In search of extraterrestrial intelligence, humanity expects to find carbon-based life forms. But who said that life in the Universe life should develop exclusively in the image and likeness of man. In our review, 10 biological and non-biological systems that fall under the definition of "life".
1. Methanogens
In 2005, Heather Smith of the Strasbourg International Space University and Chris McKay of NASA's Ames Research Center produced a report on the possibility of methane-based life, which they called "methanogens". Such a life form could breathe hydrogen, acetylene and ethane, exhaling methane instead of carbon dioxide. This would make life possible on cold worlds such as Titan, Saturn's moon.
Like Earth, Titan's atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, but mixed with methane. Titan is also the only place in the solar system where, in addition to the Earth, there are many lakes and rivers (consisting of a mixture of ethane with methane). Liquid is considered necessary for the molecular interactions of organic life, but so far, ordinary water has been sought on other planets.
2. Life based on silicon
Silicon-based life is perhaps the most common form of alternative biochemistry featured in popular science fiction. Silicon is so popular because it is very similar to carbon and can take four forms, just like carbon.
This opens up the possibility of a biochemical system based entirely on silicon, which is the most abundant element in the earth's crust, other than oxygen. Recently, a species of algae has been discovered that uses silicon during its growth. Full-fledged silicon life is unlikely to appear on Earth, since most free silicon is found in volcanic and igneous rocks from silicate minerals. But the situation may be different in a high-temperature environment.
3. Other alternative biochemical systems
There are many other speculations as to how life based on a different element might evolve in a non-carbon basis. As well as carbon and silicon, boron tends to form strong covalent molecular compounds, forming various hydride structural varieties in which the boron atoms are linked by hydrogen bridges. Like carbon, boron can form bonds with the nitrogen atom, resulting in compounds that have chemical and physical properties similar to alkanes, the simplest organic compounds.
All life on Earth is made up of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur, but in 2010 NASA scientists found the bacterium GFAJ-1, which can incorporate arsenic instead of phosphorus into its cell structure. GFAJ-1 thrives in the arsenic-rich waters of Mono Lake in California. Arsenic was considered poisonous to every living thing on the planet, but it turned out that life on its basis is possible.
Ammonia has also been cited as a possible alternative to water for creating life forms. Biochemists have created nitric-hydrogen compounds using ammonia as a solvent, which can be used to create proteins, nucleic acids, and polypeptides. Any ammonia-based life would have to exist at the lower temperatures at which ammonia becomes liquid.
Sulfur is believed to have been the basis for starting metabolism on Earth, and even today there are organisms that use sulfur instead of oxygen in their metabolism. Perhaps in another world, evolution will develop on the basis of sulfur. Some believe that nitrogen and phosphorus can also take the place of carbon under very specific conditions.
4. Memetic life
Richard Dawkins believes that "the development of life is survival and reproduction." Life must be able to reproduce and must develop in an environment where natural selection and evolution are possible. In his book The Selfish Gene, Dawkins noted that concepts and ideas develop in the brain and spread between people through communication. In many ways, this resembles the behavior and adaptation of genes. Dawkins introduced the concept of meme, which describes the unit of transmission of human cultural evolution, analogous to the gene in genetics. As humanity became capable of abstract thought, these memes evolved further, regulating tribal relations and forming the basis of the first culture and religion.
5. Synthetic life based on CNC
Life on Earth is based on two information-carrying molecules, DNA and RNA, and scientists have long wondered if it is possible to create other similar molecules. Since any polymer can store information, heredity and the transmission of genetic information are encoded in RNA and DNA, and the molecules themselves are able to adapt over time through evolutionary processes. DNA and RNA are chains of molecules called nucleotides that are made up of three chemical components - phosphate, a five-carbon sugar, and one of the five standard bases (adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine, or uracil).
In 2012, a group of scientists from England, Belgium and Denmark developed the world's first xeno-nucleic acid (XNA or CNA) - synthetic nucleotides that are functionally and structurally similar to DNA and RNA. Such molecules have been developed before, but for the first time they have been shown to be capable of reproduction and evolution.
6. Chromodynamics, weak nuclear forces and gravitational life
In 1979, scientist and nanotechnologist Robert A. Freitas, Jr. announced the possibility of non-biological life. He argued that the metabolism of living systems is possible, based on four fundamental forces - electromagnetism, strong nuclear force (or QCD), weak nuclear forces and gravity.
Chromodynamic life may be possible on the basis of the strong nuclear force, which is the strongest of the fundamental forces, but only over very short distances. He suggests that such a medium could exist on a neutron star, a superdense object that has the mass of a star but is only 10 to 20 kilometers across.
Freitas considers life forms based on weak nuclear forces to be less likely, since weak forces only operate in the sub-nuclear range and are not particularly strong.
There may also be gravitational beings, since gravity is the most common and efficient fundamental force in the universe. Such creatures could draw energy from the very force of gravity in the universe.
7 Dusty Plasma Life Form
As you know, organic life on Earth is based on molecules of carbon compounds. But in 2007, an international team of scientists led by V.N. Tsytovich from the Institute of General Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences documented that under certain conditions, inorganic dust particles can organize into spiral structures, which can then interact with each other almost identically to the processes of organic dust. chemistry. A similar process occurs in the plasma state, the fourth state of matter (besides solid, liquid, and gaseous) in which electrons are torn off atoms.
Tsytovich's team found that when the electrons are separated and the plasma becomes polarized, the particles in the plasma, without external influence, self-organize into the form of helical structures that are attracted to each other. These helical structures can also separate, further forming copies of the original structure, similar to DNA.
8. iCHELL
Professor Lee Cronin, chair of chemistry at the University of Glasgow's College of Science and Engineering, has a dream - he wants to create living cells out of metal. To do this, the professor experiments with polyoxometalates, metal atoms, by bonding them with oxygen and phosphorus to create bubble-like cells, which he calls inorganic chemical cells, or iCHELLs. By changing the composition of the metal oxide, the bubbles can be given the characteristics of biological cell membranes.
9. Gaia hypothesis
In 1975, James Lovelock and Sidney Upton wrote an article for the New Scientist "In Search of Gaia". Despite the conventional wisdom that life originated on Earth, Lovelock and Upton argue that life itself takes an active role in determining and maintaining the conditions for its survival. They suggested that all life on Earth, down to the air, oceans and land, is part of a single system, which is a living super-organism that can change the surface temperature and composition of the atmosphere to ensure its survival.
