My Theory

All humans are 'aliens from outer space', scientist claims.

From The Telegraph, we are told, "Prof Chandra Wickramasinghe, of Cardiff University, said new research "overwhelmingly" supported the view that human life started from outside our Earth." The research and evidence are not presented. He simply asserts the same thing over and over. Bleah.

The professor and his late colleague Sir Fred Hoyle championed the so-called "panspermia" theory from the 1960s.

"Evidence from astronomy overwhelmingly supports the view that life did not start on Earth but was seeded from outside," Prof Wickramasinghe said.

So yeah, it's panspermia theory all over. Hoyle did some important work, but, how to put this kindly, became somewhat detached from reality later in his career. Furthermore panspermia implies that all life on earth- not just human life- is descended from a cosmic ancestor, which renders the idea of "alien" sort of moot. It does nothing to change our understanding of the evolution of life on earth. It says nothing about the origin of life in terms of mechanism or location... other than somehow the good professor has decided that some undisclosed evidence "overwhelmingly" shows that it wasn't on Earth. In short, it's a theory that predicts and explains nothing. As theories go, this one is sort of lacking in the utility department.

Sure, it's a cool idea, but science isn't (or shouldn't) be about simply coming up with cool ideas. Picture me dubious. It put in the mind of this classic clip...

And also this one, from TYWKIWDBI earlier this week. You'll need to pay close attention to understand how meaty this mini-lecture is.

The problem with the news media and "journalists" these days is that they seem to feel obligated to take everyone equally seriously, regardless of whether they're obviously clowns or not.