[meteorite-list] The search for aliens should start on Earth not outer space, says scientist

From: countdeiro at earthlink.net <countdeiro_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:43:06 -0500 (EST)
Message-ID: <12255226.1264473786850.JavaMail.root_at_wamui-june.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Dear Sterling,

I agree with you. It was a cheap shot for me to say " purported to be a physicist". I regret making the aside and trust, if he hears of the remark, the good Professor Davies will forgive me.

The point that I went over the top trying to make is that all life on earth is native to it. If we find a new species here ...it is just that...a new species. When we meet a new form of life off world...it is that which should be called "alien".

Guido

-----Original Message-----
>From: "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net>
>Sent: Jan 25, 2010 8:50 PM
>To: countdeiro at earthlink.net, meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] The search for aliens should start on Earth not outer space, says scientist
>
>Dear Count,
>
> First, one should always be cautious about
>UK tabloid "news" and the ways in which they
>present things.
>
> Secondly, before saying somebody is
>"purported to be a physicist," you ought to
>check him out:
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Davies
>
> Honestly, I disagree with a lot of Davies
>ideas on a host of technical things but he has
>a point here.
>
> The Earth has the survivors of microbes
>that thrived and were wide-spread when the
>Earth was very different from what it is now.
>We have microbes who love boiling water, who
>eat sulfur, who think oxygen is poison, who
>will never be happy until there's hydrogen
>sulfide everywhere and the oceans are purple.
>
> These ancient forms have been pushed
>back into the corners of our present environment,
>reduced in number but hanging on by the skin
>of their teeth.
>
> IF an truly alien microbe or a non-DNA
>lifeform ever made it to Earth and didn't die
>instantly, it might well find refuge in an even
>deeper pocket of out-of-the-way. It could just sit
>there for billions of years and gripe about this
>lousy planet.
>
> I think Davies' real point is that we DON'T
>LOOK to see if there is anything (anybody?)
>there. If you never look, you never find, just
>like with meteorites.
>
>
>Sterling K. Webb
>------------------------------------------------------------
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <countdeiro at earthlink.net>
>To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 3:42 PM
>Subject: [meteorite-list] The search for aliens should start on Earth
>not outer space, says scientist
>
>
>> Hello List,
>>
>> Here's a fellow who must stay so far back in his laboratory at AU that
>> they mail him daylight.
>> Professor Paul Davies, purported to be a physicist, has "alien life"
>> sitting in the meteorite collection down the hall from him...so to
>> speak..and he makes this idiotic pronouncement. All he accomplished
>> was to show his ignorance of the current science and provide fodder
>> for the argument against tenure.
>>
>> I thought when I read the caption on this release that it was going to
>> show some recognition of the fact that "alien life " has already been
>> discovered in martian meteorites...albeit dead and fossilized...and
>> that most of his colleagues agree that meteorites brought "life" to
>> this planet.
>>
>> If Davies wants to discover "alien life"...he should look in a mirror.
>>
>> Here's the link.
>>
>> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7068765/The-search-for-aliens-should-start-on-Earth-not-outer-space-says-scientist.html
>>
>> On to Tucson,
>>
>> Count Deiro
>> IMCA 3536
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Received on Mon 25 Jan 2010 09:43:06 PM PST