NationStates

It is mathematically improbable that we're the only life in the universe. There has to be some planet, albeit maybe millions of galaxies away, that is able to sustain some form of life, maybe a bunch of living rocks, but at least it would come very close to what we would consider life. That is almost a universally accepted given. Now the question is, does extraterrestrial intelligence exist? Probably not, the odds of such are much more slim than extraterrestrial life itself, sadly. I always imagine, with my nation and several stories, how magnificent it would be the day that we finally make contact with beings from beyond the stars, how the world would prosper if they bring gifts, or how the world would unite if they bring destruction. Unfortunately, as I grow older, I come to realize that nothing of that sort will happen, no matter how much hopes I have for it.

But it's all a whole lot more likely than a bearded man in the sky, that's for sure.

Aglardia wrote:Most likely it does; we have found so many potentially habitable exoplanets, and we have only searched an extremely small portion of the entire universe.

Russian Socialist Soviet States wrote:I say there is a good chance due to our universe being so big.

Planeia wrote:It is mathematically improbable that we're the only life in the universe. There has to be some planet, albeit maybe millions of galaxies away, that is able to sustain some form of life, maybe a bunch of living rocks, but at least it would come very close to what we would consider life.

I really don't get it. Why is this view so common? It makes no sense to me. As I said,

Constantinopolis wrote:The argument that the universe is so big that extraterrestrial life must exist is nonsense. If there are 1000000000000000000000000 habitable planets in the universe, but the likelihood of life coming into existence on a habitable planet is 0.000000000000000000000001, then the number of planets with life would be one. So the sheer number of existing planets, by itself, tells us nothing.

"This haystack is so big there there MUST be a needle somewhere in it" is not a valid argument.

Constantinopolis wrote:

Aglardia wrote:Most likely it does; we have found so many potentially habitable exoplanets, and we have only searched an extremely small portion of the entire universe.

Russian Socialist Soviet States wrote:I say there is a good chance due to our universe being so big.

Planeia wrote:It is mathematically improbable that we're the only life in the universe. There has to be some planet, albeit maybe millions of galaxies away, that is able to sustain some form of life, maybe a bunch of living rocks, but at least it would come very close to what we would consider life.

I really don't get it. Why is this view so common? It makes no sense to me. As I said,

Constantinopolis wrote:The argument that the universe is so big that extraterrestrial life must exist is nonsense. If there are 1000000000000000000000000 habitable planets in the universe, but the likelihood of life coming into existence on a habitable planet is 0.000000000000000000000001, then the number of planets with life would be one. So the sheer number of existing planets, by itself, tells us nothing.

"This haystack is so big there there MUST be a needle somewhere in it" is not a valid argument.

If they developed they would likely be so different than us we wouldn't think the same. Thus we wouldn't have similar products to observe.

Constantinopolis wrote:

Aglardia wrote:Most likely it does; we have found so many potentially habitable exoplanets, and we have only searched an extremely small portion of the entire universe.

Russian Socialist Soviet States wrote:I say there is a good chance due to our universe being so big.

Planeia wrote:It is mathematically improbable that we're the only life in the universe. There has to be some planet, albeit maybe millions of galaxies away, that is able to sustain some form of life, maybe a bunch of living rocks, but at least it would come very close to what we would consider life.

I really don't get it. Why is this view so common? It makes no sense to me. As I said,

Constantinopolis wrote:The argument that the universe is so big that extraterrestrial life must exist is nonsense. If there are 1000000000000000000000000 habitable planets in the universe, but the likelihood of life coming into existence on a habitable planet is 0.000000000000000000000001, then the number of planets with life would be one. So the sheer number of existing planets, by itself, tells us nothing.

"This haystack is so big there there MUST be a needle somewhere in it" is not a valid argument.

Maybe it's because we've already discovered planets that have good potential as habitable. You even quoted a post saying that. By the fact that we see that it's worked here on Earth, then that alone is enough to boost the odds of it working on a planet similar to the ones we've found.

It's not that we're dismissing the possibility that we could in fact be alone, but to completely dismiss the possibility of other life is irrational based on what I just said, and quite frankly, a lot of people would love to think that there is life somewhere else in the universe.

Planeia wrote:It's not that we're dismissing the possibility that we could in fact be alone, but to completely dismiss the possibility of other life is irrational based on what I just said, and quite frankly, a lot of people would love to think that there is life somewhere else in the universe.

