Re: Fw: Most popular/common dinosaur misconceptions

[Phillip Bigelow <bigelowp@juno.com>]

> If one
> > accepts that life could arise on other planets (ooops! undefined 
> and
> > controversial term alert!), then logically one must accept that it 
> _could_
> > have arisen more than once on Earth.


If polyphyletic life *easily* arises in primordial soups throughout the
universe, then the monophyly of Earth life is indeed interesting.  The
situation on Earth may suggest that there is only one pathway to life. 
If true, then the corrolary would be that all life in the universe would
look and act and taste roughly the same.  Genetic sequences in organisms
that live on a planet in the Andromeda galaxy would be similar to genetic
sequences in Earth life.

All Earth life shares certain key genetic sequences, similar cell
membrane proteins, etc., and that is nearly incontrovertable proof for
monophyletic Earth life.  But inherent in this thesis is the assumption
that polyphyletic life would be recognizable in the first place.  That's
a big assumption.

<pb>
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