Titan is actually high on my list of places that could harbor life.
I’m not talking about subsurface water though that’s possible. I mean chemically alien life.
The reason I suspect this is a phenomenon understood in theory of complexity and evolutionary informatics circles called the “edge of chaos.” Oversimplifying a bit you get universal computation in the vicinity of a phase boundary.
Titan is loaded with phase boundaries: solid, liquid, gas, dynamic changes between them, rain, dissolving and crystallizing solids, etc. The solvent is just light hydrocarbons not water.
Life on Titan would be slow and low metabolism compared to us (probably). We should be aware of this likely difference when looking. What looks like minerals, rocks, weird films of chemicals, etc may be alive. We should look for structure, metabolism, isomer preferences, etc.
Of course life on Titan is convinced there could never be life here. The third planet is a literal hell where it rains molten dihydrogen monoxide in an atmosphere of corrosive oxygen. Any life there would vaporize and oxidize instantly.
Rumors of a strange disc shaped object being recovered with material and isotope ratios pointing to the third planet are entirely unfounded, as are rumors of amateur radio enthusiasts picking up signals from there.
I’m not talking about subsurface water though that’s possible. I mean chemically alien life.
The reason I suspect this is a phenomenon understood in theory of complexity and evolutionary informatics circles called the “edge of chaos.” Oversimplifying a bit you get universal computation in the vicinity of a phase boundary.
Titan is loaded with phase boundaries: solid, liquid, gas, dynamic changes between them, rain, dissolving and crystallizing solids, etc. The solvent is just light hydrocarbons not water.
Life on Titan would be slow and low metabolism compared to us (probably). We should be aware of this likely difference when looking. What looks like minerals, rocks, weird films of chemicals, etc may be alive. We should look for structure, metabolism, isomer preferences, etc.
Of course life on Titan is convinced there could never be life here. The third planet is a literal hell where it rains molten dihydrogen monoxide in an atmosphere of corrosive oxygen. Any life there would vaporize and oxidize instantly.
Rumors of a strange disc shaped object being recovered with material and isotope ratios pointing to the third planet are entirely unfounded, as are rumors of amateur radio enthusiasts picking up signals from there.