Extraterrestrial races

[wodgina]

I think we over-exaggerate our importance along the lines of TD or they are huge or something.

I hope we never encounter ET's as we would make great pets.

[Iguana]

What I find bizarre is the notion that aliens would care about us at all. I mean, if they are so far ahead of us technologically, the chances are that they view us as we do shore-slime, and probably blow up planets on a whim, like human children  squash insects.

I’m not sure they would care much for us. Who knows? They might be looking at us like we are looking at wild animals in a nature reserve, sometimes showing us a fake or disguised appearance, an holographic object or an effect of their technology to see our reaction or just for fun… Or perhaps they keep us somehow like we keep fowls to get their eggs. My chicken don’t even realize that I collect their eggs…

Then there is the issue that if there is one alien species there must also be others out there, in which case why would they bother with us when they have so many other, more interesting, more advanced species to deal with than us?

Again I don’t think they bother much with us. Perhaps they do, perhaps they don’t care at all. And perhaps they don’t exist or never came to see our Earth, but in this case we would have to find another suitable explanation for the obviously intelligent behavior of UFOs.

Your argument could be formulated in the reverse way: “if there is an intelligent, technologically more or less advanced species like ours, then there must also be others out there.” Plenty of them, probably. 

[sabertooth]

I like Spielberg's representation of aliens in ET.

There is a possibility that ETs are just bumbling flawed beings with limited capacities who have somehow managed to master the basic technology's of space travel, but in no way have the means nor the want by which to enslave or destroy other worlds. People have a misconception of aliens as somehow having to be superior beings who travel the stars majestically and without any personal problems or the technical limitations that inhibit our own attempts to explore space.

[cherimoya_kid]

I like Spielberg's representation of aliens in ET.

There is a possibility that ETs are just bumbling flawed beings with limited capacities who have somehow managed to master the basic technology's of space travel, but in no way have the means nor the want by which to enslave or destroy other worlds. People have a misconception of aliens as somehow having to be superior beings who travel the stars majestically and without any personal problems or the technical limitations that inhibit our own attempts to explore space.

An interesting idea, but I doubt it.  i don't think it's possible to master space flight without extremely fast computers, and, if a computer is fast enough to do the math necessary for designing/testing technology for real space flight, it's also fast enough to design powerful weapons that could easily overwhelm our defenses.

[sabertooth]

This is all hypothetical, but for the sake of an interesting argument.

Perhaps CK is right and an alien race has the means by which to dominate our world, but why would an ET want to do that for. To what end? If they are already that far advanced, you think they would also have evolved beyond the need to bully the weaker races.

 Its a question of motive and will, not of capability. Aliens whatever form they take even with the highest level of computer technology, artificial intelligence, ect; wouldn't have a reason to invade a backwater underdeveloped race such as our own.

Unless they were just inherently evil, or were in need of our resources. Which is plausible.

The idea of alien invaders probably stems from machinations of the human psyche projecting its own predatory attributes upon a theoretical being from another star system.

[cherimoya_kid]

 Its a question of motive and will, not of capability. Aliens whatever form they take even with the highest level of computer technology, artificial intelligence, ect; wouldn't have a reason to invade a backwater underdeveloped race such as our own.

Unless they were just inherently evil, or were in need of our resources. Which is plausible.

If a race has mastered interstellar travel, then they have certainly mastered asteroid mining.  They can probably also easily convert pretty much any element to any other element.  Given that, they'd have no need to venture elsewhere for resources.  They could just mine the asteroids in their own star system, or convert rocks on the moons in their solar system to whatever they need.

[TylerDurden]

If a race has mastered interstellar travel, then they have certainly mastered asteroid mining.  They can probably also easily convert pretty much any element to any other element.  Given that, they'd have no need to venture elsewhere for resources.  They could just mine the asteroids in their own star system, or convert rocks on the moons in their solar system to whatever they need.

  Our own example, however, shows that the more advanced technologically a society becomes, the more it manipulates its environment. So, the likelihood is that any ET race will run out of resources(most likely mainly in the form of available land) and want more elsewhere, especially if it is having excess numbers of children. The only exceptions to the above I can think of is if the advanced technology of ETs  eventually allows them to colonise dimensions other than this one and/or if they discover a source of infinite energy.

[Iguana]

You guys are very good at speculating...

