Why?

[Lindley]

The panspermia hypothesis has the same problem with the early Earth's environment as the native origin theory does, though. If Earth during the late bombardment period is too hostile for life to begin here, why is it somehow more benign for organisms coming in from outside (which have the added difficulty of making it in through the atmosphere without being quick-fried to a crackly crunch).

It doesn't necessarily need to be organisms coming in on comets. It could just be complex compounds. The point is, somehow those complex compounds were around earlier than they ought to have been and we don't know why.

 

[Scout101]

"In the beginning, the universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad idea."

 

[Mr Awe]

The panspermia hypothesis has the same problem with the early Earth's environment as the native origin theory does, though. If Earth during the late bombardment period is too hostile for life to begin here, why is it somehow more benign for organisms coming in from outside (which have the added difficulty of making it in through the atmosphere without being quick-fried to a crackly crunch).

No, you misunderstand. The formation of earth destroyed the complex organic compounds. That's different than saying the bombardment period is too hostile. They're different things.

They've found that complex compounds can survive in the interior of meteorites. Whether or not life originated from elsewhere, it is in fact widely assumed that complex organic compounds were supplied to Earth from space.

Panspermia is one theory that answers the concerns of some. There are solid reasons for wondering about the possibility even if, like me, you're not totally sold.

Another answer for why life started so quickly on Earth is perhaps just that it's not so hard to start life as we thing.

Mr Awe

 

[Mr Awe]

but I have heard people say that they believe life must have traveled to Earth from space because it's too "complicated" to have "just happened here." Same with god. The Universe is "too complicated to have just happened."

That's exactly what I meant. They say it's too complicated to have happened here, but then they simply accept that the too complicated stuff happened elsewhere. Why the additional step?

Because it puts it at a distance. It places the question in a magical context where it doesn't need to be answered.

You're glossing over my response to this. It's not that it couldn't happen here on Earth. It's a possible reason for why life started so early on Earth even though the building blocks for life were in very limited supply on Earth at that time.

Of course, it could've started on Earth and maybe it's just easy to start life or we got lucky and it started sooner than you'd expect. Who knows.

But, the reason some belive in panspermia isn't because it's magical and at a distance. It's an attempt to try to answer the question of how life started so quickly on Earth.

Mr Awe

 

[RoJoHen]

Another answer for why life started so quickly on Earth is perhaps just that it's not so hard to start life as we thing.

I like this idea. It increases the chances of alien life existing elsewhere in the universe.

 

[Deckerd]

I don't understand why it's assumed life 'started too quickly'. In comparison to what, exactly?

 

[RoJoHen]

I don't understand why it's assumed life 'started too quickly'. In comparison to what, exactly?

To all that other life in the universe that started way slower. Duh.

 

[Mr Awe]

I don't understand why it's assumed life 'started too quickly'. In comparison to what, exactly?

That's a good question. The real answer is that it started too quickly compared to some people's expectations. But, we don't know what is normal.

The first fossils show up around 3.6 billion years ago and the Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. The late heavy bombardment period ended about 3.8 billion years ago. So, life essentially began almost immediately after the heavy bombardment ceased. It's possible that life started during the bombardment but the fossils were destroyed.

At any rate, some people think that's too quick for life to have started on its own here on Earth. Personally, I don't really know. You can't judge what's normal or not from one data point. But, I don't consider exploring the possibilities to be strange, or putting things off at distance so it's magical.

Mr Awe

 

[scotpens]

A wizard did it.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Another answer for why life started so quickly on Earth is perhaps just that it's not so hard to start life as we thing.

That's the answer that seems most likely to me.

You're glossing over my response to this. It's not that it couldn't happen here on Earth. It's a possible reason for why life started so early on Earth even though the building blocks for life were in very limited supply on Earth at that time.

Of course, it could've started on Earth and maybe it's just easy to start life or we got lucky and it started sooner than you'd expect. Who knows.

But, the reason some belive in panspermia isn't because it's magical and at a distance. It's an attempt to try to answer the question of how life started so quickly on Earth.

No, I did say that panspermia is a legitimate theory. But, many people who are not scientifically literate latch on to the idea of life coming from outer space for reasons that parallel their reasons for believing in a god.