[leto_ii]

> The Earth today is not capable of sprouting life (abiogenesis). In fact, from the fossil record and genetic studies, the Earth has almost certainly been unable to form new life (out of un living substances I mean) for billions of years.

Playing devil's advocate for a bit, how do you know that existing life, honed by evolution, doesn't simply outcompete life that is continuously born abiogenetically in places like hydrothermal vents [1]?

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrothermal_vent

[tsimionescu]

Of course, we can't know for sure, but the fact that in all this time no other strain seems to have made it makes that theory implausible to me.

To be fair though, there is A LOT of life on earth, so we can't discount the possibility that we'll find some forms of life that come from a different tree than us.