Assuming that life did not come about naturally, that it was indeed created by some previously existing intelligent beings, is that not just "kicking the can down the road" so to speak? Because the question then becomes how did those intelligent beings come about in the first place? They, in turn, would have had to be created by ANOTHER …
Assuming that life did not come about naturally, that it was indeed created by some previously existing intelligent beings, is that not just "kicking the can down the road" so to speak? Because the question then becomes how did those intelligent beings come about in the first place? They, in turn, would have had to be created by ANOTHER intelligent agent, and so on. This is called an infinite recursion in computer science.
In the Star Trek universe, all of the humanoid races of the galaxy were indeed of artificial origin in that there was a progenitor race that somehow set things up on all of the habitable planets of the galaxy such that it favored the development of humanoid species. I call this the Star Trek version of the origin of life. Maybe something like that really did happen.
The neolithic stones issue brings up some corollaries. Lets say there was a civilization more advanced than our own at some point in pre-history. Is it not likely they too would have gone to the Moon and explored and possibly settled the solar system (O'neill L-5 scenario)? Since things don't wear out in space like they do on Earth, it would make sense to look for artifacts of artificial origin on the Moon, Mars, and the asteroid belt since stuff there would presumably last for tens of thousands of years. Also, we would be finding the artifacts of advanced manufacturing such as alloys not found nature (Titanium and Vanadium containing alloys) and plastics that would most certainly last for ten thousands years or longer. These are the kind of artifacts that we should be finding if there was a previously existing technological civilization on Earth. AFAIK, none of these things have ever been found in any archeological dig on Earth or on the Moon (unless NASA is concealing evidence of such).
As far as the universe being finely tuned for life, this would be easily testable. Once we start expanding out into the galaxy, we should find that life is very common through out the galaxy. If life is not so common, then I would say that argues against the idea that the universe was somehow tuned for life.
Assuming that life did not come about naturally, that it was indeed created by some previously existing intelligent beings, is that not just "kicking the can down the road" so to speak? Because the question then becomes how did those intelligent beings come about in the first place? They, in turn, would have had to be created by ANOTHER intelligent agent, and so on. This is called an infinite recursion in computer science.
In the Star Trek universe, all of the humanoid races of the galaxy were indeed of artificial origin in that there was a progenitor race that somehow set things up on all of the habitable planets of the galaxy such that it favored the development of humanoid species. I call this the Star Trek version of the origin of life. Maybe something like that really did happen.
The neolithic stones issue brings up some corollaries. Lets say there was a civilization more advanced than our own at some point in pre-history. Is it not likely they too would have gone to the Moon and explored and possibly settled the solar system (O'neill L-5 scenario)? Since things don't wear out in space like they do on Earth, it would make sense to look for artifacts of artificial origin on the Moon, Mars, and the asteroid belt since stuff there would presumably last for tens of thousands of years. Also, we would be finding the artifacts of advanced manufacturing such as alloys not found nature (Titanium and Vanadium containing alloys) and plastics that would most certainly last for ten thousands years or longer. These are the kind of artifacts that we should be finding if there was a previously existing technological civilization on Earth. AFAIK, none of these things have ever been found in any archeological dig on Earth or on the Moon (unless NASA is concealing evidence of such).
As far as the universe being finely tuned for life, this would be easily testable. Once we start expanding out into the galaxy, we should find that life is very common through out the galaxy. If life is not so common, then I would say that argues against the idea that the universe was somehow tuned for life.