And there lies the problem. I would also love it if there was other life in the universe, but I fear that there isn't. And I prefer to assume the worst case scenario until I have some evidence to show otherwise. The worst case scenario is that we are alone, life on Earth is the only life in the universe, and we have an enormous responsibility to take care of it and spread it to other planets, because we are all there is. We are the one tiny little green shoot of life in the great void. We are the only voice in the boundless, eternal silence. We are Life, standing alone against Death. We cannot falter, and we cannot fail.

Constantinopolis wrote:

Planeia wrote:It's not that we're dismissing the possibility that we could in fact be alone, but to completely dismiss the possibility of other life is irrational based on what I just said, and quite frankly, a lot of people would love to think that there is life somewhere else in the universe.

And there lies the problem. I would also love it if there was other life in the universe, but I fear that there isn't. And I prefer to assume the worst case scenario until I have some evidence to show otherwise. The worst case scenario is that we are alone, life on Earth is the only life in the universe, and we have an enormous responsibility to take care of it and spread it to other planets, because we are all there is. We are the one tiny little green shoot of life in the great void. We are the only voice in the boundless, eternal silence. We are Life, standing alone against Death. We cannot falter, and we cannot fail.

I believe we will soon find some type of life in the solar system. Bacteria are likely in Europa.

Jupiter's moon Europa was first examined by the Voyager mission in 1979, followed by Galileo in the 1990s. Now, NASA strongly believes Jupiter's moon Europa has the characteristics necessary to support life. The U.S. space program has commissioned a team of scientists to develop a spacecraft in order to explore the alien moon's icy terrain to find the answer to that question.

Source http://www.isciencetimes.com/articles/5831/20130808/jupiter-moon-europa-nasa-mission-rover-probe.htm

Constantinopolis wrote:

Aglardia wrote:Most likely it does; we have found so many potentially habitable exoplanets, and we have only searched an extremely small portion of the entire universe.

Russian Socialist Soviet States wrote:I say there is a good chance due to our universe being so big.

Planeia wrote:It is mathematically improbable that we're the only life in the universe. There has to be some planet, albeit maybe millions of galaxies away, that is able to sustain some form of life, maybe a bunch of living rocks, but at least it would come very close to what we would consider life.

I really don't get it. Why is this view so common? It makes no sense to me. As I said,

Constantinopolis wrote:The argument that the universe is so big that extraterrestrial life must exist is nonsense. If there are 1000000000000000000000000 habitable planets in the universe, but the likelihood of life coming into existence on a habitable planet is 0.000000000000000000000001, then the number of planets with life would be one. So the sheer number of existing planets, by itself, tells us nothing.

However, the Miller-Urey experiment -- and detection of amino acids and nucleic acids in outer space, on comets, and in meteorites -- indicates that the chemistry that forms living things like us is pretty common. So to then conclude that life can't possibly happen anywhere else, one has to reason that despite the fundamental chemstry being easy and abundant elsewhere, there has to be something special about Earth that the same molecules couldn't have assembled into life elsewhere.

Northwest Slobovia wrote:

Constantinopolis wrote:

I really don't get it. Why is this view so common? It makes no sense to me. As I said,

However, the Miller-Urey experiment -- and detection of amino acids and nucleic acids in outer space, on comets, and in meteorites -- indicates that the chemistry that forms living things like us is pretty common. So to then conclude that life can't possibly happen anywhere else, one has to reason that despite the fundamental chemstry being easy and abundant elsewhere, there has to be something special about Earth that the same molecules couldn't have assembled into life elsewhere.

This is actually incorrect. The experimental atmosphere was later proven inconsistent with the actual atmosphere of Earth at the time.

Thafoo wrote:It's nearly impossible that there isn't life of any complexity other than us in the universe.

Their technology level, their intelligence, their advancement, etc. is what's interesting to think about.

^This.

All of them probably vary, I'd be very interested in the events happening on the distant planets.

The answer to the topic question is: YES!

The only question would be if we could communicate or visit each other.

Absolutely. Even the Bible says so. Let no bible thumper tell you otherwise. Angels are not terrestrial. Neither are demons.

Then there's the whole issue of logic dictating that life exists beyond earth.

Probably.

Whether we'll know for sure? There's a much slimmer chance.

The Milky Way Galaxy holds hundreds of billions, if not trillions of solar systems, and the Milky Way is one of the trillions of galaxies out there. With that in mind, there has to be a planet with extraterrestrial life.

