Re: An Earth-size planet is careening untethered through the galaxy,

In article <[email protected]>,
Dimensional Traveler  <[email protected]> wrote:
>On 11/1/2020 7:27 AM, a425couple wrote:
>> On 10/31/2020 10:05 PM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
>>> On 10/31/2020 9:32 PM, David Duffy wrote:
>>>> In rec.arts.sf.written a425couple <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>> On 10/31/2020 2:13 PM, Kade wrote:
>>>>>>> What Sci-Fi books have involved a planet
>>>>>>> that is free and untethered to any sun / star?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The T'aafhal Inheritance series by Doug Hoffman has a long-term war
>>>>>
>>>>> Do they ever explain how advanced forms of life developed
>>>>> on a planet without warmth from sun/star light?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I haven't read that, but several people have considered brown dwarf life
>>>> (eg _Permanence_).
>>>>
>>> If there can be life on a neutron star ("Dragon's Egg") then non-light 
>>> dependent life should be a breeze!  :D  (Besides, there is serious 
>>> current real world speculation about the possibilities of life in ice 
>>> covered seas on various moons in our own star system.  Basically same 
>>> as the deep sea vent colonies on Earth.  They survive without any 
>>> solar energy input.)
>>>
>> Yes.
>> I have no problems in believing there can be life
>> where there is no sunlight.  Life that develops
>> from warmth and energy from heat vents from tectonic
>> movement.
>> But, I am not seeing how any such life can become
>> advanced enough to develop technology
>> (for example - make metal tools).
>> 
>> "The floor of the deep ocean is almost devoid of life,
>> because little food can be found there. But around hydrothermal
>> vents, life is abundant because food is abundant. ... These vents
>> are the only places on Earth where the ultimate source of energy
>> for life is not sunlight but the inorganic Earth itself."
>> 
>> "What lives in deep sea vents?
>> These specialized bacteria form the bottom of the deep hydrothermal
>> vent food web, and many animals rely on their presence for survival,
>> including deep-sea mussels, giant tube worms, yeti crabs, and many
>>   other invertebrates and fishes."
>
>Thermal vents occur in places other than the bottom of the oceans too....

Well, yes, the Aeolian Islands for instance.  But whether there's
anaerobic life in the vents, or whether aerobic life took over
the terrain before the vents opened up, I couldn't begin to
guess.

-- 
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/