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14 - The possibility of alternative microbial life on Earth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2010

Mark A. Bedau  and
Carol E. Cleland
By
Carol E. Cleland  and
Shelley D. Copley
Mark A. Bedau
Affiliation:
Reed College, Oregon
Carol E. Cleland
Affiliation:
University of Colorado, Boulder
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Summary

INTRODUCTION

Finding a form of life that differs in its molecular architecture and biochemistry from life as we know it would be profoundly important both from a scientific and a philosophical perspective. There is compelling evidence that life as we know it on Earth today shares a last universal common ancestor (LUCA; Woese 1967, 2004). It is unlikely that LUCA was the earliest form of life on Earth since it was already quite sophisticated, having nucleic acids and proteins, as well as complex metabolic processes. In short, life as we know it represents a single example of a fairly advanced stage of life. One cannot safely generalize from a single example to all life, wherever or whenever it may be found. Indeed, in the absence of additional examples of life we are in a position analogous to that of a zoologist trying to formulate a theory of mammals based only upon their experience with zebras. It is unlikely that she will focus on their mammary glands since they are characteristic only of the females. Yet the mammary glands tell us more about what it means to be a mammal than the ubiquitous stripes seen in both male and female zebras. Finding a form of life having a different molecular architecture and biochemistry would help us to understand the nature of life in general—the processes that led to its emergence and the various forms it may take, whether on the early Earth or elsewhere in the Universe.

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The Nature of Life
Classical and Contemporary Perspectives from Philosophy and Science
 , pp. 198 - 209
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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