Actually Sage you are mistaken on the point of Earth not being rare.
If you are not familiar with the search for Extrasolar Planets, SEE

http://dir.yahoo.com/Science/Astronomy/Extrasolar_Planets/

You will find that most of the planets found are Jovian+ Mass planets
in quite different orbital positions than the gas giants that orbit
Earth's parent star.

Also you must bear in mind that the odds of finding a planet with the
same mass, atmospheric composition, water content, 24 hour period of
rotation, the same exact distance from the same type of star are
beyond slim.

Mass will affect the evolution of life forms over generations, so will
the proportion and density of atmospheric gases. So will the period of
rotation. (night and day cycles) And so will the distance from the
parent star, depending on it's energy output of course.

If any of this is unclear to you perhaps you should read Kim Stanley
Robinson's
Mars Trilogy, beginning with RED MARS. Though it is a work of fiction
it might help you better understand the evolution of life forms in
exotic environments.

Bob Williams



The_Sage <a.b@c.com> wrote in message news:<avi1l0htdh6ccngosa1k7t6f3g4ql5kh9h@4ax.com>...

Reply to article by: wartseepruls@excite.com (Ingemar Kamtash)
Date written: 21 Sep 2004 12:09:28 -0700
MsgID:<91958aea.0409211109.4769aa5f@posting.google.com>

You are guessing. Life doesn't evolve randomly, it is very specific. One of the
rules of evolution is: Form fits function. If one of the fittest forms for the
development of intelligent life is an upright walking animal using hands with
oppossable thumbs, then that is going to be a fit form for intelligence no
matter where you go in the universe. Earth is not unique, that is the same kind
of blind faith religious thinking that left egg on the faces of catholics
everywhere after they were proven wrong about the Earth being the center of the
universe or that the Earth was flat. The conditions here on Earth are not
special or custom created.

That life must exist elsewhere doesn't prove that any intelligent life has ever
come here to visit us. Roswell is an urban myth, not a demonstrable fact. The
military never said it had a "flying disc", only the *newspapers* said the
military had a flying disc. Besides, it wasn't called a flying saucer or a UFO,
it was simply a disc. The whole entire thing weighed about three pounds and fit
into the back of a ranchers pickup truck. The only coverup here is the coverup
of reality from the blind faith believers.

The Sage

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