[cherimoya_kid]

  Our own example, however, shows that the more advanced technologically a society becomes, the more it manipulates its environment. So, the likelihood is that any ET race will run out of resources(most likely mainly in the form of available land) and want more elsewhere, especially if it is having excess numbers of children. The only exceptions to the above I can think of is if the advanced technology of ETs  eventually allows them to colonise dimensions other than this one and/or if they discover a source of infinite energy.

My guess is that renewable energy sources like solar, etc. are going to become cheaper and easier to use.  Once we have room temperature superconductors, then we can start covering the desert areas of the world with solar panels, and sending the electrical power to everywhere else, without the efficiency losses that come with long-distance power lines.

Think about how much energy the Sun puts out every second.  There's no way we would ever need another source of energy, if we can harness that efficiently.

As far as running out of land, we've gotten better and better at getting more food from less land.  Probably within 20 years or so, we'll start being able to grow all our food in vats.  At that point, all we'll need are minerals to feed the process, and almost no land at all. The birth rate will probably drop to near zero as our life spans get longer and longer, as well. 

[TylerDurden]

The trouble is that there will always be corrupt incompetent primitive societies which will carry on breeding like crazy. The inevitable result thereof will be low quality nutrients for everyone. In the end, the only obvious solution would be something like "Soylent Green" for those who've seen the movie.

Besides, if there is no end to technological advancement, we will eventually be ending up with resources which will allow individuals to  wipe out entire planets on a whim.

[cherimoya_kid]

The trouble is that there will always be corrupt incompetent primitive societies which will carry on breeding like crazy. The inevitable result thereof will be low quality nutrients for everyone. In the end, the only obvious solution would be something like "Soylent Green" for those who've read the book/seen the movie.

Besides, if there is no end to technological advancement, we will eventually be ending up with resources which will allow individuals to  wipe out entire planets on a whim.

100 years ago many places in Europe and the US were "corrupt incompetent primitive societies".  Technology/education changes things.  Every society lowers its birth rate once things start getting better, especially once women start getting college educations.

As far as low-quality nutrients, the oceans hold far more mineral content than we'll ever need.  For that matter, we'd be able to recycle the vast majority of the mineral content anyway, from waste matter, once we got the vat-grown food system started.

As far as people wiping out planets on a whim, one thing I fully expect us to be able to do (assuming Moore's Law continues for at least 25-30 more years) is to cure all mental illnesses, including impulsivity and excessive anger.

[TylerDurden]

100 years ago many places in Europe and the US were "corrupt incompetent primitive societies". 

  Things haven't changed since then. There are still welfare-benefit sinkholes all over the US and the UK which  are corrupt, incompetent  primitive societies. The problem is that  increased technology  allows the useless  elements of society to outbreed the more intelligent, and the latter are the only ones who tend to have some sense re not breeding too much. We need laws to correct this. Hmm, I always remember a wonderful story by Harry Harrison("a criminal act") wherein he posits  a future, vastly overpopulated world where any man who produces more than one child can be fought, each time, in one duel to the death  by any one volunteer with the latter being armed to the teeth. A logical way to reduce overpopulation.

Technology/education changes things.  Every society lowers its birth rate once things start getting better, especially once women start getting college educations.

  Not necessarily. There was the "baby boom" generation, for example. Current drops in population are due, imo, to government attacks on family values, feminism, drop in cultural activities etc.

As far as low-quality nutrients, the oceans hold far more mineral content than we'll ever need.  For that matter, we'd be able to recycle the vast majority of the mineral content anyway, from waste matter, once we got the vat-grown food system started.

No, the ocean is too diluted, despite containing tons upon tons of such minerals. People have already tried and failed to harvest minerals from the ocean, because of this.

I don't like the notion of living off recycled crap. It reminds me of the book Dune in which people have to live off their own recycled urine which has been absorbed into their stillsuits via urination.

As far as people wiping out planets on a whim, one thing I fully expect us to be able to do (assuming Moore's Law continues for at least 25-30 more years) is to cure all mental illnesses, including impulsivity and excessive anger.

That's a bit of a stretch, to class impulsivity and excess anger  as mental illness. They can be quite normal behaviour under the right circumstances. And I doubt that any society would dare try to make us all unemotionally calm types as then we'd all be like zombies.

Basically, an alien's behaviour may be so utterly alien that it could wipe out planets for the most alien of reasons, not even needing aggression or hatred to be able to commit the act. If it weren't even aware of us(say if it was an energy-being) then it could still wipe us out, unknowingly.

