Life in the Universe? To me, no question...

[ThatPurpleGuy]

Yeah I see what you mean but surely people should know what I mean. I just didn't want to seem like a know-all, thats all. In my lifetime this subject will always remain hypothetical.

Which is a shame, because it's a brilliantly interesting topic. Almost to the point where hard evidence one way or the other would be a bit disappointing.

Yeah it would be disapointing if one day we finally did discover more life and it was a planet just like here..What an anti-climax lol.

I say in my lifetime cos its only our own current technology holding us back. Look how far tech has come in just the last 30 or so years. Give it another 100+ years and I would say we may be sending manned or unmanned missions outside our solar system or in the direction of where we have evidence of life. I mean a space probe built in the 70's is still floating around out there and still communicating and thats just with radio signals albeit they do travel alot faster through space.

 

[Skeleton Jelly]

For some reason I can see us developing FTL ships, going to a far away planet, finding a less civilized race, and just in enslaving them. Or kinda like Mass Effect 2. Where we find the primitive race, give them highly advanced technology to try to help them survive and advance, and they just end up destroying themselves. Or start a war with each other....hopefully they're not like humans anyways...

But I sincerely think thee is other life out there. The Universe seems so infinite, and expansive. Earth may have been lucky enough to be at the perfect distance from the Sun, but with probably more than 1000+ other planets, 1 more is bound to get it right as well.

ON A SECOND THOUGHT. If we ever do find a second race, won't that disprove most Religions? As God, Allah, Vishnu and the omnipotent gang probably have never mentioned another planet full of different species in their religious texts...just a thought, don't rage....

 

[AcacianLeaves]

I made a huge and long blog post about this here, where I basically say that it is a scientific and mathematical certainty that intelligent life exists outside of human beings - but we're never going to know for sure due to the problem of distance, time, and travel.

 

[Milney]

Its an almost mathematical certainty; the details just vary depending on which scientific explanation of the Universe you subscribe to.

I wouldn't ever use the word "certainty" when it comes to things like this. Highly probably with the amount of the Universe we've yet to even see let alone explore. But far from certain judging by the astronomical odds of a planet/planetoid falling within the so-called "Goldilock" belt around it's star [Warm enough to support life, whilst not scorching it, and stable enough to avoid massive fluctuations] along with the necessary "building blocks".

Then we can get into the semantics of "What is life" as virii aren't technically alive, so would we necessarily notice an alien "life"-form that wasn't sentient?

And then ofcourse, we can say that there will most likely be some "alien" life out there, chances are it'll be so far away that we wouldn't ever find it.

So yeah, my thoughts on life in the universe? Probably, but has absolutely zero impact on whats going on with us down here, and probably never will.

 

[AcacianLeaves]

ON A SECOND THOUGHT. If we ever do find a second race, won't that disprove most Religions? As God, Allah, Vishnu and the omnipotent gang probably have never mentioned another planet full of different species in their religious texts...just a thought, don't rage....

They also don't mention dinosaurs, yet that hasn't stopped religion. Religion will always adjust to accommodate scientific fact. People will ALWAYS believe in a higher power, no matter what.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Its an almost mathematical certainty; the details just vary depending on which scientific explanation of the Universe you subscribe to.

I would be arrogant beyond compare to deny outright the existence of other life somewhere in the Universe; even the damn Vatican (don't get me started on religion) is open to the possibility.

Exactly this. The galaxy is now mature enough to support complicated life (enough heavier elements in the universe as there have already been several star life cycles). Particularly the middle zone of any sufficiently heavy spiral galaxy (like where we are) must be teeming with life. Alas, maybe also an indication that interstellar drive won't be happening any time soon, as no one has come to visit us yet. ^^ (as far as we know...)

I quote Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything

Still, statistically the probability that there are other thinking beings out there is good. Under Drake's equation you divide the number of stars in a selected portion of the universe by the number of stars that are likely to have planetary systems; divide that by the number of planetary systems that could theoretically support life; divide that by the number on which life, having arisen, advances to a state of intelligence; and so on. At each such division, the number shrinks colossally - yet even with the most conservative inputs the number of advanced civilizations just in the Milky Way always works out to be somewhere in the millions.

Perfect explanation. I really loved that book. Great insights and never boring.

 

[Skeleton Jelly]

*snip*
Im only going off the vast weight of evidence pointing to this. I just find it very hard to believe that our planet is the ONLY source of life in the entire universe.

While I don't disagree with the likelihood of intelligent life somewhere, you might want to reconsider phrasing this.

There is no evidence. None. No hard evidence whatsoever of intelligent life anywhere else on the universe.

Thus the Fermi Paradox.

Various edits: Because it's too early to be morning.

We haven't even discovered everything on the Earth. And we don't know everything there is to know about our own Solar System. So we definitely cannot conclude that the Universe is empty, cause I'm pretty sure we haven't even seen anything out of our galaxy. And we haven't even seen our entire galaxy. So we can say that yes, but only cause we don't have the technology available to try and look around.

