[meteorite-list] Alien Contact Predicted

From: Norbert Classen <riffraff_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:46:02 +0200
Message-ID: <EAD4CAC3A8664D2F9DFDADF9862FB685_at_lunatic>

Dear Phil, and Exobio-Scepticists,

I wouldn't give too much on whatever Crichton has to say - how about doing
some real homework, and studying books written by scientists first? Read,
e.g., "Vital Dust" by Nobel Prize winner Christian de Duve who answers most
of the basic questions on how "it happened here first". De Duve, who's
everything else but a romantic dreamer and certainly not the kind of guy
who's wasting his time with mental masturbation, comes to the conclusion
that life must be kind of a "cosmic imperative" instead of a weird
exception. But do me a favour, don't use the shortcut, i.e. don't Google it
up, and avoid reading online summaries on Wikipedia and other sites - read
the book from page 1 to 543, it's really worth the effort.

After that you might want to re-read the studies on Murchison and other
carbonaceous chondrites which do not only prove to contain a smorgasbord of
various cosmogenic amino acids, but also nucleobases (the building blocks of
RNA and DNA), water, and many other ingredients of life (as we know it), in
addition to all the astronomic studies about planetary nebulae, the presence
of water, PAH's, methane, and other carbon-based molecules in protoplanetary
discs etc. pp. ...

If you're still sceptic after all of that you might want to take a final
step, look into the mirror and ask yourself if it's just your own bias that
stops you from seing the obvious. I hope you don't take this as an offense
as it sure isn't ment as one, but as someone who studied philosophical
anthropology and the history of science it always takes me by surprise how
many educated people don't understand the full consequences of the
Copernican Shift. Don't get me wrong, of course they do "know" that Earth
isn't the flat center of our solar system, galaxy, or universe. However,
most did just exchange their geocentric view for a slightly modified
anthropocentric view where man is still that special, unique, and most
exquisite being: the Pride of Creation. And, of course, that also requires
that life is unique, and restricted to that small planet Earth: the Cradle
of Humanity. But, how scientific is that? It's pure human hubris, pitiful
self-importance, IMHO.

Don't get me wrong: I don't believe in aliens contacting us anytime soon -
this is a enterily different affair and mainly a matter of time and space -
but to deny the probability of life somewhere else in the universe is as
stupid as the idea that planets around other stars are rare and exceptional
(something that was often believed up to the late 20th century, also for
obvious reasons), and as short sighted as Newton's assertion that meteorites
can't come from space. Today we do know better. Don't we?

My two CM2's,
Norbert Classen

-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] Im Auftrag von Phil
Whitmer
Gesendet: Freitag, 28. August 2009 16:40
An: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Betreff: [meteorite-list] Alien Contact Predicted

The Drake Equation is a prime example of mental masuturbation. It proves
absolutely nothing. How can an equation prove anything when none of the
variables are known with any certainity? As Rob points out, one zero
nullifies the whole silly thing. How about Ne; the number of known Earth
like planets supporting life=0. If you want dumb equations, the
creationists have a bunch of them that proves there is exactly one planet
that supports life. I can make up an equation that proves the existence of
mermaids, bigfoot, Nessie, unicorns, dragons, what imaginary being do you
want to believe in? I'll write a formula to prove it's existence. I'll be
easy, because I already know that life begets life. The Drake Equation
misses the key concept in the alien debate; mainly how does abiogenesis
occur? How does non living matter become alive? Once we figure out the
mechanics of this most basic problem, then we can extrapolate about whether
this seemingly miraculous event could happen more than once. If you're going
to believe in spontaneous generation on other planets, you had better
understand how it happened here first. Someone has to explain to me how
those left handed isomer amino acids from meteorites organized themselves
into living, self replicating DNA. (See this thread is related to
meteorites!)

Crichton summed it up best at a lecture at Caltech :
The problem, of course, is that none of the terms can be known, and most
cannot even be estimated. The only way to work the equation is to fill in
with guesses. [...] As a result, the Drake equation can have any value from
"billions and billions" to zero. An expression that can mean anything means
nothing. Speaking precisely, the Drake equation is literally meaningless...

And puhleez, don't give me that stupid absence of evidence argument, it
didn't hold water when Rumsfeld used it for imaginary WMDs, and it doesn't
justify the belief in phantasmagorical alien creatures.

Mental masturbation is fun, but don't confuse it with real science!

>From the Urban Dictionary:

Mental masturbation:

1. The act of engaging in useless yet intellectually stimulating
conversation, usually as an excuse to avoid taking constructive action in
your life.

2. The act of engaging in intelligent and interesting conversation purely
for the enjoyment of your own greatness and individuality. Subjects range
from obscure lp's to cultural movements in preindustrial societies. Either
delivered through grand monlogues or subtle conversation orientation, it
links large words and random references resulting in nothing acually being
communicated.

3. Overly intensive self gratifying procrastination, thought and
contemplation for a subject not necessarily warranting such effort.


4. The pretense of superior knowledge or intelligence by claiming
conjecture, theory, feeling or opinion as fact.

5. The act of engaging in impractical/nonproductive mental exercise /
thinkings / writings / etc., through which a practitioner only comforts
oneself mentally. Such acts don't lead to any constructive results what so
ever in the real world; some might even imagine oneself being transformed
into superman, or simply the opposite sex, etc.
In short, it's just bs/crap.

Phil Whitmer









______________________________________________
http://www.meteoritecentral.com
Meteorite-list mailing list
Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Received on Fri 28 Aug 2009 12:46:02 PM PDT