[wodgina]

  Things haven't changed since then. There are still welfare-benefit sinkholes all over the US and the UK which  are corrupt, incompetent  primitive societies. The problem is that  increased technology  allows the useless  elements of society to outbreed the more intelligent, and the latter are the only ones who tend to have some sense re not breeding too much. We need laws to correct this. Hmm, I always remember a wonderful story by Harry Harrison("a criminal act") wherein he posits  a future, vastly overpopulated world where any man who produces more than one child can be fought, each time, in one duel to the death  by any one volunteer with the latter being armed to the teeth. A logical way to reduce overpopulation.  Not necessarily. There was the "baby boom" generation, for example. Current drops in population are due, imo, to government attacks on family values, feminism, drop in cultural activities etc. No, the ocean is too diluted, despite containing tons upon tons of such minerals. People have already tried and failed to harvest minerals from the ocean, because of this.

I don't like the notion of living off recycled crap. It reminds me of the book Dune in which people have to live off their own recycled urine which has been absorbed into their stillsuits via urination.  That's a bit of a stretch, to class impulsivity and excess anger  as mental illness. They can be quite normal behaviour under the right circumstances. And I doubt that any society would dare try to make us all unemotionally calm types as then we'd all be like zombies.

Basically, an alien's behaviour may be so utterly alien that it could wipe out planets for the most alien of reasons, not even needing aggression or hatred to be able to commit the act. If it weren't even aware of us(say if it was an energy-being) then it could still wipe us out.

It easy to make money out the less intelligent groups (lower class) I had a couple of dudes try to bait me the other day probably looking for a punchup.

Grinned a little and I went on with my day... I get guys like them to wear full overalls and masks in the heat doing work for my business while I will sit in the air con on my lap top checking the surf report while they make me money.

[Iguana]

Before launching wild speculations, wouldn’t it be wise to inform oneself about the facts? I won’t believe you guys if you tell you’ve read at least only one the most basic and fundamental books about UFOs, such as that of astronomer J. Allen Hynek The UFO Experience - A Scientific Inquiry (1972)
This book is freely available online here. http://fr.slideshare.net/DirkTheDaring11/j-allen-hynek-the-ufo-experience-a-scientific-inquiry-1972

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Allen_Hynek
Dr. Josef Allen Hynek (May 1, 1910 – April 27, 1986) was a United States astronomer, professor, and ufologist.[1] He is perhaps best remembered for his UFO research. Hynek acted as scientific adviser to UFO studies undertaken by the U.S. Air Force under three consecutive names:

    Project Sign (1947–1949),
    Project Grudge (1949–1952), and
    Project Blue Book (1952 to 1969).

For decades afterwards, he conducted his own independent UFO research, developing the Close Encounter classification system, and is widely considered the father of the concept of scientific analysis of both reports and, especially, trace evidence purportedly left by UFOs.[2]

Another astronomer who openly spoke and wrote about UFO’s is Pierre Guérin:

http://www.ufoevidence.org/researchers/detail104.htm
French astronomer Pierre Guérin, who died in 2000, was one of the very few scientists who publicly defended UFOs in France. In his book "UFOs: the mechanisms of a disinformation" (OVNI. Les mécanismes d'une désinformation, 2000), published just before his death, Guérin expressed the opinion that the American policy of UFO secrecy is not near its end, because the revelation of an alien presence would be too great a shock for Mankind.
---------------------------------
Dr. Pierre Guérin, senior researcher at the French National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS), has written extensively about the need for scientific research in the UFO field. He was concluding a summary of the UFO evidence published in Sciences & Avenir in 1972. Guérin, P., "Le Dossier des Objets Volants Non Identifiés," Sciences & Avenir, No. 307, Paris, September 1972.

His friend Jean-Pierre Petit, also a former head of research at the French National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS), a cosmologist and one of the world’s best specialists of magneto-hydro dynamic propulsion, published several and extremely controversial books about alleged  ET presence on Earth. His forthright talk and his unusual stance on something very strange about it made him a lot of enemies, even amongst ufologists.

Then there are US Air Force declassified reports as well as the French Air Force COMETA report which is a must read. It’s freely available on line too and in English here. http://www.archive.org/download/http://archive.org/details/TheCometaReport
and here http://www.ufoevidence.org/topics/Cometa.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COMETA
COMETA was a high-level French UFO study organisation from the late 1990s, composed of high-ranking officers and officials, some having held command posts in the armed forces and aerospace industry. The name "COMETA" in English stands for "Committee for in-depth studies." The study was carried out over several years by an independent group of mostly former "auditors" at the Institute of Advanced Studies for National Defence, or IHEDN, a high-level French military think-tank, and by various other experts.