 

[Ryuk2]

Life in universe? Probably. Intelligent beings or just average rats? Probably not.
Universe is pretty big, but how many planets do we know that could support life? Let's say 0,01% could support life. Now let's say 0,01 % of them actually had the same chemical reactions that ''created'' life on Earth. And let's say 0,01 % of them actually succeeded.
It's a pretty big chance that there's only one planet in the entire universe that has life on it.

 

[Skeleton Jelly]

ON A SECOND THOUGHT. If we ever do find a second race, won't that disprove most Religions? As God, Allah, Vishnu and the omnipotent gang probably have never mentioned another planet full of different species in their religious texts...just a thought, don't rage....

They also don't mention dinosaurs, yet that hasn't stopped religion. Religion will always adjust to accommodate scientific fact. People will ALWAYS believe in a higher power, no matter what.

Yeah that makes sense, but if we make contact and bring a bunch of them over here, or they turn out to be intelligent and make contact with us, won't they have the proof staring them in the eyes? I mean they (Religious folks) can't say we made them and brought them back to Earth. I mean theres only so many lies a person can tell to themselves.

 

[Mammon]

Other life in the universe, very plausible. UFO's visiting earth to make circles in some farmers lawn? less likely.

 

[skywalkerlion]

So do I. It seems implausible that "Space" as big as it is would be only populated by us. However I'd like to talk to Bowie about life on Mars...

It's a god awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair
For her mummy is yelling no
And her daddy has told her to go
And her--*slaps self* Sorry.

Anyways, I agree. Space is a little too big for only one meaningful existance here.

Oh, and I still don't see religion can rightfully be disproved simply by finding life on another planet. I'm of the mentality that nothing can prove a God wrong or right. That's what faith is for.

 

[Tharwen]

It depends on how big you assume the universe is. If it's infinite, then there is certain to be an infinite amount of life in it right now. If it is finite, and just really, really big, then we don't only have to find a habitable environment for life, we also have to assume that it exists now, and it hasn't already died out or simply not existed yet. We basically have to hope for the time and place aspects of it to coincide with ours if we want any chance of finding life.

[sub]"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space".[/sub]

 

[Valksy]

There has to be. If we are alone in this universe then that is a shame and a bloody waste (I find the notion of the human race as being the only "intelligent" form of life to be a depressing one).

Now in terms of travel between stars - we of course have big questions over the ability to travel the distances. And on this subject I personally feel that science is moving more towards faith The human species cannot manage that kind of travel and all our evidence, mathematics and best guesses indicate to us that it is either impossible or has huge ramifications for the people travelling at light speed. But what if what we think is "truth" is only a belief based on evidence currently available to us. As time goes by we discover more and more in the same way that our ancestors who thought that the sun revolved around the earth based on what they felt was "truth". What if we were to make a huge discovery that comes to suggest that everything we think that we know about FTL travel is actually wrong?

My next question would then become - what would be the outcome if knowledge of intelligent life in the universe was shared with us all (especially the sort that makes contact). Do you think that we would be told? How would people respond?

 

[JEBWrench]

Yeah I see what you mean but surely people should know what I mean. I just didn't want to seem like a know-all, thats all. In my lifetime this subject will always remain hypothetical.

Which is a shame, because it's a brilliantly interesting topic. Almost to the point where hard evidence one way or the other would be a bit disappointing.

Yeah it would be disapointing if one day we finally did discover more life and it was a planet just like here..What an anti-climax lol.

I say in my lifetime cos its only our own current technology holding us back. Look how far tech has come in just the last 30 or so years. Give it another 100+ years and I would say we may be sending manned or unmanned missions outside our solar system or in the direction of where we have evidence of life. I mean a space probe built in the 70's is still floating around out there and still communicating and thats just with radio signals albeit they do travel alot faster through space.

Disappointing only because that would remove one of the great mysteries of the universe.

 

[Zelurien]

I agree entirely.

I was told by a physics professor friend that the problem for discovery remains timing. The chance that 2 civilisations on separate planets developing to the level where they could successfully communicate with each other (let alone travel the mind-boggling distances between them) at the same time is very small indeed.

Imagine the civilisations in the galaxy/universe twinkling like christmas lights in the vastness of space-time. Definitely there but very rarely at the same time.

 

[JEBWrench]

My next question would then become - what would be the outcome if knowledge of intelligent life in the universe was shared with us all (especially the sort that makes contact). Do you think that we would be told? How would people respond?

There'd be a large number of people who would disbelieve it anyways, so full disclosure probably wouldn't be a problem, honestly.

 

[ThatPurpleGuy]

There has to be. If we are alone in this universe then that is a shame and a bloody waste (I find the notion of the human race as being the only "intelligent" form of life to be a depressing one).

