being_interesting0 t1_j8gtbeo wrote on February 14, 2023 at 4:49 AM

No. 2 reasons.

Life is a winner take all phenomenon. Once life has overtaken and adapted to an ecological niche, it would be very hard for something new to evolve there that was better adapted
There is a hypothesis that the first chemical steps in abiogenesis required an earth with no or low oxygen. Nick Lane talks about this in some of his books (highly recommend)

WhoAm_I_AmWho t1_j8gxu7n wrote on February 14, 2023 at 5:35 AM

being_interesting0 t1_j8h01bz wrote on February 14, 2023 at 5:59 AM

This is what Nick Lane talks about in his books. Hydrothermal vents were very likely important in abiogenesis but only in an ocean with a different chemical makeup than today

[deleted] t1_j8ifx31 wrote on February 14, 2023 at 3:31 PM

[removed]

Skarr87 t1_j8ien1k wrote on February 14, 2023 at 3:23 PM

I think number 2 is often overlooked. The oxygen catastrophe completely changed Earth’s environment. Oxidation tends to lead to a lot of water unstable molecules. It could be that for life to originally form you need longer more stable molecules and now the environment is just not conducive to the molecules being stable enough to start new life.