This system Gaia, in honor of the Greek goddess of the Earth. It exists to maintain the homeostasis by which the biosphere can exist in the Earth system. The biosphere of the Earth allegedly has a number of natural cycles, and something goes wrong with one of them, then the rest compensate for it in order to maintain the conditions for the existence of life. With this hypothesis, it's easy to explain why the atmosphere isn't mostly carbon dioxide, or why the seas aren't too salty.
10. Von Neumann probes
The possibility of artificial life based on machines has been discussed for a long time. Today we will consider the concept of von Neumann probes. Mid-20th-century Hungarian mathematician and futurist John von Neumann believed that in order to replicate the functions of the human brain, a machine needed self-awareness and a self-healing mechanism. He put forward the idea of creating self-replicating machines, which should have some kind of universal constructor, allowing them not only to build their own replicas, but also potentially improve or change versions, which would make long-term evolution possible.
Von Neumann's robotic probes will be ideally suited to reach distant star systems and create factories in which they will breed by the thousands. Moreover, moons, rather than planets, are more suitable for von Neumann probes, since they can easily land and take off from these satellites, and also because there is no erosion on the satellites. These probes will multiply from natural deposits of iron, nickel, etc., extracting raw materials to create robot factories. They will create thousands of copies of themselves, and then fly off to look for other star systems.
The universe still holds a huge number of mysteries and secrets. For example, such as .
The possibility of silicon life is recognized even by official scientists. Silicon is the second most abundant element on Earth after oxygen. The most commonly encountered silicon compound is its SiO2-silica. In nature, it forms the mineral quartz and its varieties: rock crystal, amethyst, agate, opal, jasper, chalcedony, carnelian. Silicon dioxide is also sand. The second type of natural silicon compounds are silicates. These include granite, clay, mica.
Why silicon can be the basis of life?
Silicon forms branched compounds like hydrocarbons, that is, silicon is a source of diversity. Silicon powder burns in oxygen, that is, silicon is a source of energy. Based on the semiconductor properties of silicon, microcircuits and, accordingly, computers were created - that is, silicon can be the basis of the mind.
Could there have been silicon life on our planet in the past?
She could very well.
Trunks and branches of stone trees were found. Some of them are precious. The finds are numerous all over the world. In some places there are so many trees that it can only be called a forest. Stone trees have preserved the structure of wood.
There are fossil stone bones of animals, including those made of precious stones. The finds preserved the structure of the bone. In the opal jaw of the animal, teeth and tooth sockets are structured.
Many mountains resemble the stumps of huge stone trees.
In the steppes, stone shells, ammonites, lie in large numbers.
In general, there are many examples of fossil silicon creatures. If someone is satisfied with the official explanation of the process of replacing carbon with silicon in fossil finds due to the irrigation of a tree or bone with mineral water with further transformation into a precious stone, do not read further this article.
Suppose for ourselves that silicon life is a fact. And it predated carbon life on our planet. Then the next question is: what did she look like?
Like the carbon life form, the silicon life form must be structured from the simplest single-celled forms to evolutionarily (or divinely, whichever you prefer) complex and sentient forms. Complex life forms are made up of organs and tissues. Everything is like now. Rather naive are the notions of silicon life as a monolithic piece of granite endowed with the spirit of God. It's like a living puddle of oil or a living lump of coal.
The set of organs is universal for any creatures, both carbon and silicon. These are control (nervous system), nutrition, release of toxins, frame (bones, etc.), protection from the external environment (skin), reproduction, etc.
Animal tissues are made up of different cells and look different. Bone, muscle, epidermis, etc.
Tissues are made up of different substances: fats, proteins, carbohydrates. In tissues, there is a different content of various substances from carbon to metals.
All this economy visible to the eye functions according to physical and chemical laws. The laws are common to a living organism, a computer, a car.
Let's go further: something happens and silicon life perishes. Carbon life thrives on its ruins none. A logical question: where are the bodies of dead silicon animals, plants, fish, etc.? Stumps and stone trees have already been mentioned. Suitable, but not enough quantity and variety. I would like to see a complex form of life, consisting of different organs and tissues. For example, like an animal. With the skin, with the muscles, with the liver, with the blood vessels and the heart.
So: the silicon giant died. Time has passed. What will we see?
Let's draw an analogy: a mammoth died. What will we find in many, many years? Usually the frame (bones), less often the skin, less often the muscles. The brain and parenchymal organs are extremely rare.
And now let's look for silicon frameworks in the surrounding world. They are scattered all over the world.
These are antique and colonial buildings!
I propose to pause and calmly analyze the difference between a certain building and a static organism such as a coral or fungus on a silicon basis.
Bricks, beams, blocks, ceilings are the structural units of the frame tissue such as the bones of modern animals or the shell of turtles. They are well preserved. Skin - walls with plaster. Sewerage is an excretory system. Heating pipes are the circulatory system. Fireplace system - food. The bell tower with a bell is the organ of speech or the vestibular apparatus. Metal fittings or wiring - the nervous system.
Under the roof was the brain. Recall the expression "the roof went." The brain rotted from time to time along with the internal organs that were in the interior. And all this dust in the form of clay covers antique and colonial buildings up to the first floor. It is no longer possible to isolate the structural unit (cell) of soft tissues.
In summary: structurally, any building corresponds to the functions of a living being. There is a frame, nutrition, excretion, etc. This will be confirmed by plumbers and chairmen of housing and communal services.
Any building materials and devices can be synthesized by a living organism. Iron and stone pipes, cables, roofing iron, glass, all these construction details are many times simpler than the devices of a living organism. Living organisms use any trace elements and their compounds available on the planet. And they synthesize devices of any purpose, complexity and composition. If only it was necessary.
Locks, lamps, electric shockers, aircraft, submarines. That is, pistils, stamens, fireflies, electric rays, birds, fish. It's all nature.
Any man-made device is not an exclusive creation of the engineer's brain, but is a copy of a natural device. And vice versa. Accordingly, the composition of roofing iron, the shape of a stable and spacious silicon structure in the form of a house, is not a monopoly of man. Solutions are universal for nature and for the engineer.
Antique buildings, they are silicon creatures, multiplied and then grew in the same way as modern plants and animals. Cells divided, differentiated into specialized tissues in the form of walls, roofs, ceilings, and reinforcement. And from embryos like dolmens they turned into St. Isaac's cathedrals.
I will not dwell on the physiology, including the methods of reproduction of silicon creatures, due to the complexity of the topic. There was a substance analogous to water in carbon life. For example, sulfuric acid. There were silicon analogs of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. There was an oxidizing agent like oxygen. For example, chlorine. There was a silicon Krebs cycle.
