Biological complexity calculated by Moore's law = life, 10 Bn years old

[paralleloscope]

The two researchers acknowledge their ideas are more of a "thought exercise" than a theory proposal, but at the same time suggest their calculations ought to be taken seriously. They start with the idea of genetic complexity doubling every 376 million years—working backwards, they say, means that life first came about almost 10 billion years ago, which of course predates the creation of Earth itself. Most scientists agree the Earth formed just 4.5 billion years ago. Assuming that Moore's Law does apply to biological complexity, this would suggest that life began somewhere other than on Earth and migrated here.

_http://phys.org/news/2013-04-law-life-began-earth.html

 

[obyvatel]

This sounds strange to me. Moore's law is not a law; it is an observation that the number of components placed on an integrated circuit (electronic chip) roughly doubles every 2 years (or 18 months). This observation was used for planning and forecasting in the semiconductor industry. Such an exponential growth cannot be sustained long term however. So treating this as some kind of universal law is wrong imo.

The age of the earth is calculated by radiometric methods is quite questionable as well. All in all, a conclusion that life predates earth (which is most likely correct) is arrived at based on quite faulty data and reasoning - or at least that is what it looks to me.