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At Mind Matters News: Why scientists think there might be life on Europa

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Jupiter’s moon Europa, somewhat smaller than Earth’s moon, may have surface water and organic chemicals, researchers say. Looking beyond the promising signs:

Note: Of course, Europa could have all the ingredients for life without life. But here’s a thought: Theoretical astrophysicist Ethan Siegel has pointed out at Forbes: that our universe is fine-tuned for life, for our existence: “The fact that our Universe has such a perfect balance between the expansion rate and the energy density — today, yesterday, and billions of years ago — is a clue that our Universe really is finely tuned.” (December 19, 2019)

So is our solar system, according to astronomer Hugh Ross. His focus is on the good fortunes of Earth — but Europa shares at least some key features with Earth. Perhaps it is fine-tuned too.

Of course, the fine-tuning of our solar system has led to “philosophical disquiet,” as planetary scientists Tim Elliott and Sarah T. Stewart put it at Nature in 2013 — the inevitable question being “Why?”

But finding life in the subsurface oceans of Europa would probably shift the focus from Why? to Where else? in a hurry.

News, “Why scientists think there might be life on Europa” at Mind Matters News (May 28, 2022)

Europa, despite being outside the conventional “habitable zone,” may be a better bet for life than Mars. The launch of the Clipper in 2024 will tell us more.

Takehome: An intelligent design approach to the universe is a better bet for finding life elsewhere than Darwinian randomness is.

You may also wish to read: NASA develops a scale for assessing the chances of ET life We’ve come a long way from mere snatches of (maybe) information to the need for standards in evaluating the expected incoming mass. The idea is to give media some idea of the level of confidence in what the apparent signal might be telling us — biological activity or just chemistry?

Comments
"Jupiter’s moon Europa, somewhat smaller than Earth’s moon, may have surface water and organic chemicals, researchers say. Looking beyond the promising signs: Note: Of course, Europa could have all the ingredients for life without life." OK, FIRST OF ALL, the article says “MAY HAVE”. Not a very scientific statement, but you find statements like this all through the “scientific” literature when dealing with evolution and the history of life. Secondly, surface water and organic chemicals are far from the only things necessary for life to exist somewhere. What are the chances that all the ingredients and conditions for life are present on that moon? Almost ZERO. [In fact, we probably don't even yet even KNOW all the conditions that are necessary for life to exist. But, the chances of even just the currently known conditions being met on Europa are very very low for sure!] Thirdly, as the note says, Europa COULD HAVE all the ingredients for life. It's improbable, but no one can say that it is impossible. In fact, IDers would be more than happy to give the scientists the benefit of the doubt and let them have any ingredient they like in any environment they choose. But they still won't get life from non-life! Most scientists are true believers in abiogenesis, so they think that as long as all the ingredients are present, magic will occur and life will emerge from non-life. No go. There are no guarantees whatsoever. In fact, if we're honest, no one knows if that is possible. It's what they THINK MIGHT HAVE happened, but that's nothing more than an untestable "hypothesis"/guess. And, according to what we do know about chemicals and the complexity of life, it seems highly highly doubtful that such a thing could have occurred no matter how many trillions of years you have to work with. However, believers will be believers. They just ramp up the level of faith necessary to meet whatever challenge they are presented with.tjguy
May 30, 2022
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Ultimately the answer to Where Else? will be EVERYWHERE.polistra
May 29, 2022
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