The picture turns out to be interesting, it looks like a mixture of Christian hell and the movie "Alien". All this life seethed at a certain, apparently high temperature. And it turned into monuments of ancient and colonial architecture.
Can you say that ancient buildings correspond to the physiological needs of man? Of course not.
More ancient (according to official history) such as pyramids or Greek temples generally do not correlate with people either in size or in function. Why did the ancient Greeks need them? For religious worship? Funny. No, it can be done if there is already a finished building. But to build these giant colossus with bare hands and in tunics? Buildings for a technological process unknown to modern science? Also doubtful. Later buildings, such as Colonial St. Petersburg, can be adapted for housing. But with the sizes of windows and doors, it was also not very good. They say they built for giants.
In Paris, St. Petersburg and other cities there are no distinct traces of its builders and the construction process from the design stage to delivery to the contractor. All these colonial buildings came out of nowhere. All these colonial buildings are located all over the world, including in places where there was no distinct industry at all.
The technology of working with granite is absolutely incomprehensible. More or less intelligible explanations are: alien superlasers from LAists or granite casting. Both are beyond the capabilities of modern civilization.
The structure of monolithic granite products is heterogeneous. Something like plaster from the same, but denser granite falls off monolithic columns. How the skin peels off. The Pillar of Alexandria looks like a composite through filters. Or maybe it's something like growth rings in the course of growth?
Antique and colonial buildings are the skeletons of dead silicon life form creatures. People settled in them. We studied the golden proportions of ancient creatures, engineering schemes. Later, the composition of the materials was dismantled. Learned how to make copies. This is how construction was born.
Naturally, not all old buildings are silicon creatures. The boundary is quite clear - there should not be a tree as load-bearing structures, floors. Well, wooden doors, window frames and the floor were brought into the already existing silicon frame quite comfortably.
Houses in colonial cities like St. Petersburg are all different. An absolute variety in terms of the size of the houses themselves, the height of the floors, the shape of the facade. At the same time, there is no gap between the houses on the streets, they stand wall to wall. In the general planning of cities there is a soft natural harmony. All this resembles a colony of living beings. Maybe like corals, or mushrooms. Cathedrals - well, just poured mushrooms.
Statues in ancient buildings
The statues are a late human remake stuffed into prehistoric skeletons. The statues are structureless. It is a monolithic array of material with an external shape copied from humans and nonhumans. And living beings are structural, as noted earlier. Also structural and finds of fossils. That is, in petrified trees, rings are visible on the cut. Found stone jaws with teeth and bones are inside the body. They themselves are a structural element.
Could silicon animals and silicon people be similar to modern ones. Undoubtedly. Finds of animal bones (including jaws) and tree trunks allegedly petrified to the state of precious stones confirm this probability.
I will return to holding a religious cult in ancient and colonial temples. You noticed that according to all the data previously, the effectiveness of all cults was significantly higher. Now, in my opinion, it has dropped to zero, except for self-zombie. Most likely, the matter is as follows. After the death of a silicon being, its ethereal, astral, etc. the shells do not leave the dead physical body immediately. Just like the carbon beings. The energy of these shells was used by the clergy for their rituals, settling inside the corpse. Now, apparently forty days by the standards of silicon life have passed. There is no more magic. I hope everyone goes to heaven.
When did the silicon era end?
Probably according to the calendar. Nonche 7525 year from the creation of the world. Can silicon cores last 7525 years? Why not? We didn't see them 7525 years ago. And accordingly we do not represent the original quality. Nothing bad has really happened in the last 200 years.
How long was the silicon era?
The silicon era is the crust of the earth. The earth's crust is made up of rocks, the main element of which is silicon. The thickness of the crust is 5-30 kilometers. And the silicon creatures accumulated these kilometers with their vital activity. Just as now carbonic beings are working on fertile soil. So far we have gained 3 meters. Feel the difference.
Sunset of the silicon age
When immersed in the soil of the silicon world, that is, the earth's crust, the temperature rises. The bowels of the earth are warming. At a depth of 10 kilometers, it is about 200 degrees. This must have been the climate in the silicon world. Accordingly, the materials had different physical and chemical properties than now. Over time, the crust thickened as a consequence of the accumulation of silicon biomass (soil). The surface moved away from the hot bowels of the earth and its temperature dropped. At the moment, the heat of the bowels of the earth does not reach the surface. The only source of heat is the sun. The global cooling of the surface of the earth's crust has made the conditions of existence for the silicon world unacceptable. The end of the silicon world has come. All died from the cold.
Where did the rest of the creatures go?
On the basis of silicon, nature synthesizes a bunch of precious and semi-precious stones. Flint life did just that. Highly organized silicon beings were made up of highly organized silicon in the form of gems. And common sand, granite and clay are building material, the basis of life.
Silicon world and Eastern philosophy
In Eastern religions, the process of the descent of spirit into matter is described. The embodied spirit passes through the world of stones, plants, animals, people through reincarnation and finally becomes a god. If you're lucky. There is something harmonious and fair in this. But I suspect that the world of stones is not modern cobblestones, but the world of silicon creatures. The planet was a large garden of living rocks. And the task of the silicon world was to create the foundation of life - the earth's crust with a mass of minerals.
The next world to emerge up the ladder of progress is the carbon world. And this is the world of plants. And it does not matter that according to the local classification of modern science, plants are the biological kingdom of multicellular organisms whose cells contain chlorophyll. It does not matter that Vasya or John do not have the process of photosynthesis. Carbon life is the second step from the bottom on the path of development. In a global philosophical sense, we are all just plants. And the planet is a big plantation. The task of a plantation is to create biomass, to be food for animals and people. The fact that elusive creatures in every sense actively feed on us is an unpleasant, but quite realistic conspiracy idea.
Why are beings elusive, invisible? Because we are static, slow on a universal scale. We are plants. We do not have time to see the animals that eat us, coming from the next worlds in terms of development.
The so-called man is the main useful plant on the planet. It should be cultivated. But, judging by the state of affairs in the world, our planet-plantation was left without human owners, and is actively plundered by wild animals from higher worlds. Barbarians are everywhere, even among the gods.
The bark is gutted for many kilometers. The former level of the earth's crust is the peak of the Himalayas. Normal people have been almost completely replaced with genetically modified ones, they have multiplied up to seven billion and they are downloading ethereal energy (gawah). Under the guise of local and global wars, there is a literal consumption of people.
In general, may the savior-agronomist come!
What was the silicon world like? Probably less harmonious than ours. After all, we are the next step in development. The current state of affairs on the planet is not indicative. The planet is infected and seriously ill.
