Atheists: do you believe that life first appeared on this planet by random chance?

I think it is the same through out the universe,if the conditions are right then life will form.

Very good question. Extra terrestrial life is not only possible but highly probably. Intelligence is a different discussion altogether. The possibility of intelligent life, even more than humans is possible but they visiting us is highly unlikely. Challenge is not innovation but laws of Physics. Also there's another theory that a star system or planet has limited life and it takes very long for intelligent life to develop. So such lifeforms exist for very short amount of time making it even more difficult to find one. So UFOs are a very distant possibility. Yes, intelligent lifeforms may have traveled to nearby planets, just like we sent spacecrafts to many planets and landed humans on moon. And if there are developed life forms on two nearby planets they might have visited each other. Although probability is less but it may happen if both planets became not sterile because of same source or from one to another via space debris and then the life developed independently in different environments leading to totally different lifeforms calling each other aliens. Could that have happened on Earth?... maybe, e.g. if life is found on Europa or something and if they are intelligent then they might have visited us in the past. But that's an over speculation because life may be abundant, intelligence probably not so.

Given the amount of Earth-like planets it has been calculated must exist, statistically there will be life elsewhere. I am not sure if 'random' is the correct word, but I can't think of an alternative one right now so yes, Earth was in the right place at the right time. Like billions of others were, and are still now and got thwacked with whatever was required to start the process.

I'm not opposed to the "star seed" idea. No one knows exactly how the first amino acids got here, whether they formed naturally on earth or were brought here by comets, etc.

I like the idea that all life on earth started from alien life and this may be the case.

"It’s quite possible that these amino acids are scattered randomly all over the galaxy "

That implies random chance, doesn't it?

Unless the Doctor shows up in his Tardis and can take scientists back in time to the formation of life, we'll never know exactly how it began. All they can do is research to find the most plausible mechanism or model to show how it could have happened. They are very close to doing just that.

And looking at the odds of anything happening, retroactively, is meaningless. We evolved in the conditions present on the earth at the time and will continue to evolve as those conditions change. And they will change. If conditions weren't conducive to life then we wouldn't be here to discuss it.

Great question.

If you step back and take a look at all the factors that would need to fall into place for life to take hold on this planet, it does seem like a very rare occurrence .

However... scientists have discovered life in places previously thought to be uninhabitable. ie: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/abyss/life/extremes.h...

So, personally, I think life is a lot more tenacious than we give it credit. Life may very well be an inherent property of the universe and may be more abundant than we think.

Well, we know that there are atleast a billion planets within our view at this time. We don't know that any of them support life. So this is the only planet in a billion that supports life (as far as we know)

If the odds of life randomly starting are 1 in a billion, aren't we testament proof that atleast 1 planet will support life?

It is random chance in any case (because what else could it be?). Whether some components originated in comets doesn't matter, it's random chance and nothing else. Of course, when indeed life components travel on comets, there would be a higher chance of live spreading in the universe, but this is just speculation.

Methinks amino acids are the building blocks of PROTEINS, not life. Proteins did not evolve for a veeery long time. Nucleic acids and ribozymes were the initial building blocks of life.

You're attempting to build a straw man but you're essentially right. Given enough time, certain things are more than possible...they're inevitable. If you truly understood just how long this planet has existed and how long it took life to develop, the "random" nature of things wouldn't surprise you anymore.

1953 Stanley Miller, created amino acids using only chemicals found on earth pre-life and an electric charge (vent at the bottom of the ocean could recreate the charge). Next...