Poll: Do you believe in aliens?

[cuddly_tomato]

There is statistical probability friend. While this doesn't prove anything it does change the odds. If you calculate all everything that is required to sustain life, the probability of it occuring naturally, and then expand to take into account the size of the universe, well the odds for and against change.

That's like saying there is a 50/50 chance god does or does not exist. If I were to say to you that there are dancing pink elephants on pluto that throw pony jams you can't say with 100% that there arn't because you can't provide any evidence against it. What you can do is look at statistical probabilities to reach a logical conclussion.

No, to form a statistical probability you need some data to form your statistics from, and the data needs to be relevant and checkable. So we can't say life probably exists elsewhere because Hunde Des Krieg wants to be a dog, and we can't say that life probably exists elsewhere because we have found something alive that was not part of the Earthian genome.

The only statistic we have is that there is life - here. And that as far as we know there is none anywhere else, with no other variables to include. Number of planets or vastness of space mean nothing until we find something that demonstrates that life has started somewhere else. Until then it is a pure guess, probability and statistics don't come into it.

 

[Shapsters]

It is not physically possible to disprove the fact that there are other living beings due to the infinite vastness of space. I know there aren't any near us, but somewhere else in space, a planet as lucky as earth could have been in the right place and the right time.

 

[TheLivingDaylights]

There is statistical probability friend. While this doesn't prove anything it does change the odds. If you calculate all everything that is required to sustain life, the probability of it occuring naturally, and then expand to take into account the size of the universe, well the odds for and against change.

That's like saying there is a 50/50 chance god does or does not exist. If I were to say to you that there are dancing pink elephants on pluto that throw pony jams you can't say with 100% that there arn't because you can't provide any evidence against it. What you can do is look at statistical probabilities to reach a logical conclussion.

No, to form a statistical probability you need some data to form your statistics from, and the data needs to be relevant and checkable. So we can't say life probably exists elsewhere because Hunde Des Krieg wants to be a dog, and we can't say that life probably exists elsewhere because we have found something alive that was not part of the Earthian genome.

The only statistic we have is that there is life - here. And that as far as we know there is none anywhere else, with no other variables to include. Number of planets or vastness of space mean nothing until we find something that demonstrates that life has started somewhere else. Until then it is a pure guess, probability and statistics don't come into it.

Yes we fucking have founda non-earth genome. Read IT! [http://evolutiondiary.com/2008/06/20/meteorites-brought-dna-ancestors-to-earth-study-says/] While this does not confirm anything, it gives us more statistical data. If ther has proven to be a possibility that the building blocks of life can just fall onto a planet, then statistics say that somewhere, another planet probably got the before we did. Wether or not they survived is another big set of numbers.

 

[Shapsters]

Do you need to see a billion dollars to believe it exists?

Lol, that's a fairly weak argument.

Your opinion. It's wrong, but it's your opinion. It still doesn't change the fact that it is a valid argument and that you didn't bother to answer the question.

*EDIT*

Not saying that as a shot, just saying you didn't answer the question.

No, it's not a valid argument at all.

Let's imagine we are having an election. The number of voters is not the population of America, or the population of the world, but something like 50 times that. So we are having an election with two candidates and 600000000000000000000000000 voters.... and to see which will win we do a poll.

A poll... of one single person.

And that person doesn't really know.

Now you have some idea of the absurdity of claiming one way or the other if there is life elsewhere. We have exactly one example of life in the universe - Earth. And we don't even know how it got started here. If anyone then says it must (or must not) exist elsewhere they are really just talking crap. Having an opinion is fine and dandy but there isn't any fact to back it up.

How much of the universe have we explored? .01%? Earth got lucky that it was life sustainable, it had the right sized sun, the right distance away from the sun, and the right formation. It may not be possible to prove that other beings do exist, but due to the vastness of the universe, what makes you think that the luck that earth had couldn't happen some where else in the INFINITE universe?

(btw, infinite is supposed to be bold, or underlined, but I am too lazy. I am not yelling

 

[TopHatTim]

Well, what do you make of all those alien abduction / crop circle / crazy stuff? And do you think there are other intelligent beings out there somewhere in the universe? Is SETI a waste of time? If there are aliens out there, will we ever make contact?

Quoting the X files, "I want to believe......"

i dont like the fact that people believe abduction/crop circles are aliens.
no ones going to abduct or harm or even scare a planet that is the only one in the solar system and some that supports complicated life.
i doubt a universe that cant even be mathimatically measured we're the only planet that supports life.


