# Poll: Did life on Earth begin by miracle, abiogenesis, or panspermia? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 17, 2009, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-life-on-earth-begin-by-miracle-abiogenesis-or-panspermia/514175 "2009-10-17T23:12:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-life-on-earth-begin-by-miracle-abiogenesis-or-panspermia/514175/21 "2009-10-18T08:24:12Z")
I think we don’t know yet and I doubt we ever will. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-life-on-earth-begin-by-miracle-abiogenesis-or-panspermia/514175/22 "2009-10-19T03:12:40Z")
I’m just surprised by the number of people who picked the first option, as that belief tends to get ridiculed around here. But perhaps that’s why, as they don’t feel safe putting forth that opinion. I know I’ve felt the same about certain of my opinions. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-life-on-earth-begin-by-miracle-abiogenesis-or-panspermia/514175/23 "2009-10-19T03:28:28Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > I think we don’t know yet and I doubt we ever will. We’ll never know _absolutely_. We’ll also never know _absolutely_ if yesterday happened. That’s the wrong way to approach things. I think the current weight of evidence points to abiogenesis and evolution just like the current weight of evidence points to yesterday having happened much like we remember it. ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-life-on-earth-begin-by-miracle-abiogenesis-or-panspermia/514175/24 "2009-10-19T15:25:28Z")
Is there a theory that postulates that Earth has always been here? That Earth and the things living on it may change but it’s just here, no creation by a supreme being or a big bang or pure scientific eventuality - that the earth just is and always was? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-life-on-earth-begin-by-miracle-abiogenesis-or-panspermia/514175/25 "2009-10-19T15:49:20Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I’m just surprised by the number of people who picked the first option, as that belief tends to get ridiculed around here. I’m not sure whether I should be pleased or disappointed that 11% of the respondents acknowledge themselves to be irrational. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-life-on-earth-begin-by-miracle-abiogenesis-or-panspermia/514175/26 "2009-10-19T15:52:46Z")
Aliens! ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-life-on-earth-begin-by-miracle-abiogenesis-or-panspermia/514175/27 "2009-10-20T22:27:15Z")
> [@Chopper9760](#): > > Is there a theory that postulates that Earth has always been here? That Earth and the things living on it may change but it’s just here, no creation by a supreme being or a big bang or pure scientific eventuality - that the earth just is and always was? I suppose there may be someone out there who holds that as a non-factual religious belief. As a scientific theory, the idea of some “eternal Earth” has been pretty thoroughly falsified–all evidence supports Earth and the rest of the Solar System as having been formed around 4.6 billion years ago. Astronomers and cosmologists have also essentially abandoned the “Steady State Theory” as regards to the Universe as a whole in favor of the Big Bang in the face of the evidence for the Big Bang. The idea of some kind of dynamically eternal or cyclic Universe–a Big Bang followed by a Big Crunch and then another Big Bang, _ad infinitum_–has also taken an empirical beating in recent years; the expansion of the Universe is speeding up, not slowing down, and the Universe shows no signs of falling back into itself. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-life-on-earth-begin-by-miracle-abiogenesis-or-panspermia/514175/28 "2009-10-20T23:00:43Z")
You know what is funny and ironic, we have sort of seeded the universe ourselves. At this moment five space probes are heading into interstellar space no doubt carrying some human DNA strands left by the workers along with bacteria and maybe spores hitching a ride to the stars. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-life-on-earth-begin-by-miracle-abiogenesis-or-panspermia/514175/29 "2009-10-21T16:47:04Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > You know what is funny and ironic, we have sort of seeded the universe ourselves. At this moment five space probes are heading into interstellar space no doubt carrying some human DNA strands left by the workers along with bacteria and maybe spores hitching a ride to the stars. Only in the most technical sense. The nearest star is, what, 4 light-years away? It would take hundreds of thousands of years for our probes to reach another world, and given the vastness of space, it’s only conceptually possible that they ever would. There’s simply no way those probes are going to seed a planet. Also, **ironic** doesn’t mean what you seem to think it means, but I only mention that because I’m a jackass. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-life-on-earth-begin-by-miracle-abiogenesis-or-panspermia/514175/30 "2009-10-21T17:02:19Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I’m not sure whether I should be pleased or disappointed that 11% of the respondents acknowledge themselves to be irrational. I’m not sure whether I should be pleased or disappointed that it took until the 25th post for a gratuitous swipe at believers. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-life-on-earth-begin-by-miracle-abiogenesis-or-panspermia/514175/31 "2009-10-21T17:14:10Z")
I can’t be the only doper for whom “panspermia” evoked an unusual initial connotation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-life-on-earth-begin-by-miracle-abiogenesis-or-panspermia/514175.md?page=1)