Would life on Mars be a problem for your religious beliefs?

[juvenissun]

You realize "animals" did not exist for 1.5 billion years after life began, right? Well obviously you do not. Evolution has no problem with those 1.5 billion years when prokaryotes ruled the earth alone.

Other planets also have several 1.5 b.y. history. So, if they don't have animals, what would you say?

 

[juvenissun]

So, according to you, there might be single celled organisms, some algae and...land plants! But no animals, like fish.

Have you ever had a close look at the timescales and order in which things evolved? I'm guessing not.

I guess you have and have looked it many times. But you still saw nothing.

 

[Mr Strawberry]

I guess you have and have looked it many times. But you still saw nothing.

It would appear I saw more than you did. Of course, not having looked at it, you couldn't be expected to see much.

 

[serge546]

mars has no atmosphere, so it makes it impossible for life to exist there. It would all depend on a timeline running pretty much exactly as ours, and then somewhere shortly after life starts, something removes mars' atmosphere, leaving behind some trace of the life that was there. I find that a little more than highly improbable. Anything that could strip a planet of its atmosphere would strip nearly everything on the surface right along with it.

I agree that life, like humans and other "higher" animals, would likely not survive on Mars. However, I think you are underestimating the resilience and tenacity of microorganisms. Increased cosmic radiation would be no problem for organisms similar to Deinococcus radiodurans (also known as "Conan the bacterium") which can survive vacuums, insane Gamma radiation exposure and dehydration.

Extremophiles we have on Earth could easily survive martian conditions, so it's not too much of a stretch to assume life could develop on Mars to survive these conditions, as well. Knowing what I know about bacteria, it's not really a question of whether bacteria could survive current Martian conditions but if they ever got there in the first place.

Remember, not all life requires oxygen. Many species of bacteria use other compounds as electron acceptors instead of oxygen.

 

[Metal Minister]

I agree that life, like humans and other "higher" animals, would likely not survive on Mars. However, I think you are underestimating the resilience and tenacity of microorganisms. Increased cosmic radiation would be no problem for organisms similar to Deinococcus radiodurans (also known as "Conan the bacterium") which can survive vacuums, insane Gamma radiation exposure and dehydration.

Extremophiles we have on Earth could easily survive martian conditions, so it's not too much of a stretch to assume life could develop on Mars to survive these conditions, as well. Knowing what I know about bacteria, it's not really a question of whether bacteria could survive current Martian conditions but if they ever got there in the first place.

Remember, not all life requires oxygen. Many species of bacteria use other compounds as electron acceptors instead of oxygen.

I'm not disagreeing that some forms of bacteria can survive those conditions, but what I'm saying is that its extremely unlikely that they could evolve to that form under those conditions on a planet as far as we know, may never have had an atmosphere or if it did, suffered some catastrophic event that destroyed it. Using the deep time evolutionary model, and given what we know of mars already, this event likely would've taken place roughly the same time as life was supposedly coming into existence here. Using the evolutionary timeline, that would negate the possibility of life beginning. Of course all of this supposition ignores the incredible odds of life spontaneously arising on neighboring planets at roughly the same time. Besides, this sort of thing always comes up when NASA needs funding. Remember the mats rock hoax of the mid nineties?

May God Richly Bless You! MM

 

[The Engineer]

There is always need. That is what evolution is about.

No, it's not. I told you what evolution is about, and as far as I know, the scientific consensus is on my side.

If the best way to survive is to remain a bacterium, then life will remain in the bacterial stage.

Other planets also have several 1.5 b.y. history. So, if they don't have animals, what would you say?

The age of the planet doesn't matter. Whether he supports life matters. If the planet is 1,6 billion years old, but didn't support life until 1,5 billion years ago, then we wouldn't expect complex life.

Can you please stop using your own definition of evolution, please?

I guess you have and have looked it many times. But you still saw nothing.

Nice way of dodging a question, I must say.

 

[juvenissun]

No, it's not. I told you what evolution is about, and as far as I know, the scientific consensus is on my side.

If the best way to survive is to remain a bacterium, then life will remain in the bacterial stage.


The age of the planet doesn't matter. Whether he supports life matters. If the planet is 1,6 billion years old, but didn't support life until 1,5 billion years ago, then we wouldn't expect complex life.

Can you please stop using your own definition of evolution, please?


Nice way of dodging a question, I must say.

We still have bacteria today. What would you say about it? Are they happy and contend?

 

[GodActsOnMe]

We still have bacteria today. What would you say about it? Are they happy and contend?

That is not the way evolution operates. Life does not evolve simply because something is advantageous. It evolves when there are environmental pressures to do so.

Change sure, but dissipate completely?

May God Richly Bless You! MM

If they can change in density, there is nothing to indicate they cannot disappear.

Additionally, assuming we are still talking about Mars, the planet still has an atmosphere.

 

[The Engineer]

We still have bacteria today. What would you say about it? Are they happy and contend?

Bacteria have no nervous system. They can't be happy and contend, nor can they be sad and frustrated.

Whether we are happy and content has nothing to do with evolution. Evolution makes us more capable of surviving; considering we have bacteria that survive in rocks and eat radiation, I'd say they are pretty successfull in that regard.

