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[LegoLord]

Obviously at some point there were conditions that allowed for the creation of life, seeing as how the earth seems to have a defined age and before its start it couldn't have had life.  But precisely what happened or what conditions came about is subject to much speculation - space is one hypothesis, but very unlikely.  Far less likely than, say, the ocean.  Simply put, if life came from space, where did the space life come from?

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

I was about to say something but everybody already said everything I was going to say.

[Eidalac]

Hrm.

Honestly, things like that don't need a justification of existence from a human PoV.

If I stub my toe on a rock, I don't need to probe the purpose of that rock - it's a rock.  It exists on grounds that are outside of human needs, wants and philosophy.  Sure we can explore the mechanics of it's creation and arrival at that spot, but that's pure analysis. 

Virii and Bacterium are just old forms of propagating DNA/RNA - and that is what they do.  The fact that some are bad for us is immaterial and a side affect.  In fact, the most successful do not harm us at all.

Take Mitochondria.  Last I checked, the best theory was that they were free bacteria that entered into a symbiotic relationship with a larger form long ago.  Mutlicellular life as we know it would not exits without them.

[Croquantes]

What's interesting about viruses is they have genes, thus genetic information. One of the most fascinating excerpts from the wikipedia page on Viruses is:

On the other hand, because viruses can transfer genetic material between different species of host, they are extensively used in genetic engineering. Viruses also carry out natural "genetic engineering": a virus may incorporate some genetic material from its host as it is replicating, and transfer this genetic information to a new host, even to a host unrelated to the previous host. This is known as transduction, and in some cases it may serve as a means of evolutionary change -- although it is not clear how important an evolutionary mechanism transduction actually is.

There are also some viruses that are self-replicating, and they've managed to make a battery out of a self-replicating virus.

[Nilocy]

Viruses/bacteria are two completely different things.

Viruses are basically parasites. Humans/other animals, and even bacteria, gain nothing from them what so ever.

Bacteria, on the other hand, are seriously important. They preform super important functions in the body, mostly to do with disgestion.

Infection is just a by product of their existance. End of story.

What's interesting about viruses is they have genes, thus genetic information. One of the most fascinating excerpts from the wikipedia page on Viruses is:

On the other hand, because viruses can transfer genetic material between different species of host, they are extensively used in genetic engineering. Viruses also carry out natural "genetic engineering": a virus may incorporate some genetic material from its host as it is replicating, and transfer this genetic information to a new host, even to a host unrelated to the previous host. This is known as transduction, and in some cases it may serve as a means of evolutionary change -- although it is not clear how important an evolutionary mechanism transduction actually is.

There are also some viruses that are self-replicating, and they've managed to make a battery out of a self-replicating virus.

Yeah, im doing a biology essay on this. Its very interesting, i mean what other way is it so easy to insert genes into a cell?!

[Cthulhu]

I kind of believe in the Gaia thing.  I don't think the Earth is sentient and siccing stuff on us in self-defense, but it's interesting how things work to keep it regulated.  Like the whole disease thing.  When an area is overpopulated, there's not enough food, health suffers, and diseases start up.  Eventually an epidemic sweeps through and suddenly the overpopulation problem is solved.  Since there aren't as many people left, the disease can no longer run rampant (Similar to how the virus they used to kill the rabbits in Australia didn't wipe them out, it just kept them at a more reasonable level).  That's not to say the Earth is actively causing stuff like that, it's just a natural thing that happens to be extremely elegant.

[Jude]

The understanding (if you can call it that) of evolution in the OP made my brain hurt...please, do yourself a favor and read The Selfish Gene or something before you make baby Darwin cry. Seriously read it now.

However the ultimate question is: What is the ultimate purpose of an illness-inducing organism and where did they come from?

"Purpose" is like a curse word when talking about the reasons why things evolved. The only purposes are retroactive; an organism does something because its ancestors did that and were more successful for it. There's no "purpose" for a virus other than to propagate its own genes

Scientists have been able to determine that the first viruses/bacteria etc came from asteroids;

no

However their role has never been truly determined,

They have the same role as everything else in the big picture, to propagate themselves as much as possible

I believe they are part of a wider natural scheme of population control so that humans serve their place on Earth just as every other being has and that they are intended to wipe us out just as nature used a *insert disaster here* to kill off the dinosaurs once they were too proliferant. However it is human nature to battle against the odds, nature didn't intend for us to defend against it with antibiotics, anti-viral drugs and so now we are at a stalemate with nature until nature finally breaks through and wins with something immune to all of our defensive measures and spreads like wildfire.

No no no! "Nature" is not a conscious entity trying to do things. It's just the sum of all the different biological systems each looking out for number one. It's constantly changing. And it's not an information processing system in itself, it just contains different ones, like animal brains, ant colonies, human societies, and now computers. It's not some grand consciousness. The reason the dinosaurs died off is as much of an accident as the reasons they existed and it certainly had nothing to do with some magical act of "nature".

That's not to say the Earth is actively causing stuff like that, it's just a natural thing that happens to be extremely elegant.

Well, it's not really like a balance gets maintained. Everything changes constantly, and lots of times things get to a point where it isn't sustainable and everything collapses. It doesn't necessarily go back to how it was before and it doesn't necessarily keep anything "regulated" - there just tends to be a natural limit on how much an organism can exploit an ecosystem before running out of things to consume.

A rather important lesson for humans, that last one, if we want to survive a few more centuries.