Can we get over the disease? It will be very difficult. I repeat, the entire basis of life, the wealth of the subsoil, the heritage of silicon creatures have been plundered to a depth of several kilometers. All gems and metals are selected. We've been left without a past. We are sitting on a pile of rubble in the middle of a flooded quarry.
Precious stones and metals have magical properties. All the magic was seized with the buckets of huge bucket-wheel excavators. Witchcraft and magic from everyday practice have become a fairy tale. And human society began to resemble a colony of hornets.
And eternal battle! Rest only in our dreams.
The famous geochemist academician Fersman put forward the hypothesis that on our planet it is possible silicon life form (non-carbon). Similar assumptions were made by different scientists at different times. In November of this year, a message was circulated that biotechnologists at the California Institute brought out a bacterium that is capable of synthesizing compounds with SiO 2 . Thus, they have advanced significantly in research related to the creation of creatures whose metabolism is based on inorganic molecules.
Silicon Life Form: Vitolytic Theory
In the process of research, scientists searched in the information database of protein sequences for enzymes that have the ability to bind C and SiO 2 . Hemoproteins were chosen for this reaction. They are proteins that also contain porphyrins. The researchers chose cytochrome. This protein is synthesized by bacteria present in the hot underwater springs of Iceland. Scientists have isolated and propagated the gene that codes for the enzyme. After that, it was subjected to random mutations. The created DNA sequences were inserted into E. coli. In the course of observations, it was found that some mutations in the active site led to the fact that the taken bacteria began to produce a protein capable of synthesizing organosilicon compounds. Its effectiveness, determined by the reaction rate and the amount of product, exceeds the effectiveness of artificial catalysts. Scientists intend to continue research. Their goal is to understand why, despite the wide distribution of silicon compounds on Earth, it was the carbon form that was created and developed in the course of evolution. In nature, there are no organisms that could use SiO 2 in metabolism. It is quite possible that in the future, researchers will be able to create an organism from which to begin silicon life form on earth.
Literary representations
Silicon life form on Earth invisible to the human eye. Metabolism in it is so stretched in time that people do not take into account the very possibility of its existence. In Pratchett's (English writer) books about the Discworld, the original race of silicon-organic creatures, the trolls, is described. Their thinking depends on the temperature of the environment. The stupidity that is characteristic of trolls is due to the poor functioning of the organosilicon brain in heat. With significant cooling, these creatures exhibit super-high intellectual abilities. Representatives of the silicon-calcium world can transform into the skeleton of animals and plants, as well as into corals.
natural phenomena
The French geologists Reshard and Escollier have been carefully examining rock samples from different parts of the world for quite a long time. They found out that certain signs of life processes are inherent in stones. They just go very slowly. Scientists have found that the structure of stones can change. They may be old or young. In addition, researchers have established their ability to "breathe". But one "breath" stretches for 1-14 days, and a "beat of the heart" - almost a day. Scientists photographed the stones at different time periods and established their ability to move. Meanwhile, there are "moving blocks" in many parts of the world.
Silicon life form: agates, living stones
There is a hypothesis that the crystalline mineral lattice is able to accumulate information and operate with it. That is, the theory of "thinking stones" is put forward. According to a number of researchers, all biological organisms, including humans, are only "incubators". Their meaning lies in the birth of "stones". It has been established that a diamond can be made from the ashes after. This service is quite popular in some countries. For example, a blue diamond with a diameter of 5 mm can be grown from 500 g of dust under pressure and high temperature in 2 months. On average, a person synthesizes about 100 kg of quartz and silicon during his life. It is believed that when they enter the body, they begin to grow, often causing discomfort. After death, these stones probably go through another cycle of development already in natural (natural) conditions. They turn into isolated nuggets that resemble agates. The accumulation and development of grains of sand in the body has long been known. This process is called pseudomorphosis. So, the bones of dinosaurs have survived to this day precisely because of this phenomenon. At the same time, the chemical composition of the remains has nothing to do with bone tissue. In fact, their existence is silicon life form. it proven by a number of studies. In one case, casts of bone remains are chalcedonic, in the other, apatite. In Australia, unusual belemnites were discovered - cephalopods that widely inhabited the planet in the Mesozoic era. Their bone remains have been replaced by opal.
Research by A. Bokovikov
Fairly original explanation. silicon life form on the example of the mineral "agate". Domestic researcher Bokovikov discovered several features that allow us to formulate a hypothesis. Agate is a cryptocrystalline variety of quartz. It is presented in the form of a fine-fiber aggregate of chalcedony, it is distinguished by a banded distribution of colors and a layered structure. In the course of long-term observations, it was described silicon life form. Agate, as a plant organism, is not immortal, despite the fact that it has existed for millions of years.
Characteristics
In samples of different ages, anatomical features are clearly identified. In particular, in the course of research, the scientist and his team discovered a striped and crystalline body, a bottom-mirror (the value of this element was not precisely established, it is assumed that this is in some way similar to a visual analyzer). Agates have skin that can shed and regenerate. Like many other organisms, they get sick and heal their wounds (cracks and chips). silicon life form involves nutrition, the capture of certain spaces, the preservation of complex forms in dynamics.
reproduction
In the course of research, scientists revealed an interesting fact. It was found that agates are bisexual. The crystalline body is feminine and the striped body is masculine. They also have genes. They are represented by the crystals of the female body. Reproduction can be carried out in several ways. For example, cr emnium life form develops from seeds. In addition, using specific examples, Bokovikov showed that budding, cloning, and division with the formation of separating centers are also possible. The researcher observed the reproduction of cryotes in basalt. The scientist identified a number of processes. For example, the birth of cryotes, development, the appearance of a baby, transformation into an organism, the emergence of spherical structures around the embryos, death.
Masonic representations
In the course of numerous studies, a new doctrine was formed - anthroposophy. R. Steiner became its founder. He claimed to be the dominant one on the planet. The birth, development and death of a person is necessary only for one purpose. It consists in serving the mineral world. Man and other organisms ensure the existence of connections with Steiner saw the task of people in the transformation of the mineral world into a work of art. He spoke of the fact that electricity testifies to the occult depths of matter. When people rebuild the mineral world, in accordance with their inner perception, the planet will stop developing in the physical sense. It will pass into another state, in which, in a condensed form, there will be a reflection of everything that the mineral Earth once was. Steiner substantiates the words of Goethe when he spoke about the Spirit of the planet. At the same time, the scientist points out that there is silicon life form on the moon. He says that there was a development plan on this celestial body. In each specific case, with respect to each planet, there is its own scheme. The atoms left after the cessation of physical development became the basis for the creation of the Earth. A plan is being developed for the planet. Reaching the end of development, its atoms pass to another celestial body. As a result, there may be silicon life form on Venus, Mars, Jupiter.
