petri dish of the universe
I don't wonder if there's life on other planets. That's a silly thought. There has to be.
What I do wonder is if it's like it is here.
Life on this planet is ridiculous. Life forms, with the exception of (most) plants and their kin, take what they need to live from other creatures around them. And life is ludicrously dense. You likely have tiny creatures living in the follicles of your eyelashes. Bacteria in your intestines help you digest food. You're under constant assault by bacteria, and by what are essentially strands of DNA in a shell that are trying to change bits of you to make more of them. Any number of parasites are anxious to make a home of you. When you die, the life around you instantly starts to work at breaking you down.
Perhaps I'm spoiled by science fiction tales of planets with like two species and some plants, but I have to wonder if evolution has taken things to this point on other planets as well, or if earth is the disgusting, fetid menagerie among the rest of the planets, all of its life endlessly tearing at each other to try to get on top.
What I do wonder is if it's like it is here.
Life on this planet is ridiculous. Life forms, with the exception of (most) plants and their kin, take what they need to live from other creatures around them. And life is ludicrously dense. You likely have tiny creatures living in the follicles of your eyelashes. Bacteria in your intestines help you digest food. You're under constant assault by bacteria, and by what are essentially strands of DNA in a shell that are trying to change bits of you to make more of them. Any number of parasites are anxious to make a home of you. When you die, the life around you instantly starts to work at breaking you down.
Perhaps I'm spoiled by science fiction tales of planets with like two species and some plants, but I have to wonder if evolution has taken things to this point on other planets as well, or if earth is the disgusting, fetid menagerie among the rest of the planets, all of its life endlessly tearing at each other to try to get on top.