Now in terms of travel between stars - we of course have big questions over the ability to travel the distances. And on this subject I personally feel that science is moving more towards faith The human species cannot manage that kind of travel and all our evidence, mathematics and best guesses indicate to us that it is either impossible or has huge ramifications for the people travelling at light speed. But what if what we think is "truth" is only a belief based on evidence currently available to us. As time goes by we discover more and more in the same way that our ancestors who thought that the sun revolved around the earth based on what they felt was "truth". What if we were to make a huge discovery that comes to suggest that everything we think that we know about FTL travel is actually wrong?

My next question would then become - what would be the outcome if knowledge of intelligent life in the universe was shared with us all (especially the sort that makes contact). Do you think that we would be told? How would people respond?

Yeah thats always the thing that people only think of now and don't consider how much things will have advanced in the future. Now this sort of travel may just not be possible, idk, but I wouldn't rule it out. It just takes that one genius to come along that thinks outside the square.

As for your final questions if I had to judge from past and present governments and their love of "cover-ups" I doubt it would get out if it was discovered accidentally. Governments just love to give out as little info as possible. But if it was like a mission to find other life and that was specified the worlds media would be onto it in a flash I would say.

 

[archvile93]

Have to agree with you, though I really doubt it's come here.

 

[ThatPurpleGuy]

Why do I think it has to exist??

Well based on sheer weight of numbers of stars in the universe and the discovery of planets outside our solar system its very possible that there is life scattered throughout the universe.

To me it is not a question of whether it exists or not but a question of whether there is a universal combination for life as in oxygen, water and a heat source (star) as well as DNA and atoms like here on Earth or can life exist in many forms. Think about a planet where maybe the inhabitants breathe methane or don't breathe at all for that matter. Where there is no surface and life there has evolved to be able to deal with the conditions.These are just hypotheticals of course as it could also be possible that there are just billions of earth duplicates where the combinations have come together like in our solar system.

I may sound arrogant saying "I know for sure" but of course I don't know 100%, noone does. Im only going off the vast weight of evidence pointing to this. I just find it very hard to believe that our planet is the ONLY source of life in the entire universe.

I would like to believe life existed on other planets.

As a Christian, I think it would be pretty damn cool if we met aliens and they were all like, "YO!!!! We heard Jesus came to you too!"

I just think that would be funny.

But seriously, I've heard and read up on a lot of different theories. At the moment, the most popular theory among astro-physicists is basically this: "We know that there is a specific set of conditions that must be met for life (at least the life we know of on earth) to exist. Given the practically infinite size of the universe (yes I know the universe is finite, but for all practicality, it's infinite), there HAS to be another planet with life on it!" That makes sense. There's billions of stars in each individual galaxy, and there's billions of galaxies in the universe. odds are, ONE of them has to have a planet capable of supporting life... right?

Well, I recently read up on a guy's work. He basically said that Earth is the only planet capable of life. His reasoning is basically like this: mathematically, each universe (he has mathematically proven the possibility of other universes outside of our own - completely unconnected to ours existing in a field of limitless energy)has a set of physics. Each universe would have completely different mathematical laws governing it. One universe could be completely devoid of gravity. Another could be completely devoid of mass. Still another may have gravity and mass in such abundance, that they hardly meet our concepts of what gravity and mass are. Essentially, at the creation of this universe, the "mathematical dials" of the basic laws of physics were turned in such a way that it ensured ONLY earth could have life on it. In otherwords, you can mathematically fix the position in each universe and find where life would exist in that universe. In ours, earth is the only possible solution - because there is only one solution to this equation. In others, there may or may not be a solution. This guy said that the possibility of life on another "planet" isn't on a solar system by solar system basis, or even on a galaxy by galaxy basis. It's on a universe by universe basis. Assuming that other universes are created along this field of energy, he calculated that only 1 in every 13 trillion would have life. He also calculated that there could be an exact duplicate of earth and even our timeline in another universe. But that chance was such a big number, I can't remember what it was... but it had a LOT of zeros after it.

One of the implications from this guys work is that not only is the exact location of earth found, but time and space are products from this energy field. In otherwords, all of time is already planned out - we have no free will, we're just acting out a preconceived mathematical equation, developed by this energy field.

Sounds kinda like a god, huh? an omnipresent energy field that "knows" everything about us, and has destined every little thing about our lives.

Anyways, there was A LOT more in the reading I read, and it was very interesting. I'm not saying there isn't life out in the universe. I tend to be with the crowd that thinks, "how could there not be?" But... this is an interesting take.

Oh yeah I know there are alot of theories out there about this and I have seen something like this one. The one I read was about parallel universes but what you have written is basically the same principal.

In all honesty though these sort of complex theories seem a long way out there. Not saying they are wrong but what evidence do these guys have to base any of this on? I mean we have evidence as in discovery of other planets and knowledge of other solar systems, which is limited I know, but still something to base our theories on.