Cycle in nature
silicon life form acts as the initial and final goal of the existence of organisms on the planet. A number of prominent scientists propose to see the meaning of the emergence of human civilization solely in the participation of the cycle in the natural environment. While people were gatherers and hunters, they acted as members of natural biocenoses. However, civilization has a number of specific features. According to V. V. Malakhov, a person extracts from the depths what has come out of the cycle. For example, it is oil, coal, gas. At the same time, a person returns carbon to the earth in the most accessible form for organisms. Extracting metals from the depths, people saturate industrial wastewater with them, returning spent compounds to the World Ocean in a form acceptable to its inhabitants. This, in fact, is the biospheric task of mankind.
The death of mankind
According to Malakhov, when this function is fully implemented, civilization will come to a quiet and natural end, due to the depletion of reserves. It will not be an atomic war, but the slow extinction of humanity. At the same time, the biosphere will reach a qualitatively new level of development. She is about to flourish. Of course, Malakhov believes, the saturation of atmospheric air with carbon dioxide, the likely greenhouse effect, and the enrichment of heavy metals in the ocean will lead to the death of a huge number of organisms. This will be one of the biospheric crises. However, along with this, life will flourish at a new stage. New systems with unusual substances and metals will appear. However, all this will exist without a person.
conclusions
Based on Malakhov's hypothesis, the dying of civilization will not mean the death of a person. For a certain period, people will still live on Earth. They will unite in primitive communities of pastoralists, hunters, gatherers. However, this will already be the existence of a biological species as an element of a natural biocenosis. In other words, the essence of being is not anthropocentrism. It consists in serving the "Other", which, according to I. Efremov, can also be determined by studying the stone as one of its manifestations.
"Dark matter"
According to some scientists, it can also act as a form of life. The term researchers refer to a hypothetical substance that fills approximately 27% of the universe. This concept was coined by physicists to explain some contradictions. According to experts, this matter can be intelligent and interact with humans. However, this tissue is located at the quantum level. This explains the fact that long-term studies of space have not shown scientists any satisfactory evidence of the presence of other life on the planets.
Conclusion
In popular medical publications, you can find research results indicating that the human body needs about 40-50 mg of silicon every day. Its key function is to maintain normal metabolism. It has been established that many diseases of the body could not be, if it had enough silicon. In this regard, it is believed that the health of human ancestors was undermined by products that prevent its absorption. Many of them are included in the diet today. This, in particular, meat, white flour, sugar, canned food. Mixed food lingers in the digestive system for up to 8 hours. This means that during this time the body digests products, using most of the enzymes. In such a situation, as I. P. Pavlov believed, the body cannot provide a sufficient supply of energy to other organs - the heart, kidneys, muscles, brain. The researchers draw one important conclusion from this. They say that, probably, Steiner, who says that the meaning of human existence is to serve minerals, is right.
Living organisms are composed mainly of organic compounds (and water). Organic compounds are, in fact, carbon compounds (with the exception of carbides, carbonates, and a certain amount of carbon compounds, which are inorganic substances). Hence the term "carbon lifeforms". Perhaps it would be more correct to call it "hydrocarbon" life, but this is already a matter of terminology.
Why organic compounds? Life, in principle, can be represented as a set of chemical processes, and in this sense, organic compounds have become the basis of life due to the fact that their chemistry is quite complex and diverse. First, structural characteristics: the possibility of constructing complex and branched multifunctional molecules, homologous series that allow fine tuning of the properties of these molecules, and a variety of functional groups. Secondly, the functionality itself: organic compounds can be both oxidizing and reducing agents and acids and bases, enter into reactions of addition, elimination, exchange, practically any type of reaction, in fact. Thirdly, compliance with environmental conditions: the two main sources of energy for life on Earth are sunlight and oxygen, organic compounds, on the one hand, open up rich opportunities for photosynthesis, and on the other hand, they are able to participate in reversible oxidation / reduction processes with oxygen ( it is very important that they are reversible, because otherwise living organisms would burn or rot when interacting with oxygen).
Accordingly, this shows what requirements may be for other "basic" elements of life. Strictly speaking, much depends on external conditions. In close to terrestrial conditions, I personally do not see the possibility of the existence of non-carbon life, and if you fantasize arbitrary conditions, then many p-elements could become the basis of life. And silicon and phosphorus, probably, and boron and sulfur. In general, any element capable of forming structurally complex compounds. Then you can fantasize what could play the role of "oxygen", and what "hydrogen" for this basic element, etc. Silicon is liked by science fiction writers because it is close in many properties to carbon. But what would be "oxygen" for him? Maybe chlorine? What about "hydrogen"? Possibly the same hydrogen. Well, in general, this is already meaningless fantasizing, first you need to set the conditions of the external environment.
Because the basis of all biological compounds is carbon chains - stable and at the same time capable of forming numerous bonds (the carbon content in the human body is approximately 21%).
Silicon (Si) has similar properties, so silicon life forms are theoretically possible (there was even a Star Trek series about this).
Silicon under normal conditions has weaker bonds than carbon. Silicon atoms are larger, respectively, worse than carbon organics, they create spatial isomers, which means there is immediately less diversity. Silicon folds well into crystals, and dissolves little in water, apparently because of this, it did not become a noticeable basis for terrestrial life that appeared in water. But at high pressures and temperatures, it becomes interesting, because it is much more stable than carbon. In volcanic springs, there are bacteria on a mixed silicon-carbon basis. Venus, for example, is becoming a real contender for the emergence of silicon life.
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The fact that we breathe oxygen does not mean that it is the basis of our life form. After all, there are anaerobic organisms that do not need oxygen. Life appeared on Earth before free oxygen appeared (thanks to cyanobacteria). All life on Earth is based on carbon organic compounds.
Theories of another basis of life, of course, exist, however, have not yet been confirmed. Silicon, for example, reacts much worse with most compounds. Although there is more of it on Earth than carbon, no traces or even compounds have yet been found to talk about silicon biology. True, some organisms use silicon compounds as a shell, for example.
Ideas with life based on nitrogen and phosphorus are also very doubtful.
Studies of the composition of comets, asteroids, gas clouds in space allow us to speak about the predominance of carbon organics. Why? Probably because carbon is the most suitable element for this.
