Universal Biologies - Order from Chaos

If there are universal laws and constants to biology, what would they be? This morning I have time for a few thoughts (a syllogism actually):

1. Order from chaos. In other words - a repeating pattern, albeit a pattern that evolves over time. It is said that if you observe a chaotic system long enough, a repeating pattern will eventually emerge. This may be one clue to the origin of life. And if so, the possibility that it only happened once in this very large and rather old universe seems rather infinitesimal. Life, to exist and continue to exist and to evolve, has to be a repeating pattern arising out of the "chaos" of natural principles, laws, and constants.
2. I place the word "chaos" in quotes because it is not an unlimited chaos. Think of a Shakespearean sonnet. It has a certain set of rules. These are the Shakespearean sonnet natural principles, laws, and constants: A Shakespearean sonnet is made up of three quatrains and a couplet (and can be expressed as a formula: 4+4+4+2. Math is everywhere folks!). It has a rhyme scheme ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, and GG. It has a rhythm as well, a repeating iambic pentameter. It normally shows a scene or tells a little story or vignette, and often ends, in the couplet, with a twist or irony. However, within those constraints, one can still have a wide range of possibilities - you can write it in any language, and describe any scene, or tell any kind of story, even a nonsensical one.
3. Thus, universal biology will have its mathematical formula and algorithms, its principles, laws, and constants and still be able to describe a bewildering array of varieties of life. As the rules of the Shakespearean sonnet arose from the complex interactions of the nature of the human mind, so may the rules of universal biology be said to arise from the complex nature of interactions of the natural laws (chemical, physical, i.e.) that make up this universe.

Disclaimer: as with all analogies, you can only take this analogy so far. But it is fun and thought provoking.

What will the parameters for the Universal Life Sonnet? Biology is informed by chemical and physical laws and constants. As it is inevitable that galaxies, stars, and planetary systems arise from the original primordial chaos of the universe, so is it inevitable that life will form on planets that allow, at least, for liquid water.

Most scientists feel that life needs three things: organic chemicals (carbon based), water, and an energy source. That's it. That's all you need. As we are discovering, organic chemicals and energy sources are rather common in the universe. You don't need life to create organic chemicals (so this isn't a "which came first, the chicken or the egg" sort of paradox). But you do need organic chemicals to create life (at least life that we are familiar with). Energy sources can be the radiation from a star (like sunlight from the sun) or volcanism (including hydrothermal vents) to name but a couple. Thus, what we need to look for is a source of water. As detection improves with more advanced telescopes, we are increasingly finding extrasolar water, from water being detected in planetary atmospheres, to water "raining down" upon a young planetary disk (NGC 1333-IRAS 4B).

Think about our own solar system - how prevalent is water? Water exists in varying amounts on Mars, Venus, Jupiter (trace amounts), Saturn (also trace amounts), Uranus, Neptune, the Moon, the moons of Jupiter (most notably Europa) and Saturn (Enceladus, Titan), asteroids, comets, and Pluto. Water is theorized to exist even on Mercury! Seems water isn't that uncommon.

In other words, then, given enough time, life is bound to happen all across the universe.

Ah, but wait. There is a disclaimer, a caveat - life needs a couple of other things: a boring home - the more "boring" the better. A planet around a very dynamic, unstable star (with huge variables in light output) or a planet in a rather elliptical orbit, will experience dramatic extremes which would be disastrous to life, at least to higher forms of life. I suppose, however, that given enough time, as the lawyer in the movie Jurassic Park was found of say, "life will find a way." We are finding extremophiles on Earth that can survive conditions we once thought impossible for life to handle. There are even microbial lifeforms that can survive the rigors of space! Right now extremophiles are restricted to limited areas on the planet, while other lifeforms have found more efficient, more abundant, energy/food sources and have dominated the planet, but on a planet where things are reversed, the extremophile-type creatures may find themselves the dominant life form, and may possibly slowly evolve. I would predict that they would take a much longer time to evolve high level sentience than on a more "boring" planet, but I do not see it being impossible.

Another caveat - no solar system is completely boring. All stars vary in output, and all stars age and change. Gama ray bursts many light years away can wreak havoc on an unsuspecting system, destroying all or most life on any unlucky planet in the path of the beam (there is some conjecture this may have happened once to the Earth in the distant past). Meteors and comets abound, and occasionally collide with planets. If a supernova is near enough, it too can wreak devastation on a near-by system. The planets and moons themselves have dynamic events going on within them as well - earthquakes, volcanism, and atmospheric changes (changes in oxygen or methane content, i.e.) to name a few. While microbial life tends to survive major events, higher life forms tend to be more susceptible to being wiped out by them.