The group was responsible for the 'COMETA Report' (1999) on UFOs and their possible implications for defence in France. The report concluded that about 5% of the UFO cases they studied were utterly inexplicable and the best hypothesis to explain them was the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH). The authors also accused the United States government of engaging in a massive cover-up of the evidence.

[cherimoya_kid]

  Things haven't changed since then. There are still welfare-benefit sinkholes all over the US and the UK which  are corrupt, incompetent  primitive societies. The problem is that  increased technology  allows the useless  elements of society to outbreed the more intelligent, and the latter are the only ones who tend to have some sense re not breeding too much. We need laws to correct this. Hmm, I always remember a wonderful story by Harry Harrison("a criminal act") wherein he posits  a future, vastly overpopulated world where any man who produces more than one child can be fought, each time, in one duel to the death  by any one volunteer with the latter being armed to the teeth. A logical way to reduce overpopulation.  Not necessarily. There was the "baby boom" generation, for example. Current drops in population are due, imo, to government attacks on family values, feminism, drop in cultural activities etc. No, the ocean is too diluted, despite containing tons upon tons of such minerals. People have already tried and failed to harvest minerals from the ocean, because of this.

I don't like the notion of living off recycled crap. It reminds me of the book Dune in which people have to live off their own recycled urine which has been absorbed into their stillsuits via urination.  That's a bit of a stretch, to class impulsivity and excess anger  as mental illness. They can be quite normal behaviour under the right circumstances. And I doubt that any society would dare try to make us all unemotionally calm types as then we'd all be like zombies.

Basically, an alien's behaviour may be so utterly alien that it could wipe out planets for the most alien of reasons, not even needing aggression or hatred to be able to commit the act. If it weren't even aware of us(say if it was an energy-being) then it could still wipe us out, unknowingly.

The ocean is not too diluted to harvest minerals from.  Have you not heard of Celtic sea salt?  ROFL

It's easy to separate out the sodium from the other elements in the salt, you just raise the pH to about 11, remove the minerals that precipitate out, rinse most of the remaining sodium from the precipitate, and you have all the minerals necessary for life, in a liquid solution.  I've done this hundreds of times myself, to make minerals supplements for drinking and for my plants.

Impulsivity is most definitely a mental illness.  It might be adaptive in a few situations, but the more civilized a society is, the less need it has for impulsivity.

[TylerDurden]

Obviously, I wasn't talking about salt or water, but about minerals like gold or uranium.

Impulsivity is not a mental illness. It is definitively adaptive in certain situations, even in ones available to more civilised societies. Regardless of how civilised a society might be, a sudden choice derived from impulsivity via intuition etc. might easily be far superior to one based on long-term, purely unemotional reasons.

[Hanna]

Before launching wild speculations, wouldn’t it be wise to inform oneself about the facts?

Well, what about your extraterrestrial crop circles?

[sabertooth]

I hear you iguana.
I still think most UFO sightings are questionable, they could be real, but that doesn't mean that they aren't just ultra highteck secret craft being operated by the shadow governmental organizations of the world, who suppress such technology.

I wonder if any syfi geeks get hung up on the idea of biological incompatibility when it comes to visitors entering into our biosphere? Like in war of the worlds the aliens where destroyed by our microbes. The life force on this planet may totally be at odds with whatever else has evolved on other planets. So perhaps for an alien race to be able to use our planet at all they would have to destroy all life on earth in order to terraform the planet into something consistent with their own biological needs.

  Things haven't changed since then. There are still welfare-benefit sinkholes all over the US and the UK which  are corrupt, incompetent  primitive societies. The problem is that  increased technology  allows the useless  elements of society to outbreed the more intelligent, and the latter are the only ones who tend to have some sense re not breeding too much. We need laws to correct this.

That's a bit of a stretch, to class impulsivity and excess anger  as mental illness. They can be quite normal behaviour under the right circumstances. And I doubt that any society would dare try to make us all unemotionally calm types as then we'd all be like zombies.

Basically, an alien's behaviour may be so utterly alien that it could wipe out planets for the most alien of reasons, not even needing aggression or hatred to be able to commit the act. If it weren't even aware of us(say if it was an energy-being) then it could still wipe us out, unknowingly.

I don't think laws are going to help this trend. There may be a breaking point sometime in the future, if trends continue, where Huxley's brave new world will be ushered in, in order to keep technology from turning us into mindless jellyfish.