EDIT: seti is alright.
i dont like them but i dont hate them.

 

[kellenheller]

Do you need to see a billion dollars to believe it exists?

Lol, that's a fairly weak argument.

Your opinion. It's wrong, but it's your opinion. It still doesn't change the fact that it is a valid argument and that you didn't bother to answer the question.

*EDIT*

Not saying that as a shot, just saying you didn't answer the question.

No, it's not a valid argument at all.

Let's imagine we are having an election. The number of voters is not the population of America, or the population of the world, but something like 50 times that. So we are having an election with two candidates and 600000000000000000000000000 voters.... and to see which will win we do a poll.

A poll... of one single person.

And that person doesn't really know.

Now you have some idea of the absurdity of claiming one way or the other if there is life elsewhere. We have exactly one example of life in the universe - Earth. And we don't even know how it got started here. If anyone then says it must (or must not) exist elsewhere they are really just talking crap. Having an opinion is fine and dandy but there isn't any fact to back it up.

You entirely missed the point of what was originally said. He said he needed proof that their is extraterrestrial life to believe in their existense and I asked him if he needed to see a billion dollars to believe in its existense.

 

[NeedAUserName]

Well its happened once, to Earth, so there's a very high chance somewhere in the Universe there has to be another planet with life on it, even if its all died out since then, or if its just beginning...

 

[TopHatTim]

Willing visitation is doubtful, but from this discovery, [http://evolutiondiary.com/2008/06/20/meteorites-brought-dna-ancestors-to-earth-study-says/] it is an entirely valid theory that our evolutionary building blocks were brought here via the meteorite express.

yeah i made a project in science once where i explained that the first single celled organism on this planet could have come from an asteroid or meteor hitting earth.
everyone fucking laughed at me.
but the teachers thought i had the best idea.
and gave me 100%

 

[Skruff]

I suddenly feel the urge to sing:
"It's a great big universe, and we're all really puny!
We're just tiny little specks, about the size of Mickey Rooney!"

*ahem* Anyway...

I absolutely believe there is life on other planets. With the little we truly know about the universe or its scope, it stands to reason that there are other planets out there supporting life. Now could those planets support Earth-human life? Who knows? Some probably do, many probably don't. Just because our planet only supports certain types of life doesn't mean that the organisms on other planets didn't adjust and thrive under other conditions.

Now, I'm not really sure if I believe they've ever really visited, though. I suspect there's a possibility, but there's no hard evidence that's been disseminated widely to the public.

On a grim note, though, I also figure that if they ever make themselves known (as opposed to being little more than strange light patterns in the sky), it won't be for altruistic reasons like spreading knowledge or establishing relationships between planets. It will be for Independence Day-type reasons... conquering the planet and utilizing its resources.

 

[cuddly_tomato]

The flaw with that idea is you're presuming we know why life started on earth. Which we don't. Therefore it very simplistically boils down to the chance of habital planets and the chance of life appearing on them. Considering the size of space, it would be flat out idiocy to think we are the only life in the universe.

No. In fact if you read back you will see that I specifically bring that very point up. The fact we don't know how life started here makes us less able, not more able, to judge whether life exists elsewhere or not (read my poll analogy).

How much of the universe have we explored? .01%? Earth got lucky that it was life sustainable, it had the right sized sun, the right distance away from the sun, and the right formation. It may not be possible to prove that other beings do exist, but due to the vastness of the universe, what makes you think that the luck that earth had couldn't happen some where else in the INFINITE universe?

(btw, infinite is supposed to be bold, or underlined, but I am too lazy. I am not yelling

What does that have to do with it? "Space is big, man" doesn't really mean a lot does it? How many other Earth like planets do you know about? And how many of those have life? And how often has that life managed to get past single-cell stages before the planet is blow up, frozen, core gone cold, its star gone nova, been blitzed with comets etc?

You don't know any?

Then how can you say that there are aliens around?

 

[Christemo]

it might be, as NASA found methan-gasses on Mars. thats a start.

 

[iron codpiece]

I don't believe that anything beyond earth can contain the complexities needed to create life beyond a cellular level. The conditions are too unlikely.
I think it's funny how many people won't believe in religious ideals because there's no proof but the only proof of complex life forms in space is some single celled shit we found on jupiter's moon. Which is to say 'nil'

Before we get in a flame war I am an atheist technically a Pagan

 

[TheLivingDaylights]

The flaw with that idea is you're presuming we know why life started on earth. Which we don't. Therefore it very simplistically boils down to the chance of habital planets and the chance of life appearing on them. Considering the size of space, it would be flat out idiocy to think we are the only life in the universe.

