Okay, now how many?

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Life: Of Which Is Variety the Spice

One argument is that life, in all its myriad forms, is simply the expression of DNA's survival mechanism in the hostile/friendly [?] environment of planet Earth. That's an interesting form of determinism which incorporates our notions of free will into itself. That is, our exercise of free will is really an effort toward survival—of the individual, of the species, of DNA, of life itself—as conditioned by (in response to) our environmental circumstances.

Is that, indeed, the meaning of life? Is that the purpose? The survival of the species? Of DNA? Of life itself?

On other worlds, could we conceive something configured differently from DNA to be the foundation of all life? Competitive, though radically different, life forms?

Nobody really knows for sure

Nobody knows for sure what the origins of life on this planet are, much less whether there is life on other worlds. Still, it's a good idea to try to get the best information available before forming an opinion and to keep an open mind in case new information comes to light.

Wouldn't you agree?

Another Premise

I'd say we're pretty new at this game, too.

Premise

Let's start with the premise that, all things considered, we are pretty small in the overall scheme of things.