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Do you beleive in life on other planets?

americanwoman

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I do. I heard this morning that they may have found some water on a moon from Saturn. I think thats so cool and I hope we can find out more about the moon and other planets.
 
I don't "believe" anything about life on other planets.

From what I know of the relevant sciences, I understand that:

  • the evidence indicates that life appeared on Earth almost as soon as it
    formed, pretty much as soon as it had cooled enough for the necessary
    chemicals to become stable;
  • we are starting to detect planets orbiting other stars, suggesting that
    planets are common;
  • the Earth is a planet of an unremarkable star, of which we can detect
    huge numbers in our galaxy;
  • we can detect countless numbers of galaxies.

From this information, I conclude that it is likely that there are
staggeringly-huge numbers of planets and that it would be extremely likely
for there to be life on a number of them.

No belief, just seems a lot more than likely.
 
Thinker said:
From this information, I conclude that it is likely that there are
staggeringly-huge numbers of planets and that it would be extremely likely
for there to be life on a number of them.

Yep. This sums up my thoughts on the matter as well.

I suppose a more interesting question would be, what implications does the existence of extra-terrestrial sentient life have for both our theology and for our systems of ethics?
 
Korimyr the Rat said:
Yep. This sums up my thoughts on the matter as well.

I suppose a more interesting question would be, what implications does the existence of extra-terrestrial sentient life have for both our theology and for our systems of ethics?

In a word, none.

Religion is a belief in the supernatural, and as such has nothing to do with facts,
new or old.

My system of morals would not be changed in any way by knowing that life
existed elsewhere in the universe.
 
I am comfortable assuming we are far from alone in this universe, One of the few assumptions I will allow myself.
 
Hey I'm not 100% fully convinced that alien life has NEVER visited our planet. Neither was Strom Thurmond who "accidentally" wrote the foreward promoting Corso's book on Roswell:rofl :rofl :rofl
 
I think it is possible that there is a low functioning form of life such as bacteria on other planets, but not sophisticated life. Do I believe in highly functioning life in other universes?, absolutely. Its hard telling just how many universes are really out there.
 
alphieb said:
I think it is possible that there is a low functioning form of life such as bacteria on other planets, but not sophisticated life.

Why would you rule out sophisticated life? I can understand ruling it out maybe in our galaxy...but the entire universe? We know so little about the entire universe.
 
Absolutely. I'd be very surprised if there WASN'T an overwhelming amount of life elsewhere in the universe. I also wouldn't limit it only to simple life; I think it's extremely probable that there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.
 
alphieb said:
...Its hard telling just how many universes are really out there.

I would be interested in someone giving a definition of "universes". As my
dictionary defines universe as "all that is", it is hard to see how that could leave
anything else for another one.

It's rather like the nonsense of "more unique", or "a little bit pregnant".
 
Korimyr the Rat said:
Yep. This sums up my thoughts on the matter as well.

I suppose a more interesting question would be, what implications does the existence of extra-terrestrial sentient life have for both our theology and for our systems of ethics?


LOL! You'll find out the day someone discovers a living non-terrestrial germ on Mars.

Exploration of Mars will be stopped instantly, or at least as soon as the soft-heads can file a suit in court. We wouldn't be wanting to wreck another planet's pristine ecology, now would we?
 
Here's a couple of questions about alien life forms.

1) Should taxpayer dollars be wasted looking for them? How does it improve the life of the guy cleaning my teeth for the government to be spending his money finding a life bearing planet orbiting Tau Ceti?

2) Since if any alien intelligences exist, they're either doing a bang-up job of hiding from us, or they're so far away we can't find them, why are we wasting money looking for them?
 
Scarecrow Akhbar said:
Here's a couple of questions about alien life forms.

1) Should taxpayer dollars be wasted looking for them? How does it improve the life of the guy cleaning my teeth for the government to be spending his money finding a life bearing planet orbiting Tau Ceti?

2) Since if any alien intelligences exist, they're either doing a bang-up job of hiding from us, or they're so far away we can't find them, why are we wasting money looking for them?


You bring up a very good point. As much as I'd really like to know about other plantes I think we could spend that money on better things here on Earth and just wait for the intelligent ones to come find us.One night though I was out driving in the middle of nowhere and saw strange lights and something in the sky that just seemed to take off. I'm not saying I saw a UFO but I am open to think it might have been one.

I also believe they have contacted us here on earth long before and have had contacts with ancient civilizations such as the Aztecs and the Egyptians. I think maybe I watch the discovery channel too much but those programs are fascinating.
 
americanwoman said:
You bring up a very good point. As much as I'd really like to know about other plantes I think we could spend that money on better things here on Earth and just wait for the intelligent ones to come find us.One night though I was out driving in the middle of nowhere and saw strange lights and something in the sky that just seemed to take off. I'm not saying I saw a UFO but I am open to think it might have been one.

