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Extraterrestrial Life

Well I don't think that there's any extraterrestrial life that have encountered/watched us, or vice versa, nor do I think that any extraterrestrial life would look like the aliens we see in science fiction films. I also think it highly unlikely that there is any life on planets anywhere near Earth. I think that most planets probably don't have life.

However, I do think that it's definitely a possibility, even if the probability of life on a planet is very very small. Not only because of how immense the universe is, but also because we are only humans and we don't know everything about how the universe works. There may be other conditions in which life can exist other than those which are similar to Earth, but that we don't know about yet. There might be undiscovered elements, heck, maybe even alternate universes and other dimensions.

So, based on what we know about the existence of life, I daresay it would be a very rare chance indeed of finding extraterrestrial life based on those stringent conditions. However, I'm pretty sure there's forces and things out there that we aren't aware of yet (and how could we be, since they could be trillions and trillions of light years away?), and perhaps, those unknown things could make a suitable environment for life to thrive in.

I'm just speculating of course. But really my point is that even if we can calculate the probability of life on other planets, we're making those calculations based on only our limited human knowledge. Not that I'm trying to say scientists haven't figured out anything, just that I don't think they've figured out everything.
 
Empoleon said:
It gives the values here.

But Altmer, your assuming that sentient life is going to be human-like, which it won't necessarily be. I agree that its highly improbable there will be any contact with non-Earth-based intelligent life in the near future, but there is always a chance.
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read my post it clearly states that even for microbial life to flourish the physical limiting conditions are narrow

even a microbe won't flourish on a gas giant

thanks

and that Drake equation is nice, but it's 100% conjuecture. An educated guess is still a guess.
 
The universe is unimaginably huge. To assume that in a space of that size, only one tiny corner would be capable of developing some form of life is ridiculous. Even if the odds of a planet developing life made the odds of simultaneously being struck by lightning, winning the lottery, and being hit by an airplane while in the bath look large, the universe is large enough that it'd still be almost impossible that we were alone. It probably doesn't look like anything we thing of as life; we may never even discover it. But I am a firm believer that it exists.
 
Crazy Weavile said:
The universe is unimaginably huge. To assume that in a space of that size, only one tiny corner would be capable of developing some form of life is ridiculous. Even if the odds of a planet developing life made the odds of simultaneously being struck by lightning, winning the lottery, and being hit by an airplane while in the bath look large, the universe is large enough that it'd still be almost impossible that we were alone. It probably doesn't look like anything we thing of as life; we may never even discover it. But I am a firm believer that it exists.
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I'm not discounting the existence of life altogether. I do think it's entirely possible that there is life somewhere. But I don't think we'll find it in this age. Sure, we may have encounters in the future, but since the odds of us meeting space-faring aliens are so negligible, I'm not taking it into account when I do my daily stuff. It's cool if we find it. I'm not opposed to furthering science in the name of exploration, though I do think other targets may be of more immediate interest (such as discovering more about the nature and geology of the planets around us.) That background information will also help us in the aid for the search for life.

I just don't think it likely that we will come into contact with any sort of extraterrestrial life form. I also think that humans need a sense of perspective and probability. That's all.
 
Altmer said:
I'm not discounting the existence of life altogether. I do think it's entirely possible that there is life somewhere. But I don't think we'll find it in this age. Sure, we may have encounters in the future, but since the odds of us meeting space-faring aliens are so negligible, I'm not taking it into account when I do my daily stuff. It's cool if we find it. I'm not opposed to furthering science in the name of exploration, though I do think other targets may be of more immediate interest (such as discovering more about the nature and geology of the planets around us.) That background information will also help us in the aid for the search for life.

I just don't think it likely that we will come into contact with any sort of extraterrestrial life form. I also think that humans need a sense of perspective and probability. That's all.
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I don't think it's likely, either- I expect that if it does happen, it will be in many millennia. But I do think that it exists to be found- could you find diamonds by combing the beach? Exactly.
 
Yah I am in that percentage of people as well. It might be there, might not be there. What I think people need in these matters is a bit of scientific judgment really.
 
Looking up at the sky.

I did some research and found out that thousands of millions of galaxies have been discovered by us humans. Each galaxy has about 700,000,000,000 (seven hundred thousand million, or 700 billion) stars. If we use our solar system as a average, then lets say that each star has 10 planets.

Then, there would theoretically be roughly 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (7 SEPTILLION) planets in the known universe. There are likely trillions more. I believe that God created the universe, but whether you believe that or not, how could the universe be so huge, and we be the only ones living in it? Biblically, it doesn't say that God created only one planet, nor does it doesn't say that he didn't.

I don't believe that any extraterrestrial life has ever visited the Earth, but I strongly believe that there is other life, and probably some much much more intelligent than us humans.
 
The fact is that we don't know the data or numbers relating to the probability of life existing in the universe, because we only have one piece of evidence, Earth.

However, being the logical intelligent being that we are, we can look at the conditions on earth, and see how many similar conditions we can find in the universe, and estimate from there.

1) Everywhere there is water on Earth, there is life. Even in the frozen arctic.

Obviously, we know life does not exist wherever there is water in the universe, however, we do know that water is the third most common molecule in the universe, so it isn't hard to find.

2) Life can survive up to 121 degrees Celsius. (249.8 degrees Fahrenheit)

Plenty of planets discovered meet this requirement, and there are millions more yet to be discovered.

3) The Water Bear can survive the vacuum of space and temperatures near absolute zero.

Again, plenty of planets discovered meet this requirement.

4) Organic molecules have been found in gas clouds in space, suggesting that they are not difficult to create.

So how many planets are below 121 degrees Celsius, contain water, and contain organic molecules? We obviously don't know, but we can assume that this has happened at least a few time throughout the universe. And remember, these are just the conditions required for earth life, Silicon based life might be even more common, for all we know.

I choose to believe that life in the Universe is common. Astrobiology is a young science, so a lot of data is obviously still missing, but with new discoveries made everyday, like proof of water on Mars, all the evidence seems to be pointing to this conclusion.
 
Altmer said:
Yeah, and how many of them are inhabitable? :P
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Humans seem to find it hard to comprehend the fact that there could be other life forms that don't actually need oxygen or water to live. There's no way to know. Just because most life on earth is Carbon-based doesn't mean that all life HAS to be. There are other possibilities. What if there are Helium-based life forms out there?

And with 700 septillion planets, you seriously think that none of them would be similar to Earth?
 
Yes, but we know that such conditions are capable of hosting life, so until we have some more clues, looking for life in conditions we know could have life is more likely to return results than looking for life in conditions we think might be able to have life.

I think this arguement appeared earlier in the thread
 
I'm going to be my stubborn self and say that extraterrestrial life doesn't exist.

Actually, I could very well be saying that because I don't want it to exist.
 
What if there are Helium-based life forms out there?
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It is sincerely doubtful that helium would work, since the thing that makes carbon so cool is its valency; it bonds with, like, everything in lots of different ways. Silicon comes close, but isn't quite as flexible in this sense.
 
How the fuck would they do that. The amount of energy needed to make helium react is fucking insane. Even fluorine (the most reactive substance in the universe) doesn't touch helium iirc
 
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