Brave earth prologie6/18/2023 We can’t have life without it being metabolic or metabolism-working- and it’s not going to work if the water is all frozen or steamed away. The thought is rather clear that we aren’t going to have life in our solar system, because of the temperature problem. Shapley, what arguments mitigate against there being life on planets other than Earth? Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts Paine Professor of Practical Astronomy Emeritus ![]() These forms may be very close however, certain distinctions will be observed. However, the development of life is such a complex process that, even in this case, full coincidence of the forms of life on these duplicated planets with our terrestrial form of life is hardly possible. Taking into consideration a great number of planetary systems within our galaxy alone, there exists a strong probability of finding one or several planets similar to ours. I presume the highly organized forms that may be found elsewhere in the universe are completely different in their appearance, which does not, however, rule out the possibility of finding intelligent life of a new type, other than our terrestrial life. We can hardly expect to find anywhere in space human beings or living organisms morphologically similar to those of our terrestrial world. It is my opinion that should we come across such phenomena in the process of our increasing space effort, we can work out some name other than “life” for them. But it is in no way imperative that we call these forms “life” or consider them such, as they differ in principle from our terrestrial form of life. Of course, science fiction is fine in its own right however, we should in all honesty say that the boundaries of our knowledge are but too far from the point where we could seriously discuss this problem with- out having any evidence whatsoever of communications of this nature.ĭoubtless, a great number of complex and highly developed forms of the evolution of matter are to be found in the limitless expanse of the universe. It is still the sphere of science fiction more than that of science. I doubt if we can seriously talk of any visits to the Earth from outer space that took place in the past. Thus, human venture into space, direct perception of the solar system and, in particular, of Earth-type planets will add much to our perception of life and its development. The discovery of new forms of life superior to ours would immensely enrich our culture and expedite our development. We possess, so to say, a single copy of the Book of Life, that of terrestrial life, while the knowledge of other forms of life could tell us about our past and, what’s more, it could supply us with many clues as to our future. However, in the process of evolution of these planets, at the initial stage, these planets, for instance, Mars, could be more rich in water, and life could have emerged there along the same lines as on the Earth, and, having once emerged, it could develop and adjust to those severe, I would say unbearable for human beings, conditions existing on these celestial objects. Even if these substances could not be a formed on those planets, they could be brought there by falling meteorites.įor evolution to have taken place on Earth, large expanses of water were necessary, which we could not observe and did not even expect to find on the Moon or Mars. There can be no doubt of the existence of highly molecular complex organic substances on such objects as the Moon or Mars. ![]() In particular, our terrestrial form of life is a result of the evolution of carbonic compounds and multimolecular ( systems formed in the process of this evolution.Ĭould similar phenomena occur on other celestial bodies? We can observe the initial stages of evolution everywhere on various celestial objects. The origination of life is not an extraordinary event, a lucky circumstance, as has been a general concept until quite recently i it is an inevitable phenomenon, part and parcel of the universal evolution. Bach Institute of BiochemistryĪcademy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R., Moscow Partially edited transcripts of interviews follow.ĭirector, A.N. Kubrick says that he decided after the first screening of 2001 for M-G-M executives, in Culver City, California, that it wasn’t a good idea to open 2001 with a prologue, and it was eliminated immediately. Kubrick’s original plan was to open 2001 with a ten-minute prologue (35mm film, black and white) - edited interviews on extraterrestrial possibilities with experts on space, theology, chemistry, biology, astronomy. “I know I’ve never completely freed myself of the suspicion that there are some extremely odd things about this mission.”
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