Finding exponentially decreasing amounts of specific chemicals is about as informative as finding short words in strings of random letters.

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ceejayoz a day ago | parent [-]

Finding short words in strings of random letters at least establishes the existence of letters and words.

It doesn't demonstrate the existence of Shakespeare's works, but it's a building block that's good to know exists.

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pfdietz a day ago | parent [-]

All it means is you can say "if life is rare, it's not because these specific small chemicals can't be produced". Which is a rather weak thing to say. It doesn't imply life isn't rare, or that further advancement the existence of these small building blocks is easy or inevitable.

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ceejayoz a day ago | parent | next [-]

> All it means is you can say "if life is rare, it's not because these specific small chemicals can't be produced".

This is absolutely a good finding to have in your pocket.

	▲	pfdietz a day ago \| parent [-]
		"Good"? Ok, if it makes you feel better. But scientifically, it doesn't do much.

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pixl97 a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Finding strong things here is going to be difficult. Sometimes you have to take a bunch of weak things to figure out where they lie for guidance.