I have a similar intuition that if mirror-life is dangerous to Earth-life, then the mirror version of mirror-life (that is, Earth-life) should be about equally as dangerous to mirror-life as mirror-life is to Earth-life. Having only read this post and in the absence of any evidence either way this default intuition seems reasonable.
I find the post alarming and I really wish it had some numbers instead of words like “might” to back up the claims of threat. At the moment my uneducated mental model is that for mirror-life to be a danger it has to:
find enough food that fit its chirality to survive
not get killed by other life-forms
be able to survive Earth temperature, atmosphere etc etc
enter our body
bypass our immune system
be a danger to us
Hmm, 6 ifs seems like a lot, so is it unlikely? in the absence of any odds it is hard to say.
The post would be more convincing and useful if it included a more detailed threat model, or some probabilities, or a simulation, or anything quantified.
A last question: how many mirror molecules does an organism need to be mirror-life? is one enough? does it make any difference to its threat-level?
I have a similar intuition that if mirror-life is dangerous to Earth-life, then the mirror version of mirror-life (that is, Earth-life) should be about equally as dangerous to mirror-life as mirror-life is to Earth-life. Having only read this post and in the absence of any evidence either way this default intuition seems reasonable.
I find the post alarming and I really wish it had some numbers instead of words like “might” to back up the claims of threat. At the moment my uneducated mental model is that for mirror-life to be a danger it has to:
find enough food that fit its chirality to survive
not get killed by other life-forms
be able to survive Earth temperature, atmosphere etc etc
enter our body
bypass our immune system
be a danger to us
Hmm, 6 ifs seems like a lot, so is it unlikely? in the absence of any odds it is hard to say.
The post would be more convincing and useful if it included a more detailed threat model, or some probabilities, or a simulation, or anything quantified.
A last question: how many mirror molecules does an organism need to be mirror-life? is one enough? does it make any difference to its threat-level?