R Chandrasoma

The late Fred Hoyle and his Sri Lankan colleague Chandra Wickremasinghe are known across the world for their unorthodox views on life and the cosmos. With regard to life and its evolution, their view is an updated form of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”panspermia hypothesisƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ originally introduced by Arrhenius in the late 19th century. The gist of this theory is that life as we know it on Planet Earth is the result of a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”seedingƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ of the Early Earth by by ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”spermƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ or ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”seedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ that is a universal presence in interstellar space. It follows that life on Earth is a mere representation of a prototypical life found abundantly in space, ready to initiate the evolution of organic complexity in suitably primed planetary habitats across the cosmos.

Few scholars accept this position. There are two chief objections. Firstly, nobody has seen or detected ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”gemmulesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ or seeds of life floating in distant spce. What has been found is the existence of organic molecules of varying degrees of complexity in nebular gas-clouds in both intra and extra-galactic space. When the word ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”foundƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ is used it must be understood that not more than the spectral signatures of complex organic molecules have been recorded ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” its connection with ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”real chemistryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ is very indirect.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The extraordinary claim of Hoyle and Wickramasinghe that the spectral evidence indicates a universe ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”full of living germsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ is a most bizarre supposition with hardly any support from their peers. In seems likely that molecular complexity exists in plasma-clouds widely distributed among the stars. This is a far cry from the suggestion that life as we know it is ubiquitous in the cold reaches of space.

This modest discovery – of organic complexity existing in interstellar gas-clouds – is no secure foundation for the notorious panspermia hypothesis which postulates that the seeds of life are (like bacterial spores) ubiquitious in space awaiting a suitable ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”pabulumƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ for the generation of organic life. This latter speculation entails the belief that life in all habitable worlds are the progeny of uniquely organized initiators spread throughout space. While this suggestion of the grand unity of life has an allure for the religiously inclined, the objection is that there is little or no evidence for this grand scenario of space being full of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”germs of lifeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ that regularly seed habitats that favour their long-term survival.

Indeed. Hoyle and Wicramasinghe have gone far beyond this stand ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” they have rejected the classical Darwinian scheme of evolution through random mutation amd selection. They believe that evolutionary innovation is due to the incorporation of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”genesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ delivered from outer space. Flu pandemics are supposed to be the result of novel mutants reaching us periodically from far reaches of the galaxy. It is no surprise that Messrs Hole and Wickramasingha stand outside the general scientific consensus as entertaing mavericks driven more by ideological zeal than the facts of science.

Apart from the science, there is a philosophical shift in our approach to the mysteries of nature which subverts the arguments of Hoyle and Wickramasinghe. It was widely believe that ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”mindƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ and ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”lifeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ were universal categories ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” that these ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”phenomenalitiesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ when encounterd in ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”alien worldsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ must be recognizably similar to our own brand. This philosophical assumption was the foundation for the Serch for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) that has yielded nothing after fifty years of searching. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”MindƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ as we know it is uniquely human.

Other ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”mindsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ in distant and alien worlds must be so different from ours that it is a huge mistake to put them in a gensral category that includes our own. The same general argument applies to that phenomenon called ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”lifeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ Alien life is surely a very different thing compared to the protoplasmic life we are familiar with. Our earth-based concepts are, perhaps, wholly inadequate in dealing with this exotic life. Great biochemical complexity may exist elsewhere in the universe without it being congruent with life as we know it on Earth.

Great sytem complexity may exist in the far reaches of the Universe that are beyond our capacity to categorize and understand. To believe that the vast universe has a standard form of life (and of mind) and that it has ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”avatarsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ in those places that are primed for its establishment is a philosopnical thesis that few will now accept. That the universe could be so obligingly simple is a kind of folk belief that has nourished a whole generation of Science Fiction writers. Perhaps the latest lucubrations of Wickramasinghe and his asscciates are in this speculative category.