Distruzio wrote:Absolutely. Even the Bible says so. Let no bible thumper tell you otherwise. Angels are not terrestrial. Neither are demons.

Ummmm... angels and demons are not aliens... In fact they are very clearly described as "bodiless powers". They are souls without bodies.

(but this is off-topic, I know)

Constantinopolis wrote:

Distruzio wrote:Absolutely. Even the Bible says so. Let no bible thumper tell you otherwise. Angels are not terrestrial. Neither are demons.

Ummmm... angels and demons are not aliens... In fact they are very clearly described as "bodiless powers". They are souls without bodies.

(but this is off-topic, I know)

So... extraterrestrial?

Constantinopolis wrote:

Distruzio wrote:Absolutely. Even the Bible says so. Let no bible thumper tell you otherwise. Angels are not terrestrial. Neither are demons.

Ummmm... angels and demons are not aliens... In fact they are very clearly described as "bodiless powers". They are souls without bodies.

(but this is off-topic, I know)

But they take human women as wives... so make what you want of that.

For me I find the question to be in the wrong question.

Real question, is there not any extraterrestrial life out there?

Because really....The universe is really fucking huge...

Personal Freedom wrote:

Northwest Slobovia wrote:However, the Miller-Urey experiment -- and detection of amino acids and nucleic acids in outer space, on comets, and in meteorites -- indicates that the chemistry that forms living things like us is pretty common. So to then conclude that life can't possibly happen anywhere else, one has to reason that despite the fundamental chemstry being easy and abundant elsewhere, there has to be something special about Earth that the same molecules couldn't have assembled into life elsewhere.

This is actually incorrect. The experimental atmosphere was later proven inconsistent with the actual atmosphere of Earth at the time.

Yes... as far as your statement goes. No, as far as arguing that the chemistry isn't easy.

Hakio wrote:Here we will have a debate and discussion on the possible existence of extraterrestrial life, or life beyond our planet. I personally, believe that since our planet is just a speck in a vast universe that life rising out of the primordial muck wasn't a geocentric phenomena to only occur on our planet. But, then again, there will be those who disagree with me and say that there is not any extraterrestrial life beyond our planet, and still others will remain neutral and confide in not knowing. So, I pose this question to you my dear forum followers, from tin foil hat wearers to dreamers to pessimistic skeptics:

Does extraterrestrial life exist?

how am I supposed to know or make a reasonable inference about probability?

It would be pretty self-centred to believe we're the only planet in this gigantic universe that contains life. So yes, Extra-terrestrial life exists.

It's almost a certainty. We probably won't make contact any time soon though.

Constantinopolis wrote:

Aglardia wrote:Most likely it does; we have found so many potentially habitable exoplanets, and we have only searched an extremely small portion of the entire universe.

Russian Socialist Soviet States wrote:I say there is a good chance due to our universe being so big.

Planeia wrote:It is mathematically improbable that we're the only life in the universe. There has to be some planet, albeit maybe millions of galaxies away, that is able to sustain some form of life, maybe a bunch of living rocks, but at least it would come very close to what we would consider life.

I really don't get it. Why is this view so common? It makes no sense to me. As I said,

Constantinopolis wrote:The argument that the universe is so big that extraterrestrial life must exist is nonsense. If there are 1000000000000000000000000 habitable planets in the universe, but the likelihood of life coming into existence on a habitable planet is 0.000000000000000000000001, then the number of planets with life would be one. So the sheer number of existing planets, by itself, tells us nothing.

"This haystack is so big there there MUST be a needle somewhere in it" is not a valid argument.

Because it's scientifically and mathematically impossible for life not to exist on other planets.

They could.

God Kefka wrote:

Hakio wrote:Here we will have a debate and discussion on the possible existence of extraterrestrial life, or life beyond our planet. I personally, believe that since our planet is just a speck in a vast universe that life rising out of the primordial muck wasn't a geocentric phenomena to only occur on our planet. But, then again, there will be those who disagree with me and say that there is not any extraterrestrial life beyond our planet, and still others will remain neutral and confide in not knowing. So, I pose this question to you my dear forum followers, from tin foil hat wearers to dreamers to pessimistic skeptics:

Does extraterrestrial life exist?

how am I supposed to know or make a reasonable inference about probability?

^he said it best. But I believe that it's possible that extraterrestrial life exists.

There is almost certainly life on other planets, yes.
However, the existence of extraterrestrial civilisations as advanced as ours within our reach is improbable.