I agree with you. Carbon folds very well into compounds, especially into polymer chains, which are quite stable. You are absolutely right about silicon: although it is 4-valent, it does not form such strong chains, and most of its compounds are simply crystalline. Life originated in water, possibly without oxygen, but without it, obviously, it would not have reached its current development. Organics without oxygen decomposes to simple hydrocarbons, and does not give a variety of complex compounds. It was oxygen that allowed a rapid metabolism, to form large and mobile creatures. Oxygen is chemically active - it enters into compounds well and is restored back, it is energetically expedient. Thanks to oxygen, high-speed energy exchange is possible, which is necessary for fast moving muscles, a developed brain and, in general, the existence of large organisms.
As for nitrogen compounds, they are unstable under terrestrial conditions, even explosive. But in an environment with a pressure of 30 to 800 thousand atmospheres, nitrogen gives several orders (!) A greater variety of metastable compounds than carbon on Earth. It is difficult to imagine a possible life in such conditions. High pressure is almost always high temperature, destroying almost everything. Questions with the metabolism are doubtful, with the viscosity of the medium, as in the upper mantle of the Earth. Such a life, even if miraculously appears, will simply not be able to leave its environment. Contacts with the outside world are excluded, large organisms will not appear in such a thickness of matter, they will not have vision, and technological development is unrealistic. I have nothing to say about phosphorus, but it certainly will not replace carbon.
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ReplyIn the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, scientists are often accused of "carbon chauvinism" because they expect other life forms in the universe to be made up of the same biochemical building blocks that we are, and tailor their search accordingly. But life may very well be different - and people think about it - so let's explore ten possible biological and non-biological systems that expand the definition of "life".
In 2005, Heather Smith of the International Space University in Strasbourg and Chris McKay of the Ames Research Center at NASA prepared a paper looking at the possibility of life on the basis of methane, the so-called methanogens. Such life forms could consume hydrogen, acetylene, and ethane while exhaling methane instead of carbon dioxide.
This could make life zones possible on cold worlds like Saturn's moon Titan. Like Earth, Titan's atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, but mixed with methane. Titan is also the only place in our solar system, besides the Earth, where there are large liquid reservoirs - lakes and rivers from an ethane-methane mixture. (Underground bodies of water are also present on Titan, its sister moon Enceladus, and Jupiter's moon Europa.) Fluid is considered essential for the molecular interactions of organic life and of course the focus will be on water, but ethane and methane also allow such interactions to take place.
NASA and ESA's Cassini-Huygens mission in 2004 observed a dirty world of -179 degrees Celsius, where water was rock hard and methane floated through river valleys and basins into polar lakes. In 2015, a team of chemical engineers and astronomers at Cornell University developed a theoretical cell membrane made from small organic nitrogen compounds that could function in Titan's liquid methane. They called their theoretical cell "azotosome," which literally means "nitrogen body," and it had the same stability and flexibility as the terrestrial liposome. The most interesting molecular compound was the acrylonitrile azotosome. Acrylonitrile, a colorless and poisonous organic molecule, is used for acrylic paints, rubber, and thermoplastics on Earth; also found in the atmosphere of Titan.
The implications of these experiments for the search for extraterrestrial life can hardly be overestimated. Not only could life have potentially evolved on Titan, but it can also be detected from hydrogen, acetylene and ethane traces on the surface. Planets and moons with methane-dominated atmospheres can be found not only around Sun-like stars, but also around red dwarfs in the wider "". If NASA launches the Titan Mare Explorer in 2016, as early as 2023 we will have detailed information about possible life on nitrogen.
Silicon based life
Silicon-based life is arguably the most common form of alternative biochemistry, beloved of popular science and fiction - think of Star Trek's Hort. This idea is far from new, its roots go back as far as 1894: “What fantastic imagination could be played out from such an assumption: imagine silicon-aluminum organisms - or maybe immediately silicon-aluminum people? - which travel through an atmosphere of gaseous sulfur, let's put it this way, seas of liquid iron with a temperature of several thousand degrees or something, just above the temperature of a blast furnace.
Silicon remains popular precisely because it is very similar to carbon and can form four bonds like carbon, which opens up the possibility of creating a biochemical system completely dependent on silicon. It is the most abundant element in the earth's crust, with the exception of oxygen. There are algae on Earth that incorporate silicon into their growth process. Silicon plays a second role after carbon, since it can form more stable and diverse complex structures necessary for life. Carbon molecules include oxygen and nitrogen, which form incredibly strong bonds. Complex silicon-based molecules unfortunately tend to fall apart. In addition, carbon is extremely abundant in the universe and has existed for billions of years.
It is unlikely that silicon-based life will appear in an environment like Earth, since most of the free silicon will be trapped in volcanic and igneous rocks of silicate materials. It is speculated that things may be different in a high-temperature environment, but no evidence has yet been found. An extreme world like Titan could support silicon-based life, perhaps coupled with methanogens, since silicon molecules like silanes and polysilanes can mimic Earth's organic chemistry. However, the surface of Titan is dominated by carbon, while most of the silicon is found deep below the surface.
NASA astrochemist Max Bernstein has suggested that silicon-based life could exist on a very hot planet, with an atmosphere rich in hydrogen and poor in oxygen, allowing complex silane chemistry with silicon back-links to selenium or tellurium to occur, but this, according to Bernstein, is unlikely. On Earth, such organisms would reproduce very slowly, and our biochemistry would not interfere with each other in any way. They, however, could slowly eat our cities, but "it would be possible to apply a jackhammer to them."
Other biochemical options
In principle, there have been quite a few proposals for life systems based on something other than carbon. Like carbon and silicon, boron also tends to form strong covalent molecular compounds, forming various hydride structural variants in which the boron atoms are linked by hydrogen bridges. Like carbon, boron can bond with nitrogen to form compounds similar in chemical and physical properties to alkanes, the simplest organic compounds. The main problem with boron-based life is that it is a fairly rare element. Boron-based life will do best in an environment that is cold enough for liquid ammonia to allow the chemical reactions to take place in a more controlled manner.
Another possible form of life that has received some attention is arsenic-based life. All life on Earth is made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur, but in 2010, NASA announced that it had found the bacterium GFAJ-1, which could incorporate arsenic instead of phosphorus into its cell structure without any consequences for itself. GFAJ-1 lives in the arsenic-rich waters of Mono Lake in California. Arsenic is poisonous to every living thing on the planet, except for a few microorganisms that normally tolerate or inhale it. GFAJ-1 was the first time the body had incorporated this element as a biological building block. Independent experts diluted this statement a bit when they found no evidence of arsenic incorporation in DNA, or even any arsenates. Nevertheless, interest in a possible biochemistry based on arsenic flared up.
