Quote:
Originally Posted by Flint
Also, you're describing the universe in terms of science textbooks from 30 years ago. What we've learned since then is that given the right combination of the commonplace elements that are present literally everywhere (cranked out of the fusion engine of every star that ever existed), it's almost impossible for organized matter to not start immediately forming. Life formed (or arrived) on Earth, we now know, as early as 4 billion years ago-- RIGHT after the Earth formed, while it was still what we assumed was an uninhabitable hellhole. We've found life on Earth in what should be considered impossible conditions. Everything we've learned indicates that life is most probably the DEFAULT state of matter. And, there's planets literally everywhere. Not to mention, the entire universe passed through a phase, very early on, where the AMBIENT TEMPERATURE of the entire universe was in the "Goldilocks zone" for forming life, with the abundant materials that were already present--including the liquid water that--by default-- wasn't boiling or freezing. So, turns out, life probably formed ALMOST IMMEDIATELY after the universe formed, and, it was probably, literally EVERYWHERE.
I don't know if this makes life "less special" but in terms of rarity-- scientists no longer think that life, nor the conditions for forming life, nor the conditions for sustaining life, are much more than what happens by default, pretty much as soon as matter exists.
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I know all this. The fact remains: matter, mostly in the form of hydrogen, is rare; organized matter (complex molecules) are rarer still; living matter is even rarer; and - rarest of all - is self-aware matter. We know of only one place where self-aware matter exists. We know of 2000 or so other places (exoplanets) and only a handful of those might support living matter (and possibility self-aware matter).
It would be great if the universe, our galactic cluster, our galaxy, our system, teemed with self-aware (or even just living) matter. My gut tells me not to hold my breath waiting for evidence.