Alien life

[gruber]

I would like to know people opinions on this topic.

Do you believe there is, Don't believe? If so why.

[wolty]

The short answer is yes. I believe that, chances are there is life outside of our universe. What sort of life, who knows. The odds are very very good that there is some form of life ( single cell organisms ) somewhere else in the universe. The problem is that we will probably never know because everywhere else is just so far away.

My best friend has a bag packed next to his bed, just incase he is ever abducted by aliens. I respect him alot for that.

Of course the greatest movie of all time ( Star Wars ) was actually a documentary.

As is The Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy. All completly true.

[Brother Nelson]

Originally Posted by wolty

My best friend has a bag packed next to his bed, just incase he is ever abducted by aliens. I respect him alot for that.

Does he realise that he might not be abducted from his bedroom and he might not be able to go back for his toothbrush? I thought you had to be driving along a deserted country road at night time in Hicksville USA to be a target for alien abduction.

[wolty]

Originally Posted by Brother Nelson

Does he realise that he might not be abducted from his bedroom and he might not be able to go back for his toothbrush? I thought you had to be driving along a deserted country road at night time in Hicksville USA to be a target for alien abduction.

Yeah but he is still prepared just in case

[Brother Nelson]

Originally Posted by wolty

Yeah but he is still prepared just in case

Sounds like he is looking forward to it.

[Sir Patrick Crocodile]

Well I guess believing in aliens is more plausible than believing in God

[DanielV]

Great question to get the mind thinking.

In short - I think the chances for simple, microscopic life are very good.

I base this mostly on the fact that amino acids seem to form quite easily (Miller-Urey Experiment), the fact that the majority of chemicals that make up life-as-we-know-it are common in the Universe (Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, etc), the fact that Exoplanets in a Goldilocks Zone may be fairly common, etc.

I also think we are not alone because I dislike the idea that Earth and its life being a fluke - it smacks of special circumstances that are too reminiscent of the human-centric views of the earlier humans. It may still be correct, but i'd prefer to think we are not too special.

I do, however, think that the "Rare Earth" hypothesis has some merit - that perhaps complex life, the kind of "bags of water" that makes up macroscopic life on this planet, may be rare.

The reason I think this, is because:

- Exoplanets may be common, but not commonly within the Goldilocks-Zone where water can remain liquid. (Water appears to be an excellent solvent for chemical reactions, although other chemicals have been proposed, i.e. liquid methane on the planet Titan, for instance)

- Many Exoplanets may exist in parts of galaxies that are inheritently unstable - i.e. being too close to a galactic core may mean being pummelled every few million years by gamma rays, being in parts of galaxies that are metal poor may mean that rocky planets don't form readily, etc.

In short, I think that the fact that Earth had simple, microscopic life for most of its existence and only macroscopic, multi-cellular life late in the story suggests that the move from simple to complex isn't necessarily a quick or simple process.

Having said all this, theres a huge problem in all our reasoning on this topic - we have a sample size of 1 - the Earth.

[atheist_angel]

Originally Posted by gruber

Do you believe there is, Don't believe? If so why.

Well, I don't know.
I've seen some estimate the age of the universe as 14billion yrs. I've seen other estimates that say, 10billion yrs. Since the estimated age of the earth is 4.5billion yrs., I wouldn't expect there to be much life out there. And no, I wouldn't consider us to be late bloomers, either.

I would expect the universe to be teeming with life one day. But, because they say the universe is expanding, I wouldn't expect much social contact between us and our extra-terrestrial cousins. I'd be surprised if we don't end up, over-populating ourselves to near-extinction soon.

[robertkd]

Originally Posted by atheist_angel

Well, I don't know.
I've seen some estimate the age of the universe as 14billion yrs. I've seen other estimates that say, 10billion yrs. Since the estimated age of the earth is 4.5billion yrs., I wouldn't expect there to be much life out there. And no, I wouldn't consider us to be late bloomers, either.

I'm not so sure, our sun is considered at least a second generation star and depending on which side of the fence it (the sun) is being considered (and most probable) a third generation star, so against the age of the universe we're new kids on the block

I would expect the universe to be teeming with life one day. But, because they say the universe is expanding, I wouldn't expect much social contact between us and our extra-terrestrial cousins. I'd be surprised if we don't end up, over-populating ourselves to near-extinction soon.

I also see a very common theme AKA I think we have all touched base in the
"We're more likely to cause our own extinction"

[atheist_angel]

Because they say the universe is expanding, I wouldn't expect much social contact between any extra-terrestrials, come to think of it.