So it may be that while given enough time, life is bound to happen, high level sentient life may take even longer time, and be less common; there are more restrictions for the Universal Sentient Life Sonnet - it is a much harder sonnet to write. But it is a very big universe. At present scientists estimate there are over 100 billion galaxies in the universe. Each with billions of stars. However, the point of our speculations is not that the universe is teeming with sentient life, but that it does exist, even if it may be too far for us to ever have any real meaningful contact with (we may only be able to detect that a technologically advanced civilization exists, and "communicate" via 20, 100, or 1,000 year round trip communiques). Let us, then, speculate on alternative extrasolar biological, psychological, theological and societal realities that could exist.

References:

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. "Nano-assembly Mimics Origin Of Life? Molecules Organize Themselves Into Patterns." ScienceDaily 1 November 2007. 1 November 2007. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071030105309.htm>.

Minkel, JR. "Water Found on Distant Planet." Scientific American. 11 July 2007. 1 November 2007. <http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=B66E323B-E7F2-99DF-36D284B02192381C>.

Tinetti, G., et al. "Water vapour in the atmosphere of a transiting extrasolar planet." Nature. 12 July 2007. Excerpts at "Water, water everywhere - on an extrasolar planet. " ESA Portal. 11 July 2007. 1 November 2007. <http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMBDZI2O3F_index_0.html>.

"Water Vapor Seen 'Raining Down' on Young Star System." Spitzer - NASA. 29 August 2007. 1 November 2007. <http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/news/spitzer-20070829.html>.

Universal Biologies?

Before we can discuss the possible alternative extrasolar biological, psychological, theological and societal realities that could exist, we need to establish a framework - if one can even be established. Can more than one kind of "biology" exist? For instance, can there be a planet where life is silicon-based and not carbon-based like here on Earth? Are there universal laws of biology? In other words, what are the limits to the kinds of biologies that can exist? The answer to this will help frame the speculations that will follow.

If we accept the possibility of parallel universes, as predicted by many quantum models of the universe, one answer is that there can exist any infinite number of different biologies since each parallel universe will likely have different physical constants and thus different physical properties. Some universes will be very strange indeed. Some will be impossible for any life to form in - a universe where gravity is too weak, or too strong, for instance. Another complication is the hypothesis that even in our own universe, natural laws and physical constants may not be universal - they may vary from one region of the universe to another.

However, for simplicity sake, let's keep our attention to the region of the universe we find ourselves in. That seems the most pragmatic approach, since it is highly unlikely we will ever be able to see into, let alone venture into, other parallel universes, or regions where our local natural laws and physics no longer are in play.

I would like to propose that there are universal biological laws just as there are universal chemical and physical laws. My reasoning is that biological creatures are composed of biological tissues that are made up of chemicals and are affected by, including making use of, physical laws. Biology cannot be separated from chemistry, nor from physics. If there are universal laws and constants in chemistry and physics, I do not find it a giant leap to say that there are also universal laws and constants in biology.

However, even with those proposed, and yet undefined, universal laws, there are still a dazzling wide variety of biological life forms that can exist. Look at our own planet, from the oxygen and light deprived pressured depths of the sea, to frozen rock in Antarctica, to thin-aired mountain tops, to sun-baked deserts, to lush tropical jungles, life abounds in an incredible array of variety. Looking into our past, we find ever more dazzling array of varieties of all shapes and sizes. While not infinite, and not just any form can exist as a viable creature, the boundaries are difficult to see—that horizon is very far away.

Next—some thoughts as to what some of the universal laws and constants, or constraints, are: Universal Biologies: Order From Chaos.

Introduction

© Lynette Cook

The Blog's Focus
 

This blog focuses on extrasolar planetary discussions from scientific research to speculations on extrasolar (alien) biology, communication and linguistics, psychology, society, technology, and theology. This includes commentary on pertinent science articles, reviews of both relevant science and science fiction books and movies, and speculation that they inspire.

Why?

Why such discourses? As we move further into the 21rst century, these are topics will gain in importance as we continue to detect more exoplanets, to discover how widespread the building blocks of life are in the universe, and to expand the definition of life. The chances of our detecting life on another planet outside our solar system increase as our technology and techniques increase in sophistication (for example, the ability to analyze the atmosphere of a planet light years away).

Thus, the questions of whether life exists outside of the Earth take on new impetus. For with new life comes the possibility of new sentient life. What would that extrasolar sentient life be like? Pondering this question is not a mater of mere idle speculation. It goes beyond grown up fairy tales. Just as the examination of other planets in our solar system help us to understand our own planet, the examination of life on other planets may help us to understand ourselves. This meditation on other life affects meditation upon our own life.

As T.S. Eliot wrote in his poem "Little Gidding":

And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

We need to explore, to learn.

Additionally, such contemplations can help us prepare for when we discover alien biologies, psychologies, societies, technologies and theologies.

