Quote:
Originally Posted by tore
This is basically what I mentioned, but knowing a planet's chemical composition generally does not tell us if there's life on it. And also as I mentioned, the greater the mass of a planet, the easier it is to detect this way and so as a method, it favours detection of big planets which tend to be inhospitable gas giants.
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It's a ROC curve - and a ROC curve that favors false positives since there's no danger in false negatives. If your planet is made entirely of only five or six elements, or has no key elements like oxygen or carbon, the chances of life having formed there are approaching 0.
Edit: also your point that it doesn't tell you if life is there is a good one too. Even if carbon and oxygen are there, there's no guarantee that life is there. Of course, this is all in the drake equation.