Life. As No Life. As a rock. [A case of false biosignatures and what they tell us for the philosophy of biology definitions]

The geological search for ancient life frequently zeroes in on fossilized organic structures or biominerals that can serve as “biosignatures,” that survive in the rock record over extremely long time scales. Mineral elements such as sulfur are often formed through biological activity. Microbes can also produce a variety of telltale extracellular structures that resemble sheaths and stalks.

However, according to new findings published in the journal Nature Communications, carbon-sulfur microstructures that would be recognized today by some experts as biomaterials are capable of self-assembling under certain conditions, even without direct biological activity. These “false” biosignatures could potentially be misinterpreted as signs of biological activity due to their strong resemblance to microbial structures. (1)

Life which is not life.

Isn’t that the norm?

Matter is matter. It can never by anything else. Looking into rocks for bio-signatures is as silly as looking in a silicon diode for traces of conscious intelligence.

Hm…

Perhaps not the right example.

Too many people are stupid enough to actually believe that computers have or could have “consciousness” like we do. But again, what is the actual difference between a rock and a computer? Complexity? What is the difference between us and a computer? Complexity? What is life is not that intangible thing which cannot be articulated in materialistic terms and, thus, gets all modern scientists run into a dead end when dealing with consciousness? Harmonia Philosophica has argued for a long long time against the dogmatism of materialism. Let us not fool ourselves: no matter how many arguments one postulates, he will never persuade those who are already persuaded.

Author: skakos

Spiros Kakos is a thinker located in Greece. He has been Chief Editor of Harmonia Philosophica since its inception. In the past he has worked as a senior technical advisor for many years. In his free time he develops software solutions and contributes to the open source community. He has also worked as a phD researcher in the Advanced Materials sector related to the PCB industry. He likes reading and writting, not only philosophy but also in general. He believes that science and religion are two sides of the same coin and is profoundly interested in Religion and Science philosophy. His philosophical work is mainly concentrated on an effort to free thinking of "logic" and reconcile all philosophical opinions under the umbrella of the "One" that Parmenides - one of the first thinkers - visualized. The "Harmonia Philosophica" articles program is the tool that will accomplish that. Life's purpose is to be defeated by greater things. And the most important things in life are illogical. We must fight the dogmatic belief in "logic" if we are to stay humans... Credo quia absurdum! View all posts by skakos

One thought on “Life. As No Life. As a rock. [A case of false biosignatures and what they tell us for the philosophy of biology definitions]”

fielpareja – Manila, Philippines – Fiel Pareja is a third year theology student from the Graduate School of Theology of the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary, Pampanga, Philippines. He is a graduate of AB Philosophy receiving the highest philosophical award of St. Edith Stein's in the year 2005. He obtained his first master's degree as Summa Cum Laude in Pastoral Ministry from the same institution. Currently, he finishes his second master's degree in Theology. He is the previous editor-in-chief of the International Philosophy-Theology Journal Pamisulu in the year 2016.

fielpareja says:

2017/07/22 at 3:41 pm

This is just amazing! You might like my blog. I’m a Lifestyle and Philosophy blogger! Thanks!

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Author: skakos

One thought on “Life. As No Life. As a rock. [A case of false biosignatures and what they tell us for the philosophy of biology definitions]”