Originally Posted by marsbug

I'm sitting in front of my computer at work, bored senseless because our new lab still hasn't been finished two months after we moved in. So it naturally occured to me to put a thought I had a little while ago into an ATM theory and post it here to be torn apart, or supported (unlikely).

To get one thing clear at least: by complex I mean ordered but complex, as seen in DNA.

I'd like to put foward the idea that there was no 'eureka' moment when inanimate matter made the crossover from life to non life. Instead I propose that the qualities we associate with life can arise in any complex system, and that different qualities require greater or lesser degrees of complexity. So self replicating patterns which can, under the right conditions, occur in very simple things (such as crystals seeding other crystals) is a phenomena which needs only a modest degree of complexity, darwinian evolution requires more complexity (such as in DNA, which is also a type of crystal), and self awareness requires a lot.

I predict that on titan we will find higher areas of complexity, (and some 'life like' chemical and even physical behavoire) supported by lower areas of complexity (and less 'life like' behavoire) as there is a great deal of material suitable for complex behavoir (organics), same as we do on earth, but the maximum complexity will be lower, as there is less energy to drive the development of titans organic material. I haven't given water any special role in this idea but I might.

So does any of that make sense? If yes, have I got anything new here? If yes, does anyone see any value in it, and if yes where does it fall down and be valueless?
If No to all of the above please be polite, and if it's too rediculous to be polite about at least try to make what you post on it funny!

John