 Impusivity always allowed captain Kirk to prevail against more advanced alien aggressors. Going head first into danger, driven by an insane passion to live, is what makes humans so great. Yeah some of the red shirts will be vaporized in the struggle, but its all for the greater glory of those who survive. The same instincts to fight and fuck are also connected to our capacity to care for one another. There are elements of the human soul which must be totally unique in the immediate universe, and evolved to suit our own survival , and particular to our own kind.

Alien races would most likely have a completely different set of wiles.

[Iguana]

Well, what about your extraterrestrial crop circles?

They are not mine and I don’t pretend to know the origin of all of them, on the contrary to some who strongly believe they hold the ultimate truth and a definitive answer. I’haven't studied the subject and anyway I don’t care about it. I just find it strange and absolutely amazing — as well as the stand of those who believe that these "crop circles" are all made by pranksters. I don’t speculate and I keep an open mind without excluding any possible origin, which could well be diverse including man made — which is proved at least for some.

If you want to study that subject, there are two links still working on Jean-Pierre Petit 10 years old (French) page on it : http://www.jp-petit.org/nouv_f/Crop%20Circles/Crop_Circles.htm
http://www.cropcircleresearch.com/
http://www.circlemakers.org/ (website of the human makers)
Apparently and according to JPP, there are two basic kinds differentiated by the way the stems are bent (see his drawing and photos).

Il y a évidemment des "agroglyphes" qui sont le fait de farceurs. Dans les crop circles authentiques les blés ne sont pas cassés, ni pliés. Quelque chose semble avoir agi sur le "noeud" le plus proche du sol. La tige acquiert alors une angulation, d'importance variable.

Translation : There are obviously "crop circles" made by pranksters. In the genuine crop circles the wheat is  neither broken nor bent. Something seems to have acted on the "node" closest to the ground. The stem acquires an angle of varying importance.

[raw-al]

If you want to study that subject, there are two links still working on Jean-Pierre Petit 10 years old (French) page on it : http://www.jp-petit.org/nouv_f/Crop%20Circles/Crop_Circles.htm
http://www.cropcircleresearch.com/
http://www.circlemakers.org/ (website of the human makers)
Apparently and according to JPP, there are two basic kinds differentiated by the way the stems are bent (see his drawing and photos).


Translation : There are obviously "crop circles" made by pranksters. In the genuine crop circles the wheat is  neither broken nor bent. Something seems to have acted on the "node" closest to the ground. The stem acquires an angle of varying importance.

Funny thing is that the pranksters never actually demonstrate how they do the crop circles.

[majormark]

Majormark, I listened a bit to this “Bashar” I had never heard of before. He’s funny but does he really bring something new and practically valuable? How to better practice raw paleo nutrition, for example? There have been plenty of such people pretending to have been somehow in contact with ET’s, but up to now the only result has been to discredit the UFO’s extraterrestrial origin hypothesis.

The value of those concepts is that it allows for a better understanding, a new perspective, of the "physics" of vibrations related to psychology and this gives us the opportunity to evolve, to get over some problems more easily.

Some of the Core Concepts of Bashar are explained here: iasos.com/metaphys/bashar/

The basic principles are listed on Darryl's site: bashar.org/aboutprinciples.html

I found another video where the issue of "open contact" is better explained (how, why and when):
Bashar - První kontakt aneb pro? jsme ješt? nep?istáli?

[sabertooth]

The truth is out there.

[Iguana]

Scientists Publish Controversial Paper About Extra-Terrestrial Life on Meteorites

By Ashley Davis, Tue, March 12, 2013

Structures similar to algae were found on fragments of a meteorite which struck Sri Lanka last year, proving that life exists in other places of the universe. In a paper written by a team of scientists, they claim that the microscope images of the rocks reveal small fossilized life forms from space. They are convinced that their findings are evidence of panspermia, the hypothesis that life exists throughout the universe and is spread by meteoroids, asteroids and planetoids.

In January, Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology said initial investigations of the meteorite revealed evidence of alien life forms. Chandra is a joint author of a new study reiterating the claims based on new analysis of the rocks.

(…)

In the most recent study, scientists claim the three rocks contain fossilized biological structures fused into the rock matrix. They said they also conducted tests ruling out the possibility of terrestrial contamination. Microscopic images of the structures show complex, thick-walled, carbon-rich microfossil around 100 micrometers across. Another image shows well-preserved flagella 100 micrometers long and two micrometers in diameter.

