# "Why we might be alone" Public Lecture by Prof David Kipping **URL:** \ **Category:** Philosophy\ **Created:** [December 17, 2022, 4:52am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/why-we-might-be-alone-public-lecture-by-prof-david-kipping/10034 "2022-12-17T04:52:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![citizenschallengev4](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/citizenschallengev4/32/28718_2.png) [@citizenschallengev4](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/citizenschallengev4)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2023, 12:07pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/why-we-might-be-alone-public-lecture-by-prof-david-kipping/10034/21 "2023-06-01T12:07:15Z")
> [@write4u](#): > > Exactly, (all) it takes is time and substrates for chaotic chemical reactions to form into self-organizing patterns. Chaotic chemical reactions produce nothing but chaotic constructs. Biology is anything but chaotic, it’s our minds that inject the chaotic notion because biology so overwhelmingly complex. The creation of the Krebs cycle wasn’t a chaotic process. It require a very specific sequence, even if the surrounding ocean chemistry was a chaotic brew. Also your words still don’t acknowledge the importance of the changing planetary environment and its impact on the types of life those processes could achieve. The Ediacaran - Cambrian Explosion happened when it did, as a result of the consequences of a **“[Snowball Earth](https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/how-snowball-earth-could-have-triggered-the-rise-of-life)”**, that scoured a ~billion years worth of geology into fine powder and sent it off into the seas. Thus providing the building blocks that the already well established biology of the very tiny, could then exploit to reach new heights of biological achievement. This bring me back to appreciating the hierarchy of life. > [@citizenschallengev4](#): > > Because on this planet Life has learned to occur on so many levels, > The Life of microscopic prokaryote single cells; > The Life of microscopic eukaryotes single cells; > The Life of complex organization of multiple eukaryotes single cells; > The Life of bilateral bodies; > The Life of organisms that could survive on land; > The Life of remembering, introspective creatures; > The Life of human like beings; > The Life of hunter gather, eventual agrarian herder civilizations; > The Life of dominating nature, taking on the "power of the gods; > The Life of today’s moderns projecting themselves out into our galaxy? At each stage the amount of survivable chaos is reduced by many orders of magnitude. So sure life is, given proper conditions, must exist on other planets, and is probably inevitable. But, that’s still a few billion years (_and a nearly infinite amount of ‘good luck’_) away from a planet that can host a god-like creature like we are. ![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/centerforinquiry/original/2X/e/eae2768e5702896a426ffa24f385a539d681d673.gif) > **[History of Earth in 24-hour clock](https://flowingdata.com/2012/10/09/history-of-earth-in-24-hour-clock/)** > > I’m not sure where this is originally from, but I found it on an intro to geology course page. What happens when midnight comes around again? [![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/centerforinquiry/original/3X/8/7/8748f5360427601d40f99df04b0c607d0de2a95c.jpeg "4.5 Billion Years in 24 Hours") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhzja0zBoNw) [BRIGHT SIDE](https://www.youtube.com/@BRIGHTSIDEOFFICIAL) Jul 6, 2021 [#brightside](https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/brightside) [#earth](https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/earth) > Planet Earth, our home… 🌍 we’ve got so many questions about it! How was the Earth formed? How did animals get on Earth? Why did the Earth split into continents? When did the dinosaurs go extinct? Here’s a video that’ll show you the history of Earth in a nutshell. What if we could fit our planet’s history into 24 hours? Let’s watch the Earth evolve! ---
**Author:** ![write4u](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/write4u/32/23410_2.png) [@write4u](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/write4u)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2023, 3:40pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/why-we-might-be-alone-public-lecture-by-prof-david-kipping/10034/22 "2023-06-01T15:40:24Z")
> [quote=“citizenschallengev4, post:21, topic:10034”] > Chaotic chemical reactions produce nothing but chaotic constructs. No, chaos theory clearly states that orderly patterns form spontaneously from dynamic chaos. > Biology is anything but chaotic, it’s our minds that inject the chaotic notion because biology is so overwhelmingly complex. Exactly, what was once a chaotic proto-planet is now a complex but orderly self-regulating biome. That is the very example of the evolutionary process. All complex patterns (order) in the universe are a result and product of evolutionary processes > The creation of the Krebs cycle wasn’t a chaotic process. It required a very specific sequence, even if the surrounding ocean chemistry was a chaotic brew. Yes, but the Krebs self-duplicating polymer was self-formed from simpler elements over a long period of time and changing planetary conditions. Just look at the Yurey-Miller experiment. A simple experiment that spontaneously produced thousands of different molecules. And when they put some of that “stuff” in water it self-organized in what may be called proto-cells. You need to consider that Nature is the greatest chemistry laboratory. Organic molecules already form in interstellar clouds. The number of chemical reactions taking place in the universe approaches infinity. Earth itself has performed 2 trillion, quadrillion, quadrillion, quadrillion chemical experiments during its lifetime. Try to wrap your mind around that number. There is no other designer than the Nature of spacetime itself, from just a handful of elements Earth life requires some 600 biochemicals out of the known 6000 . This is a self-organized molecule ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/centerforinquiry/original/3X/f/c/fc9e8d26fdeb108e2bd39cf2eca5d7846ea30670.jpeg) This is a self-organized polymer ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/centerforinquiry/original/3X/0/7/0743d6e13e19a8070f0240117b2926ccb5eec678.png) _ **polymerization** , any process in which relatively small [molecules](https://www.britannica.com/science/molecule), called [monomers](https://www.britannica.com/science/monomer), combine chemically to produce a very large chainlike or network molecule, called a [polymer](https://www.britannica.com/science/polymer). The [monomer](https://www.britannica.com/science/monomer) molecules may be all alike, or they may represent two, three, or more different [compounds](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compounds)._ > **Usually at least 100 monomer molecules must be combined to make a product that has certain unique physical properties** —such as elasticity, high [tensile strength](https://www.britannica.com/science/tensile-strength), or the ability to form fibres—that [differentiate](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/differentiate) polymers from substances composed of smaller and simpler molecules; often, many thousands of monomer units are incorporated in a single molecule of a polymer. > **The formation of stable [covalent chemical bonds](https://www.britannica.com/science/covalent-bond) between the monomers sets polymerization apart from other processes, such as crystallization, in which large numbers of molecules [aggregate](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aggregate) under the influence of weak intermolecular forces**. > **[Polymerization | Definition, Classes, & Examples](https://www.britannica.com/science/polymerization)** > > Polymerization, any process in which small molecules known as monomers combine chemically to produce a very large chainlike or network molecule, called a polymer. Usually at least 100 monomers must be combined to make a product that has certain... The process is simple, but it requires a dynamic environment (chaos) to self-organize into orderly patterns. This principle applies to all planets dependent on the available chemical resources. Just look at a gene. Its incredibly complex instruction sequencing consists of only 4 fundamental biochemicals. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/centerforinquiry/original/3X/6/4/64900925a4648fdd8b555e2cf9cb1740df4eb568.jpeg) A gene is an evolved polymer [https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/basics/geneanatomy/](https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/basics/geneanatomy/) [Previous page](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/why-we-might-be-alone-public-lecture-by-prof-david-kipping/10034.md?page=1)