Brief Background to the Issues

It seems that every few weeks there is another discovery of an exoplanet. As of October 2007 over 200 have been found. As more new telescopes, both on the ground and in space, having greater viewing power than the Hubble Space telescope come on line, the discoveries have not only begun to pick up speed, but ever smaller planets are being discovered as well.

In 2006 the ESA launched the COROT space telescope, designed to detect planets not much larger than the Earth. It began searching in Feb 2007 and has already found additional planets. In 2009 NASA plans to launch the Kepler space telescope, also designed to search for extrasolar planets. The James Webb Space Telescope, with a possible launch date of 2013, will be the replacement for Hubble, with greater observing powers than its predecessor. DARWIN, an European Space Agency proposed space telescope with a possible launch date of 2015, will be able to detect directly an earth sized extrasolar planet - with enough detail that we may even be able to determine if there is carbon-based life on it. In 2005, Dr. Webster Cash of the Univ of Colorado at Boulder, had his New Worlds Imager project funded by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC). The project plans to build a large pinhole camera in Earth orbit capable of detecting Earth sized extrasolar planets up to 32 light years away. So far there is no proposed launch date. Even more extrasolar planet mission exist or are planned: for more information visit the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's "Planet Quest: Missions" page.

From a different angle, the newly powered up Allen Telescope Array, a SETI project, will increase the chances of detecting signals from extrasolar civilizations (those who have advanced to a technological level).

The next logical question, though, is how many extrasolar planets can harbor life? First, the building blocks of life, from simple chemicals like Carbon and water to more complex amino acids, are found throughout space in interstellar clouds, planetary disks, meteors and comets, and the atmosphere of exoplanets, as being expelled into space by dying stars. Some even theorize that is how life began on Earth - it was seeded from the heavens. Second, planets are being found (whole or forming) within the "habitable zones" of their parent stars (basically, the zone around a star where liquid water can exist) - a recent one is the fifth planet to be discovered around 55 Cancri.

Around the sun, the Habitable Zone is 0.95 to 1.37 A.U. However, life could possibly exist beyond this zone: scientists are now contemplating the possibility of life existing on Europa (there is a thin atmosphere of oxygen and quite possible a liquid ocean underneath the planet covering ice sheet). And finally, as we keep finding on Earth, life is tenacious - we are finding life everywhere on this planet, under an increasing range of conditions, including extreme conditions of no oxygen, boiling water, and frozen ice.

Because life can thrive under a wide range of conditions, it is most likely that alien life does not need a Earth duplicate on which to form and thrive, and thus it will be an astronomically minute chance that alien life will be duplicates of Earth life. There is a vast range of variables that can affect the direction alien biology takes, which in turn can affect the alien's psychology, society, technology, and theologies.

Closing Remarks

I don't want this blog to be one-sided. Please feel free to leave comments, whether to challenge or to support a speculation, or to suggest other references and resources. It is my hope this blog can be beneficial to its readers, including amateur philosophers, students looking for essay topics, and science fiction writers looking for ideas to stimulate writing, as well as for space science and/or science fiction fans.

© DigitalBlasphemy.com

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References:

"ATA." SETI Institute. 2007. Web. 30 October 2007. <http://www.seti.org/seti/projects/ata/>.

"Europa, a Continuing Story of Discovery." Project Galileo. NASA. Web. 30 October 2007. <http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/europa/>.

"Extrasolar planet." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 4 Nov 2007, 07:02 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Web. 4 Nov 2007. <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Extrasolar_planet&oldid=169111401>.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "Planet Quest: Missions." NASA. Web. 30 October 2007. <http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/missions_index.cfm>.

Johns Hopkins University. "Earth-like Planet Forming In Nearby Star System, Astronomers Believe." ScienceDaily. 4 October 2007. Web. 30 October 2007. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071003130744.htm>.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. "Cornucopia Of Earth-sized Planets Modeled By NASA." ScienceDaily. 25 September 2007. 30 October 2007. <http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2007/09/070924132510.htm>.

NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center. "NASA Scientist Discovers New Species Of Organism In Mars-like Environment." ScienceDaily. 31 July 2003. Web. 30 October 2007 <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/07/030731081613.htm>.

"Notes for star 55 Cnr [55 Cancri]" Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia. Web. 4 November 2007. <http://exoplanet.eu/star.php?st=55+Cnc>.

University of California, Los Angeles. "Polluted Dead Star Indicates Planets Like Earth May Have Formed Around Other Stars." ScienceDaily. 17 August 2007. Web. 30 October 2007 <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070816214820.htm>.

University of Liège. "Astronomers Detect Shadow Of Water World In Front Of Nearby Star." ScienceDaily 16 May 2007. Web. 30. October 2007 <http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2007/05/070516151053.htm>.