Scientists said the long and thin nature of the structures indicate “a low gravity, low pressure environment and rapid freeze-drying,” which likely happened in space. They said their findings “offer clear and convincing evidence that these obviously ancient remains of extinct marine algae found embedded in the Polonnaruwa meteorite are indigenous to the stones and not the result of post-arrival microbial contaminants.” Professor Wickramasinghe said microbes from space are the reason life formed on our planet years ago.

“We are all aliens - we share a cosmic ancestry,” he said. “Each time a new planetary system forms a few surviving microbes find their way into comets. These then multiply and seed other planets.”

Yes, I've been thinking since a long time that the panspermia hypothesis is likely true. 

[Iguana]

There is a further hypothesis, “Direct panspermia",  which is fascinating.

Francis Crick Remembered
The secret of life
by Astrobiology Magazine

Moffett Field CA (SPX) Aug 02, 2004

The British molecular biologist Francis Harry Crick died on Wednesday at the age of 88. Crick changed our understanding of life when, in 1953, he and James Watson announced that DNA came packaged in an elegant double helix structure. Crick reportedly claimed they had found 'the secret of life,' and many scientists agree.

The double-helix structure explained how genetic material replicated through nitrogenous base pair bonds. Some see this as the most important development in biology in the 20th century, and Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery in 1962.

Crick was not content to sit back on his laurels after winning one of the top prizes in science, however. He continued to study the mysteries of life, such as the nature of consciousness, or the possibility that RNA preceded the development of DNA.

In 1973, he and the chemist Leslie Orgel published a paper in the journal Icarus suggesting that life may have arrived on Earth through a process called 'Directed Panspermia.'

The Panspermia hypothesis suggests that the seeds of life are common in the universe and can be spread between worlds. This idea originated with the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras, and was later promoted by the Swedish physicist Svante Arrhenius and the British astronomer Fred Hoyle.

Versions of this hypothesis have survived to the present day, with the discovery of proposed 'fossil structures' in the martian meteorite ALH84001.

'Directed Panspermia' suggests that life may be distributed by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. Crick and Orgel argued that DNA encapsulated within small grains could be fired in all directions by such a civilization in order to spread life within the universe. Their abstract in the 1973 Icarus paper reads:

"It now seems unlikely that extraterrestrial living organisms could have reached the earth either as spores driven by the radiation pressure from another star or as living organisms imbedded in a meteorite."

"As an alternative to these nineteenth-century mechanisms, we have considered Directed Panspermia, the theory that organisms were deliberately transmitted to the earth by intelligent beings on another planet."

"We conclude that it is possible that life reached the earth in this way, but that the scientific evidence is inadequate at the present time to say anything about the probability. We draw attention to the kinds of evidence that might throw additional light on the topic."

Crick and Orgel further expanded on this idea in their 1981 book, 'Life Itself.'. They believed there was little chance that microorganisms could be transported between planets and across interstellar distances by random accident.

But a technological civilization could direct panspermia by stocking a spacecraft with a genetic starter kit. They suggested that a large sample of different microorganisms with minimal nutritional needs could survive the long journey between worlds.

Many scientists are critical of the Panspermia hypothesis, because it does not try to answer the question of how life first originated. Instead, it passes the responsibility on to another place and another time, offering at best a partial solution to the question.

Crick and Orgel suggested that Directed Panspermia might help resolve some mysteries about life's biochemistry. For instance, it could be the reason why the biological systems of Earth are dependent on molybdenum, when the chemically similar metals chromium and nickel are far more abundant.

They suggested that the seeds for life on Earth could have originated from a location far richer in molybdenum.

Other scientists have noted, however, that in seawater molybdenum is more abundant than either chromium or nickel.

Coming full circle to his groundbreaking discovery of DNA's structure, Crick wondered, if life began in the great "primeval soup" suggested by the Miller/Urey experiment, why there wouldn't be a multitude of genetic materials among the different life forms. Instead, all life on Earth shares the same basic DNA structure.

Crick and Orgel wrote in their book 'Life Itself,' "an honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going."

[l0rdcha0s]

I think a lot of our thinking is human-centric as well. Like another poster said above in terms of scifi geeks and biological compatibility. A lot of mainstream thinking is well in order for a planet to have life it has to be a certain temperature (the goldilocks effect), it has to have water, oxygen, carbon-based lifeforms etc. We think this way because it is what we would need. Perhaps other alien lifeforms are completely beyond our understanding. Perhaps don't need water, survive at super extreme temperatures and the like. I always thought it was a little egocentric to think that the alien life would have to be like life on earth. But that is most people's understanding of what life needs to exist (but it may only go for our planet).