes the question back, without answering the question. Annoying, to put it mildly.
Order of Kilopi
Hi saraongsong.
So I take it you'd rather if I'd have used "exogenesis" because it makes no predictions about how widespread the seeds of life are?
I personally think the "seeds" are everywhere in the universe, given that physics and chemistry are everywhere the same.
Order of Kilopi
Hi Abbadon.
Life forms ejected on asteroid impact could survive to reseed Earth according to a study.
It seems if they can survive ejection they can survive insertion.
Established Member
Since I'm not a scientist, there's a lmit to how much insight I can offer.
But the term does make me snicker.
Order of Kilopi
Nor am I a scientist, but which term?
panspermia?
ejection?
insertion?
sophomoric?
Established Member
"Hey Beavis. He said 'sophomoric'."
"He-he. That was cool."
Order of Kilopi
Unless it kills them. Surviving one head-on car crash at ninety miles an hour doesn't mean the next one will be just fine.
But it's not just that simple, of course. They also have to survive the trip, and then survive on the new planet. And keep surviving on the new planet. And still be able to reproduce.
STARGAZING: All I see are the lights of a billion places I'll never go. --Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary
Order of Kilopi
Certainly, which is why, I think, in the study cited, the researchers chose "likely hitchhikers," microbial extremophiles, able to withstand the harsh environment of space.
Order of Kilopi
But we have yet to determine that. Unless we actually put them in space for hundreds-of-thousands-to-millions of years at a time.
STARGAZING: All I see are the lights of a billion places I'll never go. --Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary
Order of Kilopi
I thought the panspermia (Beavis, I'm warning you!) idea evolved life developing in dense nebula and then infecting other dense nebula and stars passing through them. Like in Bok globules and such.
The idea I heard bandied about was that the Sun passing through one of these infected clouds was what was responsible of the Cambrian Explosion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian_radiation
The Society For Keeping Reality Real though seems to think that it may simply have been the first developement of efficient, imaging eyes turbo-charging natural selection.
Order of Kilopi
No, no---just expressing my frustration at not knowing the definition of panspermia, and once I looked it up, there was another term (exogenesis), to contend with. Enjoying your thread.
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