Ammonia has also been put forward as a possible alternative to water for building life forms. Scientists have proposed the existence of biochemistry based on nitrogen-hydrogen compounds that use ammonia as a solvent; it could be used to create proteins, nucleic acids and polypeptides. Any ammonia-based life forms must exist at low temperatures, at which ammonia takes a liquid form. Solid ammonia is denser than liquid ammonia, so there is no way to stop it from freezing when it gets cold. For unicellular organisms, this would not be a problem, but would cause havoc for multicellular organisms. Nevertheless, there is the possibility of the existence of single-celled ammoniac organisms on the cold planets of the solar system, as well as on gas giants like Jupiter.
Sulfur is believed to have been the basis for the start of metabolism on Earth, and known organisms whose metabolism incorporates sulfur instead of oxygen exist under extreme conditions on Earth. Perhaps on another world, sulfur-based lifeforms could gain an evolutionary advantage. Some believe that nitrogen and phosphorus could also take the place of carbon under rather specific conditions.
memetic life
Richard Dawkins believes that the basic principle of life is: "All life develops due to the mechanisms of survival of reproducing beings." Life must be able to reproduce (with some assumptions) and live in an environment where natural selection and evolution will be possible. In his book The Selfish Gene, Dawkins noted that concepts and ideas are generated in the brain and propagated among people through communication. In many ways, this resembles the behavior and adaptation of genes, which is why he calls them "memes". Some compare the songs, jokes and rituals of human society to the first stages of organic life - free radicals floating in the ancient seas of the Earth. Mind creations reproduce, evolve, and struggle to survive in the realm of ideas.
Similar memes existed before mankind, in the social calls of birds and the learned behavior of primates. As humanity became capable of abstract thought, memes were further developed, governing tribal relations and forming the basis for the first traditions, culture, and religion. The invention of writing further spurred the development of memes, as they were able to propagate across space and time, passing on memetic information in the same way that genes pass on biological information. For some, this is pure analogy, but others believe that memes represent a unique, albeit slightly rudimentary and limited form of life.
Life on Earth is based on two information-carrying molecules, DNA and RNA, and for a long time scientists wondered if other similar molecules could be created. While any polymer can store information, RNA and DNA represent the heredity, coding, and transmission of genetic information and are able to adapt over time through evolution. DNA and RNA are chains of nucleotide molecules consisting of three chemical components - phosphate, a five-carbon sugar group (deoxyribose in DNA or ribose in RNA) and one of the five standard bases (adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine or uracil).
In 2012, a group of scientists from England, Belgium and Denmark was the first in the world to develop xenonucleic acid (XNA), synthetic nucleotides that functionally and structurally resemble DNA and RNA. They were developed by replacing the sugar groups of deoxyribose and ribose with various substitutes. Such molecules have been made before, but for the first time in history they were able to reproduce and evolve. In DNA and RNA, replication occurs with the help of polymerase molecules that can read, transcribe, and reverse transcribe normal nucleic acid sequences. The group developed synthetic polymerases that created six new genetic systems: HNA, CeNA, LNA, ANA, FANA and TNA.
One of the new genetic systems, HNA, or hexitonucleic acid, was robust enough to store just the right amount of genetic information that could serve as the basis for biological systems. The other, threosonucleic acid, or TNA, was a potential candidate for the mysterious primordial biochemistry that reigned at the dawn of life.
There are many potential applications of these advances. Further research may help develop better models for the emergence of life on Earth and will have implications for biological fabrications. XNA could have therapeutic applications by designing nucleic acids to treat and bind to specific molecular targets that won't deteriorate as quickly as DNA or RNA. They can even form the basis of molecular machines or artificial life forms in general.
But before that is possible, other enzymes must be developed that are compatible with one of the XNAs. Some of them have already been developed in the UK at the end of 2014. There is also the possibility that XNA can cause harm to RNA/DNA organisms, so safety must come first.
Chromodynamics, weak nuclear force and gravitational life
In 1979, scientist and nanotechnologist Robert Freitas Jr. proposed the possibility of non-biological life. He stated that the possible metabolism of living systems is based on four fundamental forces - electromagnetism, strong nuclear force (or quantum chromodynamics), weak nuclear force, and gravity. Electromagnetic life is the standard biological life we have on Earth.
Chromodynamic life could be based on the strong nuclear force, which is considered the strongest of the fundamental forces, but only over extremely short distances. Freitas suggested that such an environment might be possible on a neutron star, a heavy rotating object 10-20 kilometers in diameter with the mass of a star. With an incredible density, a powerful magnetic field, and gravity 100 billion times stronger than on Earth, such a star would have a core with a 3-kilometer crust of crystalline iron. Beneath it would be a sea of incredibly hot neutrons, various nuclear particles, protons and atomic nuclei, and possible neutron-rich "macronuclei". In theory, these macronuclei could form large supernuclei similar to organic molecules; neutrons would act as the equivalent of water in a bizarre pseudobiological system.
Freitas saw life forms based on the weak nuclear force as unlikely, since weak forces only operate in the subnuclear range and are not particularly strong. As beta-radioactive decay and free neutron decay often show, weak force life forms could exist if the weak forces in their environment were carefully controlled. Freitas imagined beings made of atoms with excess neutrons that become radioactive when they die. He also suggested that there are regions of the universe where the weak nuclear force is stronger, which means that the chances of such life appearing are higher.
Gravity beings may exist as well, since gravity is the most common and efficient fundamental force in the universe. Such creatures could receive energy from gravity itself, receiving unlimited power from the collisions of black holes, galaxies, and other celestial objects; smaller creatures from the rotation of the planets; the smallest - from the energy of waterfalls, wind, tides and ocean currents, possibly earthquakes.
Lifeforms from dust and plasma
Organic life on Earth is based on molecules with carbon compounds, and we have already figured out possible compounds for alternative forms. But in 2007, an international team of scientists led by V. N. Tsytovich from the Institute of General Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences documented that under the right conditions, inorganic dust particles can assemble into spiral structures, which then interact with each other in a manner inherent in organic chemistry. This behavior is also born in the plasma state, the fourth state of matter after solid, liquid and gaseous, when electrons are stripped from atoms, leaving behind a mass of charged particles.
Tsytovich's group found that when the electron charges are separated and the plasma is polarized, the particles in the plasma self-organize into spiral corkscrew-like structures, electrically charged, and are attracted to each other. They can also divide to form copies of their original structures, like DNA, and induce charges in their neighbors. According to Tsytovich, “these complex, self-organizing plasma structures meet all the necessary requirements to be considered candidates for inorganic living matter. They are autonomous, they reproduce and they evolve.”