No. In fact if you read back you will see that I specifically bring that very point up. The fact we don't know how life started here makes us less able, not more able, to judge whether life exists elsewhere or not (read my poll analogy).

How much of the universe have we explored? .01%? Earth got lucky that it was life sustainable, it had the right sized sun, the right distance away from the sun, and the right formation. It may not be possible to prove that other beings do exist, but due to the vastness of the universe, what makes you think that the luck that earth had couldn't happen some where else in the INFINITE universe?

(btw, infinite is supposed to be bold, or underlined, but I am too lazy. I am not yelling

What does that have to do with it? "Space is big, man" doesn't really mean a lot does it? How many other Earth like planets do you know about? And how many of those have life? And how often has that life managed to get past single-cell stages before the planet is blow up, frozen, core gone cold, its star gone nova, been blitzed with comets etc?

You don't know any?

Then how can you say that there are aliens around?

Because we found them! Seriously! [http://evolutiondiary.com/2008/06/20/meteorites-brought-dna-ancestors-to-earth-study-says/]

 

[JokerGrin]

There's billions of planets out there, probably more than billions actually. There's just no way we can be the only active life. Didn't they find a fossil on Mars?

 

[Shapsters]

The flaw with that idea is you're presuming we know why life started on earth. Which we don't. Therefore it very simplistically boils down to the chance of habital planets and the chance of life appearing on them. Considering the size of space, it would be flat out idiocy to think we are the only life in the universe.

No. In fact if you read back you will see that I specifically bring that very point up. The fact we don't know how life started here makes us less able, not more able, to judge whether life exists elsewhere or not (read my poll analogy).

How much of the universe have we explored? .01%? Earth got lucky that it was life sustainable, it had the right sized sun, the right distance away from the sun, and the right formation. It may not be possible to prove that other beings do exist, but due to the vastness of the universe, what makes you think that the luck that earth had couldn't happen some where else in the INFINITE universe?

(btw, infinite is supposed to be bold, or underlined, but I am too lazy. I am not yelling

What does that have to do with it? "Space is big, man" doesn't really mean a lot does it? How many other Earth like planets do you know about? And how many of those have life? And how often has that life managed to get past single-cell stages before the planet is blow up, frozen, core gone cold, its star gone nova, been blitzed with comets etc?

You don't know any?

Then how can you say that there are aliens around?

Actually "space is big man" has everything to do with it. You have NO idea what is in the universe, you didn't counter my argument at all, you just keep saying the same thing, if you didn't see it, it never happened. The universe to to large to ever know if there is other life or not. Explain to me, why in another galaxy, trillions of light-years away, could there not be a star roughly the size of our sun, a planet with roughly the same structure of earth and roughly the same distance away? You can't!

 

[cuddly_tomato]

Actually "space is big man" has everything to do with it. You have NO idea what is in the universe, you didn't counter my argument at all, you just keep saying the same thing, if you didn't see it, it never happened.

Yes, that's called... science. =p

I think it's funny how many people won't believe in religious ideals because there's no proof but the only proof of complex life forms in space is some single celled shit we found on jupiter's moon. Which is to say 'nil'

I know. It is made all the more ironic because religion is faith based, and thus doesn't require proof as it is an assumption, while the question of "is there life out there" is science based, with a definite answer existing in the physical universe.

 

[kellenheller]

What does that have to do with it? "Space is big, man" doesn't really mean a lot does it? How many other Earth like planets do you know about? And how many of those have life? And how often has that life managed to get past single-cell stages before the planet is blow up, frozen, core gone cold, its star gone nova, been blitzed with comets etc?

You don't know any?

Then how can you say that there are aliens around?

On the other side of the coin, you cannot say that aliens do not exist. We don't know and most likely will never know. Unless you have some sort of device that roams the universe searching for life and if you have one, can I borrow it?

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

Personally, I truly believe that aliens exist and that they may have come into contact with Earth over the years. (Barring Scientologists and their Xenu lunacy)

Think about it. We've explored, what, 0.00001% of the known universe? Other than our solar system, we haven't even really found or seen any other planets in this galaxy. In a universe this big, there simply has to be some other form of intelligent life other than us.

There have been way too many UFO sightings for me to dismiss them all as hoaxes. If just one is genuine- one, out of tens of thousands of sightings- then intelligent alien life exists.

It's a statistical fact, IMHO, that aliens have to exist somewhere. We just haven't made formal contact with them yet.