Jack Dikian
December 2010
Paul Davies in his book the “The Eerie Silence” examines the assumptions that underlie the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) programme, concluding that the lack of a result (hearing from extra-terrestrials) after 5 decades may be due to a number of reasons:
- Life on Earth might be so improbable that our planet is the only one hosting life.
- Life is common but intelligence is so rare that humans are a unique specimen.
- Science itself is unique to Earth.
- Extraterrestrial signs are everywhere but unrecognizable by us.
Davies goes on to say that our human perception may be so Earth-centric, so specific to our evolutionary path that it simply differs in innumerable ways from the perceptions of other civilizations across the void.
Of course when he talks about our evolutionary path, he is referring to the notion of life as we know evolving from a single genesis. Also, life is Carbon based and forms the backbone of biology. Molecules are made up of carbon bonded with other elements, especially oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen. Often it assumed in astrobiology that if life were to exist elsewhere it will also be carbon based. See Carbon chauvinism.
However, what if there is a second genesis on Earth, and is it living among us undetected?
Of course when he talks about our evolutionary path, he is referring to the notion of life as we know evolving from a single genesis. Also, life is Carbon based and forms the backbone of biology. Molecules are made up of carbon bonded with other elements, especially oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen. Often it assumed in astrobiology that if life were to exist elsewhere it will also be carbon based. See Carbon chauvinism.
However, what if there is a second genesis on Earth, and is it living among us undetected?
Which brings us to the announcement by NASA (December 2010) of the discovery of an alien life form. Not on another planet or a star system far away – rather an ‘alien’ bacterium lurking deep in a Californian lake. This excitement is around this “bug’s” (from the GFAJ-1 strain of the Halomonadaceae family) ability to eat and thrive on Arsenic, one of the most toxic chemicals on Earth. It can even incorporate arsenic into its DNA, making it part of its very being.
As every other form of known life uses phosphorus rather than arsenic as a key building block of its DNA, the find suggests that a second form of life is with us, right here on Earth. This supports the conjecture that if one alien life form exists, it is highly likely there are others out there.
This finding bolsters the ‘weird life' theory coined by Paul Davies, who said it is likely that life on Earth has evolved more than once – and the only reason we haven’t found the imposters among us is that we don’t know what we are looking for.
As every other form of known life uses phosphorus rather than arsenic as a key building block of its DNA, the find suggests that a second form of life is with us, right here on Earth. This supports the conjecture that if one alien life form exists, it is highly likely there are others out there.
- Dr Felisa Wolfe-Simon, from Arizona State University led the US researcher
- Professor Ariel Anbar, an astrobiologist, also from Arizona State University, co-authored the study.
This finding bolsters the ‘weird life' theory coined by Paul Davies, who said it is likely that life on Earth has evolved more than once – and the only reason we haven’t found the imposters among us is that we don’t know what we are looking for.
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