Paul asked:

Hypothetical question on present evolutionary theories.

1. Would all present theories of evolution be at risk if NASA embarked on a genesis project? or if
some of Earth's plant seeds were released into outer space?

2. Everything on Earth is directly or indirectly involved in a reproduction cycle. So why should space
be any different?

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1) There would be absolutely no effect on the "theory" of evolution (if you want call it that; that's the
common term for most scientific bodies of work, because they haven't been absolutelyproven...
which nothing empirical can be. The "theory" of relativity, to take just one example, is probably less
certain than the "theory" of evolution). Why should there be? DNA would still be DNA, subject to
mutation, etc., etc.

2) Yessss... depending on what you mean, I guess. First, you must be referring to lifeon earth rather
than just everything,and second, I'm not quite sure what you mean by "involved". Living things pretty
much have to reproduce, because otherwise, given accidents, entropy, etc., they'd eventually be
killed or die. So the ones that didn't aren't around any more. Is that what you mean?

As for "space"... I assume you mean something like "creatures living in other places in the galaxy" or
something like that, right? And, given my reasoning above, sure, why not?

Now, what's the point? Are you asking whether hypothetical creatures on other planets evolved? Hey,
why not? Evolution isn't something mystical or weird or whatever, it's just a consequence of noise in a
genetic system giving rise, occasionally, to superior genes. Like the classic example of putting 100
monkeys in a room, typing away madly... and sooner or later typing out the works of Shakespeare.
Exceptfor one thing. Every time a monkey types out a sensible sentence, that gets saved, while the
garbage gets thrown out. So the sensible sentences accumulate.Ok? Well... DNA has lotsmore than
100 thingies fiddling with it at any given time, and it's been a looongtime, as in billions of years, that
it's been fiddled with. So a lot of sensible sentences have accumulated. What makes them
accumulate? Come on, you can see the answer to that... they're read out into various chemicals or
structures or whatever, and the bad ones kill the organism, the good ones keep it going.

Steven Ravett Brown

No. 1: Not at all. Your idea of evolution seems in need of sharpening. What is `evolution?` It is a
common mistake to think of evolution as something that `happens`. But in fact it's a human concept,
an observer's history of the adaptation and proliferation of life forms on Earth. If life were to arise
anywhere else in the universe, the same struggle for adaptation would commence; but to the degree
that conditions on another planet might differ, the history would run another course. That's all.

No. 2: Keep asking. When you find the answer, line up for a Nobel!

Jürgen Lawrenz

Sydney