Originally posted by agryson
the theory of 'panspermia' (life travelling between planets) does not rely on intelligent beings sending that life. Enormous amounts of martian rock (comparatively) have reached earth with no intelligent intervention. Also, even if their genetic coding was of an entirely different structure to our DNA, that does not preclude a common ancestry, provided the p more and more coincidences such as this occuring every year.
Just something to think about.
Personally I have been waiting around breathlessly for the rovers to go over some hill and find a big thigh bone sticking out of a cliff or something but no such luck yet.
The Panspermia idea might be much more general that just life forms surviving the trip between planets. Hoyle posited the idea of life coming into the solar system from its start in giant molecular clouds between stars or in nebulae. If that were the case, any life found anywhere in the solar system could be related and have a DNA/RNA kind of base and the further implication of that being if we ever actually get to other stars, like Alpha Centauri or that Gilese planet, the same cloud could have seeded ALL of those solar systems with the same kind of life and at least bacteria could be around in extremafiles with similar DNA stuff anywhere within a hundred light years. If that were to be the case, what implications would it make for religious discourse?
Personally I would hope it would give religion a death knell but that would be too much to ask, they can rationalize anything away with a wave of the bible or Quran.
If the microclime idea is true, the rover mucking about in that environment could cause the water to fully evaporate by disturbing that area with its drills and so forth.