[eerr]

Purpose requires one thing to look at another. Since most stuff thats not an animal or human has a very hard time looking at stuff "purposefully" you just have to make believe.


For  genetic engineers, the purpose of viruses is to transfer DNA

For viruses, the purpose of people/animals is to provide needed playgrounds for replication.


You can't get no perspective from just a virus, though I suppose it could examine itself.

Purpose: replicate, duplicate, expatiate dna, ect.

Rather borg like!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

"I believe they are part of a wider natural scheme of population control so that humans serve their place on Earth just as every other being has and that they are intended to wipe us out just as nature used a *insert disaster here* to kill off the dinosaurs once they were too proliferant."

So humans have defied evolution? Nay, we are the end result of evolution, ready to take upon the next step.

[LegoLord]

Actually, we aren't the top of evolution.  There is no such thing.  Take, for example, the starfish.  Disease or being eaten aside, they are virtually immortal, and are capable of regenerating lost body parts.  They are fairly widespread, and some varieties have become somewhat parasitic and ultimately harmful to their native environments.

They don't seem to be evolving much, because what they're doing now is keeping them around well enough.  The same deal with us.  There may be trends in the number of people with red hair, four toes, or have dwarfism but that is not evolution.  It's not evolution unless there was a disease that didn't affect people with red hair (for some bizarre reason) providing pressure for the spread of red-hair genes.  We've been homo sapien since pre-history - until we develop into a distinctly different species, we haven't evolved.

What we are is a species that dominates a niche.  We just happen to dominate that niche worldwide, because the only other species to fill that niche developed into us.  Something similar can be said of rats - they are everywhere, and we can't get rid of them.  In fact, they survive better than we do, since they have something actively trying to exterminate them (us - without success, mind).

[AtomicPaperclip]

At a basic level, they are lifeforms, most evolve, most aim to achieve status within their organism, whether for destruction or for good.

However the ultimate question is: What is the ultimate purpose of an illness-inducing organism and where did they come from?

Scientists have been able to determine that the first viruses/bacteria etc came from asteroids; millions and millions of years ago along with the primordial soup for life.

I think you have real life mixed up with Spore, the Maxis game.

If there's a major resource available, the first creature that can take advantage of it is going to prosper greatly. If there was nothing that could eat dead plants, there would be a shitton of dead plants everywhere. If something mutated to be able to eat dead plants, it would be virtually impossible for it to starve and could make lots of babies.

The same goes for virus's and bacteria, there's trillions of cells up for grabs.

That's a scientific approach, of course.

[Wimdit]

Not really, if you're talking about a chunk of rock big enough to shield internal life from the heat (especially the heat of impact), then you're getting into world destroying territory.

Ooh! Ooh!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_impact_hypothesis

So, if this is correct, then the Earth was hit by such an object a long time ago. Maybe it brought life to Earth?

...

...

That's ludicrous. Still, a rock the size of Mars offers quite a bit of shelter.

[TheNewerMartianEmperor]

If it was the size of mars, then it might have been the thing that later became the moon. This is an actual hypothesis.

[Eidalac]

Well, the problem on that large of an impact is that it can turn both bodies molten from the forces involved.

So far as I know, no life form can cope with Magma World.

So, to small and the impacter gets too hot, to big and the planet melts.

While I can accept that some of the chemicals needed for life could have been seeded via impact, I find the evidence for life itself to be pretty damn slim and dubious.  Best I've read of were some rocks from space that had fossil bacterium (or just the remains of such) on them, but I never found any information on why those fossils could not possible have come from terrestrial sources.

[Neruz]

The latest theory (which also looks very promising) is actually that 'life' first appeared in and around calciferous mineral vents. The vents are full of small holes which naturally form a perfect location for basic biological replication, it also solves the problem of gathering energy; in order for a cell to survive it needs to be able to gather and process energy, but assuming that a fully functioning cell just sprung into existance is a bit of a stretch; with the vents however they provide an excellent source of energy, so the first life doesn't need to be able to find it's own energy, all it needs to do is be able to take advantage of the mineral rich waters naturally flowing through the pores, and, surprise surprise, if you make yourself some nice 'primordial soup' water and stick one of these vents in it, the chemical chains start gathering together in the pores!


The vent hypothesis has been popping in and out for awhile now, but tends to be discarded because it seems kind of fantastic at first (the first life for example had no cell wall; the pores in the mineral rock served as a 'cell wall') but recently with the discovery of a few vents of the right type in good locations it's gained some steam and is starting to pick up alot of supporting evidence. Still too early to say, but alot of cutting edge biologists are getting all excited and twiddling their mustaches.

Not really, if you're talking about a chunk of rock big enough to shield internal life from the heat (especially the heat of impact), then you're getting into world destroying territory.

Ooh! Ooh!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_impact_hypothesis

So, if this is correct, then the Earth was hit by such an object a long time ago. Maybe it brought life to Earth?

...

...

That's ludicrous. Still, a rock the size of Mars offers quite a bit of shelter.

Too early; Earth was still molten when (if) that occured. And the impacting rock was too (since if it existed it would have most likely been a sister planet), any life in the rock would have died very quickly.


Also; size doesn't help at all. Larger rocks have more energy and create a more hostile environment upon impact, not less.

[ChairmanPoo]

The biggest issue with the panspermia hypothesis is that it doesn't either have solid evidence going for it, nor explain the existing gaps in current knowledge (It merely moves the problem of "how did life appear" to elsewhere)