RE: Life is not improbable.
April 9, 2014 at 12:15 pm
(This post was last modified: April 9, 2014 at 12:17 pm by Heywood.)
(April 8, 2014 at 8:48 pm)cromwell Wrote: That is why mathematicians and physicists say it is beyond reasonable doubt that life exists elsewhere in the universe.
Which flabbergast me because without knowing the probability of abiogenesis happening if the conditions are right and not knowing how often right conditions come along this is a stupid claim to make.
It is like saying, " I don't know the probability of winning the powerball jackpot, but because millions of tickets are sold...surely someone will win it this drawing".
I suspect there is life elsewhere in the observable universe. But I realize that it is very possible there is only one instance of it and earth is it.
If life originating requires a series of highly improbable parlays it could easily whittle down the odds down so much that it becomes improbable life exists anywhere else.
These physicist and mathematicians who make claims like this would be horrible gamblers.
(April 9, 2014 at 12:12 pm)Rampant.A.I. Wrote: I just want to know how we've arrived at a statistical measurement of the probability of life occurring from a sample size of one.
Rampant, you've smacked that nail right on the head.
