NASA Proposes "Water World" Theory For Origin of Life 115
William Robinson (875390) writes "A new study from researchers at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has proposed the "water world" theory as the answer to our evolution, which describes how electrical energy naturally produced at the sea floor might have given rise to life. While the scientists had already proposed this hypothesis called 'submarine alkaline hydrothermal emergence of life' the new report assembles decades of field, laboratory and theoretical research into a grand, unified picture."
Re:NASA Proposes "Water World" Theory For Origin o (Score:5, Insightful)
And then what mind-boggling intelligence begat the mind-boggling intelligence that begat us? Turtles all the way down, mate.
Re:NASA Proposes "Water World" Theory For Origin o (Score:5, Insightful)
mind-boggling complexity of life that could never be duplicated but by a mind-boggling intelligence
Complexity can arise spontaneously out of simple interactions [wikipedia.org]. We see this over and over and over again [wikipedia.org]. Pretending it requires intelligence just reveals our collective cognitive bias towards personifying the world and ascribing agency to inanimate objects and processes.
This is our tax dollars being spent on a national religion.
No, it's merely a line of scientific questioning that threatens your worldview. A lot of things can threaten a worldview (science, humanities, foreign travel, self-reflection, getting older, etc.), but we should only call them a "religion" if they substantially function like a religion (e.g., providing things like community, life ceremonies, spirituality, moral codes, holy texts, etc.).
Duplicating all pagan religions. They start with water because Genesis starts with the Holy Spirit hovering over the water.
Civilization begins with agriculture, and agriculture begins with water. It was true in lower Mesopotamia (the world's first civilization) and on the banks of the Nile (Egypt, the second civilization). It seems appropriate, then, that many creation myths--including those much older than the Genesis 1:1 account--feature water as prominent (and often chaotic) element.
Re:NASA Proposes "Water World" Theory For Origin o (Score:4, Insightful)
why not grant this to a theoretical god, too?
Because the god adds nothing to the explanation. Hence Occam's razor. Do not multiply entities unnecessarily.
It's a rare occurrence (Score:2, Insightful)
The earth had a billion years and the entire surface to a depth of some hundreds of metres.
That's a lot replicates for an experimental team limited to 500 ml flasks in a lab.