Atmospheres

[Fyron]

Ok. The Drake Equation now has even less to do with this discussion.

Drake was not infallible, you know.

[Slick]

Nobody is infallible.

edit: not even my spelling.

[ February 20, 2003, 20:04: Message edited by: Slick ]

[Doormouse]

Sorry to bring up a semi old and out of place topic but:

Originally posted by orev_saara:
exactly DID Tesla light his laboratory?

Well it's obvious he used cold fusion to e-mail Lord Vargo the Zeppelin Emperor through a phlogiston based pryramid inverter to see if he could ask the aliens to see if they would let him borrow their light.

Nicola Tesla was a paranoid little man who was constantly impovershed and verbaly abused by Edison. He couldn't even get an electric current design past Menlo Park nevermind an interstellar communicator or an ambient light generator. That whole Paris stoty isn't particularly compelling either. They used to believe in mesmerism too.

But anyway any assortment of volcanic gases and industrial cleaners could become atmospheres. There are plenty of deep sea vent dwellers that live on sulfides. Chlorine planets could be inhabited by sentient colonies of extreme halophiles.

[ February 21, 2003, 01:50: Message edited by: Doormouse ]

[Fyron]

But anyway any assortment of volcanic gases and industrial cleaners could become atmospheres. There are plenty of deep sea vent dwellers that live on sulfides. Chlorine planets could be inhabited by sentient colonies of extreme halophiles.

Yes, and those are not very complex organisms. More complex organisms thriving in such environments is much harder to rationalize.

Slick, what was the point of stating that? My point was that you seem to be placing a lot of value in what Drake said, even though he probably wasn't all that correct.

[Slick]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:

quote:

---

But anyway any assortment of volcanic gases and industrial cleaners could become atmospheres. There are plenty of deep sea vent dwellers that live on sulfides. Chlorine planets could be inhabited by sentient colonies of extreme halophiles.

Yes, and those are not very complex organisms. More complex organisms thriving in such environments is much harder to rationalize.

Slick, what was the point of stating that? My point was that you seem to be placing a lot of value in what Drake said, even though he probably wasn't all that correct.

---

It would be pretty presumptious of me comment on the correctness of the Drake equation, so I won't. It is what is taught in universities and is the entire basis for SETI. But everyone is entitled to their opinion.

As for the complex vs. non-complex... I am no biologist, but I don't understand why there seems to be a distinction between the two here. Either a process can sustain life or it can't. These are biochemical processes that occur at or below the cellular level. As proof, there are examples of O2 breathers on earth from the cellular level to the largest creatures that ever lived. I would think that if a process can support life for the little guys, it can support it for the big guys. Again, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I have never heard of an astronomer or astrophysicist looking for life on planets with cleaners as atmosphere, but he would have every right to do so. No offense intended, but I will be backing out of this discussion. I should have never posted in this thread in the first place. It just isn't fun or interesting to me anymore. Thanks.

Slick.

[Captain Kwok]

Slick:

Don't let Fyron rile you. I've enjoyed your responses thus far!

Less complex organisms like bacteria require far less energy per cell for metabolic purposes than an Eukaryotic cell like ours. This is why they can use less energetic metabolisms based on different compounds. Even so, most of them can only survive because they have no competition for resources because of their extreme environments like thermal vents, etc.

However, I suppose if you lived on a planet where say NH4+ was in high enough concentration, you might see some higher creatures (on the order of nematodes or porifera) that could use NH4+ for respiration.

Another possibility is getting H2 breathers in a hydrogen Gas Giant or something like that. H2 is similiar to O2 on the energy scale and might be able to support some kind of creatures, kind of like the Abbidon.

However, I'm pretty sure there is life out there, and not just microbial, but complex lifeforms like us!

[Wardad]

Originally posted by Captain Kwok:
However, I'm pretty sure there is life out there, and not just microbial, but complex lifeforms like us!

Hmmm, I have never been called complex before.