I also believe they have contacted us here on earth long before and have had contacts with ancient civilizations such as the Aztecs and the Egyptians. I think maybe I watch the discovery channel too much but those programs are fascinating.


Well, that stargate they found buried in the sand near the egyptian pyramids has been interesting, I must say.
 
Thinker said:
I don't "believe" anything about life on other planets.

From what I know of the relevant sciences, I understand that:

  • the evidence indicates that life appeared on Earth almost as soon as it
    formed, pretty much as soon as it had cooled enough for the necessary
    chemicals to become stable;
  • we are starting to detect planets orbiting other stars, suggesting that
    planets are common;
  • the Earth is a planet of an unremarkable star, of which we can detect
    huge numbers in our galaxy;
  • we can detect countless numbers of galaxies.

From this information, I conclude that it is likely that there are
staggeringly-huge numbers of planets and that it would be extremely likely
for there to be life on a number of them.

No belief, just seems a lot more than likely.


yeah, thats pretty much how I see it.
 
Korimyr the Rat said:
I suppose a more interesting question would be, what implications does the existence of extra-terrestrial sentient life have for both our theology and for our systems of ethics?

until there is some way that we can have an effect on life on other planets, or until it can affect us, there is none.
 
Thinker said:
My system of morals would not be changed in any way by knowing that life existed elsewhere in the universe.

Oh, yeah?

What's your definition of "person"? Does it include developmentally disabled humans? Does it include great apes? Would it include an intelligent animal that walked off of its spaceship and greeted you by name?

Dare you to find a definition of person that includes children and the mentally retarded-- as most do-- but also excludes all of the non-human great apes, without referencing homo sapiens sapiens specifically.
 
talloulou said:
Why would you rule out sophisticated life? I can understand ruling it out maybe in our galaxy...but the entire universe? We know so little about the entire universe.

I think if there was complex life in our universe, we would know that by now. I could be totally wrong. I will look into this.
 
Thinker said:
I would be interested in someone giving a definition of "universes". As my
dictionary defines universe as "all that is", it is hard to see how that could leave
anything else for another one.

It's rather like the nonsense of "more unique", or "a little bit pregnant".

I'm alluding to the fact that there may be more than just the milky way.
 
To me it would he really arrogant to think we are alone in the Universe. Think about this, from what we can see we have about 100 billion galaxies in our universe, each holds somewhere in the Neighborhood of 100 billions stars each. Some larger, some smaller then our own. Just think of the numbers…As Carl Sagen said “We have more stars in the known universe then all the grains of sand on all the worlds beaches. One day we will find life its just wont be the little green men...

Do I believe in alien life coming to earth? No
I haven’t seen any evidence that is 100% proof positive. Extraordinary
claims require Extraordinary evidence..

Why not aliens coming to earth? Well you see in the Milky Way. Well live on the outer edges somewhat in the boondocks...

Why would any race that has mastered space travel come here? Nothing special around here. No big light up arrow saying “LOOK HERE”
And for our Technology? We don’t have nor do we know chit when it comes to crossing the distances of space…
 
alphieb said:
I think if there was complex life in our universe, we would know that by now. I could be totally wrong. I will look into this.

I don't know. Considering the size of the universe, really the only way we'll discover extraterrestrial sentience is if either of our species figures out how to break the light barrier.

And when you compare the age of the universe to the span of human history-- or even the evolution of homo sapiens sapiens-- it'd be a hell of a coincidence to encounter a species even remotely close to our own developmental level.
 
alphieb said:
I think if there was complex life in our universe, we would know that by now. I could be totally wrong. I will look into this.

I don't see any reason that that would necessarily be true. It's possible that intelligent life exists, and either A) hasn't found us either, B) has found us but hasn't gotten here yet, C) is secretly observing us, or D) isn't interested in us.
 
Korimyr the Rat said:
I don't know. Considering the size of the universe, really the only way we'll discover extraterrestrial sentience is if either of our species figures out how to break the light barrier.

That'd certainly drastically increase the chance of finding extraterrestrial intelligence, but it's possible to find it even without breaking the light barrier. The nearest stars are only a few light-years away. Since time slows down as one approaches the speed of light, one could theoretically travel across the entire galaxy in as little as 45 years as perceived by the travellers.

Korimyr the Rat said:
And when you compare the age of the universe to the span of human history-- or even the evolution of homo sapiens sapiens-- it'd be a hell of a coincidence to encounter a species even remotely close to our own developmental level.

Agreed. Any intelligent life that we discover will almost certainly be millions or billions of years more advanced than us.
 
americanwoman said:
I think maybe I watch the discovery channel too much but those programs are fascinating.

I agree they are!

And as far as spending money to discover more about the universe I'm all for it! I understand why some might think its wasteful but heck I can spend my whole life using money only for things that are immediately useful and necessary but that would be a very boring way to live. There's always going to be something inventive and exciting to spend your money on so why shouldn't you! Our society spends tons of money on entertainment so why shouldn't some of our tax dollars be spent on science and discovery?
 
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