reply to post by Wyn Hawks
I beg to differ.
Life is a word in the english language, english is a mongrel of various other european - and further abroad - languages, and even if the Germanic
predecessors of the word "life" were alien, the word itself, in English, is an Earth Word.*
And, if we are searching for life on other planets, we kind of need some definition of what it was. Otherwise I could pick up a chunk of pure, frozen
water on europa and say "I have found life!", to which people would respond "No, it's a chunk of ice", to which I could respond "You are arrogantly
applying earth concepts to non-earth. It may just be H2O on earth, but here, it is life! Nobel prize, please."
Whereas if we find some sort of liquid metal in a high-oxygen environment which is de-oxidising rather than oxidising, something not typically
chemical is going on, and if we establish that it's going against the local chemical tendencies, I'd say "This may represent some sort of inorganic
life form. Nobel prize**, please."
And so forth.
*I would put an Emoticon here to point out that I am not being serious, but I shan't. Not because I can't work out the emoticons, because I can, but
because they are evil. As such, be aware that I am not being fully serious.
**Of course, if all I was after was a Nobel Prize, I'd just get elected as the president of the US. edit on 17/1/2011 by TheWill
because: (no reason given)