Your argument is invalid, and you lack even a basic understanding of biology.

 

[SkyWriting]

The point of this thread is not to say your religion is false IF life is found; rather, I am interested if life on other planets would be a problem for your religion. Would God (Judeo-Christian god) also be credited with making this life even if it not mentioned in the bible?

Scientists have claimed to have found Mars rocks on Earth.
It should be possible to find Earth rocks on Mars then.

The possibility of cross-contamination then makes your question moot.
But it was a good try.

 

[Gxg (G²)]

Heaven help them if they were to bring back something from the trip that would lead to a disease spreading to harm us greatly...something that could have potentially wiped out any life that may've existed there. You never know...

 

[GodActsOnMe]

Heaven help them if they were to bring back something from the trip that would lead to a disease spreading to harm us greatly...something that could have potentially wiped out any life that may've existed there. You never know...

The bacteria on the planet would probably not exhibit any aggressive traits, since there is nothing that it can infect on Mars itself. It would need to evolve to do so.

 

[Split Rock]

Other planets also have several 1.5 b.y. history. So, if they don't have animals, what would you say?

Why would you expect animals to evolve separately on another world? They may have something like animals, or they may not. Animals evolved on earth because (in part) of the environmental conditions that existed on earth. It may be quite different on another planet.

 

[Split Rock]

We still have bacteria today. What would you say about it? Are they happy and contend?

No. However, they are quite successful, are they not?

 

[serge546]

Heaven help them if they were to bring back something from the trip that would lead to a disease spreading to harm us greatly...something that could have potentially wiped out any life that may've existed there. You never know...

Science fiction. Microorganisms living on Mars would have to be extremophiles (bacteria which survive extreme conditions, such as boiling and freezing temperatures, increased radiation exposure, etc.). Extremophiles do not cause disease in humans.

While we call them extremophiles, these "extreme conditions" are their normal environment. In contrast, our 37 degree celcius bodies are too extreme for them and they would not survive.

 

[Belk]

Understood, and I still don't believe they will find anything. As I stated in my reply to selfinflikted, mars has no atmosphere, so it makes it impossible for life to exist there. It would all depend on a timeline running pretty much exactly as ours, and then somewhere shortly after life starts, something removes mars' atmosphere, leaving behind some trace of the life that was there. I find that a little more than highly improbable. Anything that could strip a planet of its atmosphere would strip nearly everything on the surface right along with it.

May God Richly Bless You! MM

Atmosphere of Mars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[SkyWriting]

Heaven help them if they were to bring back something from the trip that would lead to a disease spreading to harm us greatly...something that could have potentially wiped out any life that may've existed there. You never know...

It's been confirmed. The rest of the cosmos is sterile.

Except in Hollywood.

 

[someguy14]

Im curious the temperature variations.

 

[SkyWriting]

Originally Posted by Metal Minister
Understood, and I still don't believe they will find anything. As I stated in my reply to selfinflikted, mars has no atmosphere, so it makes it impossible for life to exist there. It would all depend on a timeline running pretty much exactly as ours, and then somewhere shortly after life starts, something removes mars' atmosphere, leaving behind some trace of the life that was there. I find that a little more than highly improbable. Anything that could strip a planet of its atmosphere would strip nearly everything on the surface right along with it. May God Richly Bless You! MM

[I am]

Atmosphere of Mars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think he is speaking from the scientific perspective.
Not the WIKI perspective. Wiki is not always up to speed.

"NASA mission asks why Mars has no atmosphere - By Robert Sanders - Artist's conception of MAVEN Mars orbiter. (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA this week gave the green light to a mission to Mars that will seek to understand why and how the red planet lost its atmosphere 3-4 billion years ago."

Read more at: NASA mission asks why Mars has no atmosphere




NASA mission asks why Mars has no atmosphere

 

[The Engineer]

I think he is speaking from the scientific perspective. Not the WIKI perspective.

NASA mission asks why Mars has no atmosphere October 7, 2010 By Robert Sanders Enlarge Artist's conception of MAVEN Mars orbiter. (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA this week gave the green light to a mission to Mars that will seek to understand why and how the red planet lost its atmosphere 3-4 billion years ago.

Read more at: NASA mission asks why Mars has no atmosphere




NASA mission asks why Mars has no atmosphere

"There's lots of evidence that in the past, Mars had running water, but to have running water you need a thick atmosphere, and that's gone now," said Lin, a UC Berkeley professor of physics and former director of the SSL.

This implies the atmosphere has become thinner, but it doesn't state that the atmosphere is gone completely.

Building on the preliminary data from Mars Global Surveyor, MAVEN will study how solar wind particles ionize Mars' remaining atmosphere, how rapidly the ions are carried into space, and attempt to reconstruct the atmosphere's history based on past activity of the sun.

Flat-out states that Mars' still has an atmosphere.

Apparently, the Mars lost its original atmosphere.

Atmosphere of Mars
This one states the atmosphere of the Mars is 100 times thinner than Earth's atmosphere. Still, an atmosphere remains.

EDIT:
The site you linked is impressive! If you copy text from it, you also automatically copy a link.