Some skeptics believe that such claims are more attention-grabbing than serious scientific claims. Although helical structures in plasma may resemble DNA, similarity in shape does not necessarily imply similarity in function. Moreover, the fact that the spirals are reproducing does not imply the potential for life; clouds do it too. Even more depressing, most of the research has been done on computer models.
One of the participants in the experiment also reported that although the results did resemble life, in the end they were "just a special form of plasma crystal." And yet, if inorganic particles in plasma can grow into self-replicating, evolving life forms, they could be the most abundant life form in the universe, thanks to ubiquitous plasma and interstellar dust clouds throughout the cosmos.
inorganic chemical cells
Professor Lee Cronin, a chemist at the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Glasgow, dreams of making living cells out of metal. He uses polyoxometalates, a series of metal atoms bonded to oxygen and phosphorus, to create cell-like vesicles he calls "inorganic chemical cells," or iCHELLs (an acronym that translates to "neohletes").
Cronin's group began by creating salts from negatively charged ions of large metal oxides bonded to a small, positively charged ion like hydrogen or sodium. A solution of these salts is then injected into another salt solution full of large positively charged organic ions bound to small negatively charged ones. The two salts meet and exchange parts so that the large metal oxides partner with the large organic ions to form a kind of bubble that is impervious to water. By altering the backbone of the metal oxide, the blisters can be made to take on the properties of biological cell membranes that selectively let chemicals in and out of the cell, potentially allowing the same type of controlled chemical reactions that occur in living cells.
The team of scientists have also made bubbles within bubbles, mimicking the internal structures of biological cells, and have made progress in creating an artificial form of photosynthesis that could potentially be used to create artificial plant cells. Other synthetic biologists point out that such cells may never become alive until they have a system of replication and evolution like DNA. Cronin does not lose hope that further development will bear fruit. Among the possible applications of this technology are also the development of materials for solar fuel devices and, of course, medicine.
According to Cronin, "the main goal is to create complex chemical cells with living properties that can help us understand the evolution of life and follow the same path to bring new technologies based on evolution to the material world - a kind of inorganic living technology."
Von Neumann probes
Artificial life based on machines is a fairly common idea, almost banal, so let's just consider the von Neumann probes so as not to bypass it. They were first invented in the middle of the 20th century by the Hungarian mathematician and futurist John von Neumann, who believed that in order to reproduce the functions of the human brain, a machine must have mechanisms of self-management and self-healing. So he came up with the idea of creating self-replicating machines, which are based on observations of the increasing complexity of life in the process of reproduction. He believed that such machines could become a kind of universal constructor, which could allow not only to create complete replicas of itself, but also to improve or change versions, thereby implementing evolution and increasing complexity over time.
Other futurists like Freeman Dyson and Eric Drexler quickly applied these ideas to the field of space research and created the von Neumann probe. Sending a self-replicating robot into space may be the most efficient way to colonize a galaxy, as it can take over the entire galaxy in less than one million years, even when limited by the speed of light.
As Michio Kaku explained:
“The von Neumann probe is a robot designed to reach distant star systems and create factories that will build copies of themselves by the thousands. A dead moon, not even a planet, could be an ideal destination for von Neumann probes because it would be easier to land and take off from those moons, and because moons don't have erosion. The probes could live off the land by extracting iron, nickel and other raw materials to build robotic factories. They would create thousands of copies of themselves, which would then disperse in search of other star systems."
Over the years, various versions of the basic idea of the von Neumann probe have been devised, including exploration and reconnaissance probes for the silent exploration and observation of extraterrestrial civilizations; communication probes scattered throughout space to better pick up alien radio signals; working probes for the construction of supermassive space structures; colonizing probes that will conquer other worlds. There may even be guiding probes that will take young civilizations into space. Alas, there may be berserker probes, whose task will be to destroy traces of any organic matter in space, followed by the construction of police probes that will reflect these attacks. Given that von Neumann probes could become a kind of space virus, we should be careful about their development.
Gaia hypothesis
In 1975, James Lovelock and Sidney Upton co-wrote an article for the New Scientist titled "In Search of Gaia". In keeping with the traditional view that life originated on Earth and thrived on the right material conditions, Lovelock and Upton suggested that life thus took on an active role in maintaining and determining the conditions for its survival. They suggested that all living matter on Earth, in the air, oceans and on the surface is part of a single system that behaves like a superorganism that is able to adjust the temperature on the surface and the composition of the atmosphere in the way necessary for survival. They named such a system Gaea, after the Greek goddess of the earth. It exists to maintain homeostasis, thanks to which the biosphere can exist on earth.
Lovelock has been working on the Gaia hypothesis since the mid-1960s. The basic idea is that the Earth's biosphere has a number of natural cycles, and when one goes awry, others compensate for it in a way that maintains vitality. This could explain why the atmosphere isn't made entirely of carbon dioxide, or why the seas aren't too salty. Although volcanic eruptions made the early atmosphere predominantly carbon dioxide, nitrogen-producing bacteria and plants developed to produce oxygen through photosynthesis. After millions of years, the atmosphere has changed in our favor. Although rivers carry salt into the oceans from rocks, the salinity of the oceans remains stable at 3.4% as the salt seeps through cracks in the ocean floor. These are not conscious processes, but the result of a feedback loop that keeps the planets in a habitable balance.
Other evidence includes that, were it not for biotic activity, methane and hydrogen would have disappeared from the atmosphere in just a few decades. In addition, despite the 30% increase in the temperature of the Sun over the past 3.5 billion years, the average global temperature has only fluctuated by 5 degrees Celsius, thanks to a regulatory mechanism that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and locks it in fossilized organic matter.
Initially, Lovelock's ideas were met with ridicule and accusations. Over time, however, the Gaia hypothesis influenced ideas about the Earth's biosphere, helping to form their integral perception in the scientific world. Today, the Gaia hypothesis is respected rather than accepted by scientists. It is rather a positive cultural framework in which scientific research on the Earth as a global ecosystem should be carried out.
Paleontologist Peter Ward developed the competitive hypothesis of Medea, named after the mother who killed her children, in Greek mythology, the basic idea of which is that life is inherently self-destructive and suicidal. He points out that, historically, most mass extinctions have been caused by life forms, such as micro-organisms or hominids in pants, that are wreaking havoc on Earth's atmosphere.
Sourced from listverse.com
