I somewhat agree with your sentiment. We know only about life on earth and assume we are the norm. There are arguments to make that changing a few parameters will have a negative effect but we might just be a “local optimum” and have no idea what the other local optimums (or even absolute ones) look like.
Then again, we can make educated guesses and I guess the scientists know that that’s what they are doing. But raising research money is easier if you claim to search for alien life.
Purple earth hypothesis suggests that early photosynthesis wasn’t chlorophil based, but on a simpler molecule (retinal) which is purple colored. The Canfield ocean was supposed to have followed this time yielding a turquoise life, where the ocean was anoxic and sulfidic. That was then replaced during the great oxigenation event which lead to the current green earth.
I somewhat agree with your sentiment. We know only about life on earth and assume we are the norm. There are arguments to make that changing a few parameters will have a negative effect but we might just be a “local optimum” and have no idea what the other local optimums (or even absolute ones) look like.
Then again, we can make educated guesses and I guess the scientists know that that’s what they are doing. But raising research money is easier if you claim to search for alien life.
If you look at stuff like the purple earth hypothises, the Canfield ocean, I’d definitely go with life finds a way.
I don’t know either of these terms. Can you give me a tldr?
Purple earth hypothesis suggests that early photosynthesis wasn’t chlorophil based, but on a simpler molecule (retinal) which is purple colored. The Canfield ocean was supposed to have followed this time yielding a turquoise life, where the ocean was anoxic and sulfidic. That was then replaced during the great oxigenation event which lead to the current green earth.