posted on Aug, 7 2010 @ 12:47 PM
Originally posted by Sinter Klaas
I understand that the reason for scientists to focus on the "Goldy lock zone" is because that is the zone we are familiar with, and because we
wouldn't recognize life if it would bite us in the ass, when it doesn't look like anything we have ever encountered before.
I do not think that any scientist has ever denied the possibility of life beyond the green zone...
Exactly.
How would scientists even design a probe to look for life totally unlike us? How would the probe recognize that life if it happened stumble upon such
life?
Even a human scientist with a modern laboratory may have a very difficult time confirming that such life is actually life. It took years for certain
scientists to prove that some extremophile life is actually life -- and that life is here on Earth, and is DNA-based.
Scientists fully understand that life could exist that is totally unlike our own. However, it is MUCH EASIER to design experiments and probes to look
for life that can be easily identified as life.
I do agree a bit with the naysayers that we should not be so fast to claim that an exoplanet may be lifeless because it is too hot, too cold, or too
dry. The search for life here in our own solar system is best done looking for life that we can recognize. However, when it comes to exoplanets, we
should feel free to let our imaginations go wild. It's not like NASA will be sending a probe to one anytime in the foreseeable future.