Life on earth started about 3.5 billion years ago. I would assume abiogenesis happened because the conditions were right.
Would the current earth conditions allow for new abiogenesis and completely independent (in terms of phylogeny, not ecology)?
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Sign up to join this communityLife on earth started about 3.5 billion years ago. I would assume abiogenesis happened because the conditions were right.
Would the current earth conditions allow for new abiogenesis and completely independent (in terms of phylogeny, not ecology)?
I will argue that yes, it is POSSIBLE. It is possible on earth like on other planets. Given enough time, matter, and energy, "something" that resembles life will emerge. The problem I see, however, is that life has already conquered our planet, so any "new living thing" will have to compete with other long-time adapted living thing, in practice, no chance of survival. The right conditions you refer to are the ones that allowed "life as we know it" to emerge. Given other conditions (other chemicals, other energy forms, etc), something completely different will form.
Of course, without final proves, this is still speculation.
Some speculative links:
http://speculativeevolution.wikia.com/wiki/Alternative_biochemistry
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090513/full/news.2009.471.html