IO9 asks, "Could Life Have Emerged on Earth's Near Twin?"

Could it? Entirely possible. Right at the moment we don't know of anything that forbids it.

Has it? We have no idea and it will be a long time before we can find out.

Also, keep in mind that "life" and "tool-using life" are not synonyms. Life has existed on Earth for more than 3 billion years (IIRC it's actually been more than 4 billion), and for nearly all that time it was exclusively single cell.

Tool using life only appeared here a couple million years ago, a mere blink of the eye in geological terms. (Reasonably advanced tool users, by which I mean "metal users", only go back maybe four thousand years.)

Eventually someone is going to suggest beaming radio at this particular planet, and it can't hurt to do so. But the chance of it making any difference is painfully small.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Weird World at 04:31 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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