Re:Why extraterrestrial life may not seem alien
by titzer on Monday August 02, 2021 @05:03PM
(#28042601)
I'm actually in agreement with you. Those places I mentioned probably do not have DNA and amino-acid based life that looks anything like Earth, particularly because those environments eviscerate the delicate chemistry necessary for that particular system to work. So life would look totally different.
I'm more of the "Boltzmann Brain" persuasion. Life might take the form of electromagnetic waves or metallic structures that are respirating, self-replicating, information-processing things. In my more paranoid days, I think the internet is alive, as it is kind of like a life-form growing our the substrate of our collective digital actions.
We have exactly one example of an environment that nurtures life. It does not logically follow hence that it is the only environment where life can thrive (unless we choose to define life as that which thrives in an Earth-like environment)
I do agree that probably most of the Universe is hostile, not only to Earth-like life, but to life of any definition. But we cannot be certain. We have never visited nor sent a probe to a 5g planet "100-1000x the solar irradiance, the lack of magnetic field (and thus direct exposure to solar winds), no atmosphere, or atmosphere entirely composed of a toxic gas, extreme exposure to X-rays".