Do you believe we are alone in the universe?

PugofCrydee

PugofCrydee

You want to know how I got these scars?
Personally, the sheer size of the universe, the number of galaxy's, the number of stars and planets.. the fact we as a species have already discovered potentially suitable planets for human habitat relatively nearby (universally speaking) makes it difficult to believe there is no other life forms out there.

Even if that other life is bacteria in a slime pool, a bug under a rock, something we may barely recognize or a fully advanced and technologically superior species to us, I believe there is somewhere else where life exists.

What about you?:question:
 
NathanielWingatePeaslee

NathanielWingatePeaslee

Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!
Staff member
The odds of us being the only "intelligent" life in the universe, let alone the only life, are infinitessimally small.

The odds of any other life being near enough to visit, or even say hi to from a distance, are also infinitessimally small. :sad:
 
Megaten

Megaten

Well-known member
NathanielWingatePeaslee said:
The odds of any other life being near enough to visit, or even say hi to from a distance, are also infinitessimally small. :sad:
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That may not be a bad thing. I was watching a special on this once and a biologist was saying that if a species has a large enough brain to become that intelligent, then they might be predatory since they need the extra protein. Granted they might have moral issues when it comes to eating each other, that might not apply to us poor humans >.<
 
T

TheNomad

Well-known member
Yes, even if life or even intelligence evolving has a 1 in a 100 trillions chance, the universe is big enough to make sure it happens again. Many times.

But I think it is not that impossible for aliens to contact us. It may seem so in our current knowledge of how the universe works, but there is a lot unknown, and if you look into the quantum levels, the universe starts behaving weird. I think the odds of some civilization mastering an unknown technology to travel light years are more than the odds of life not evolving.

There is no evidence that they have visited, though.
 
DepravedFurball

DepravedFurball

Well-known member
I actually think we may have missed the party, thanks to the extinction-level event that our dinosaurs went through.

When that massive asteroid fractured our planet and killed off nearly all of the surface-dwelling life-forms, it effectively set the evolutionary scale back nearly a billion years.

So, really, instead of the question of 'are we the only intelligent beings in the uncomprehensibly-large universe', it should instead be 'are we the only intelligent beings remaining'.

But, hey, the law of averages means that somewhere out there, another perfectly-habitable planet went through the exact same tribulations as ourselves, and are progressing at the exact same technological rate. So we simply can't be alone.

I just hope it's a race of cute cat-people. That'd be awesome. :applause:
 
PugofCrydee

PugofCrydee

You want to know how I got these scars?
NathanielWingatePeaslee said:
The odds of us being the only "intelligent" life in the universe, let alone the only life, are infinitessimally small.

The odds of any other life being near enough to visit, or even say hi to from a distance, are also infinitessimally small. :sad:
Click to expand...

Yep, definitely agree with this :thumbup:
 
PugofCrydee

PugofCrydee

You want to know how I got these scars?
Megaten said:
That may not be a bad thing. I was watching a special on this once and a biologist was saying that if a species has a large enough brain to become that intelligent, then they might be predatory since they need the extra protein. Granted they might have moral issues when it comes to eating each other, that might not apply to us poor humans >.<
Click to expand...

Agreed :)
 
PugofCrydee

PugofCrydee

You want to know how I got these scars?
TheNomad said:
Yes, even if life or even intelligence evolving has a 1 in a 100 trillions chance, the universe is big enough to make sure it happens again. Many times.

But I think it is not that impossible for aliens to contact us. It may seem so in our current knowledge of how the universe works, but there is a lot unknown, and if you look into the quantum levels, the universe starts behaving weird. I think the odds of some civilization mastering an unknown technology to travel light years are more than the odds of life not evolving.

There is no evidence that they have visited, though.
Click to expand...

Fair comment :thumbup:
 
A

AGR

Well-known member
DepravedFurball said:
I actually think we may have missed the party, thanks to the extinction-level event that our dinosaurs went through.

When that massive asteroid fractured our planet and killed off nearly all of the surface-dwelling life-forms, it effectively set the evolutionary scale back nearly a billion years.

So, really, instead of the question of 'are we the only intelligent beings in the uncomprehensibly-large universe', it should instead be 'are we the only intelligent beings remaining'.

But, hey, the law of averages means that somewhere out there, another perfectly-habitable planet went through the exact same tribulations as ourselves, and are progressing at the exact same technological rate. So we simply can't be alone.

I just hope it's a race of cute cat-people. That'd be awesome. :applause:
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I just finished reading the book cosmos,and carl sagan brings an interesting point in the part about intelligent life on Earth and other planets,dinosaurs dying off allowed mammals to flourish,if that didnt happen who knows if intelligent life would have arisen on Earth,how many other planets intelligent lifeforms didnt have the same chance...
 
L

LKK

Member
I don't know enough about the origins of life to know whether or not, relative to the scale of the universe, other life is probable.

I wouldn't say I 'believe' there is other life out there, I just don't know.
 
hoddesdon

hoddesdon

Well-known member
Actually, I am a Martian.

Seriously though, (or is that not serious), by looking through the prism of probability you are overlooking the fact that life has never been analyzed, observed in a test tube, never had a scientific formula constructed for it and there is no knowledge of what it consists of. Everything can be reduced to a small pile of chemicals plus water. What animates it can not be found. Therefore you can not say that this Factor X exists elsewhere.
 
PugofCrydee

PugofCrydee

You want to know how I got these scars?
hoddesdon said:
Actually, I am a Martian.

Seriously though, (or is that not serious), by looking through the prism of probability you are overlooking the fact that life has never been analyzed, observed in a test tube, never had a scientific formula constructed for it and there is no knowledge of what it consists of. Everything can be reduced to a small pile of chemicals plus water. What animates it can not be found. Therefore you can not say that this Factor X exists elsewhere.
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"What animates it can not be found' - I prefer to think of it as 'hasn't been discovered yet'.

'Therefore you can not say that this Factor X exists elsewhere'. - Or doesn't. :idontknow:
 
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Pacific_Loner

Pacific_Loner

Pirate from the North Pole
I don't have any logical or scientific argument to bring to this conversation, but stargazing while thinking about life on other planets is among the most peaceful and fascinating moments I had that I can think of.
 
hoddesdon

hoddesdon

Well-known member
PugofCrydee said:
"What animates it can not be found' - I prefer to think of it as 'hasn't been discovered yet'.

'Therefore you can not say that this Factor X exists elsewhere'. - Or doesn't. :idontknow:
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This is purely speculative.

What does life consist of, even in the broadest or most rudimentary sense? Is it a chemical reaction? - if so, then there would be some inkling of how it works.
 
PugofCrydee

PugofCrydee

You want to know how I got these scars?
hoddesdon said:
This is purely speculative.

What does life consist of, even in the broadest or most rudimentary sense? Is it a chemical reaction? - if so, then there would be some inkling of how it works.
Click to expand...

I agree, but it doesn't necessarily mean we should have discovered it by now.

Our current perceptions on life - as we know it - is based on our current understandings and what we know/perceive as 'life'.

There could be life forms out there that we would not even recognize based on our limited current understandings.
Yet still, I do believe the probability of some recognizable form of life being somewhere out in the known universe as being quite probable.
 
Z

Zooman

Well-known member
With the sheer size of the universe and all the organic matter just floating around i would say that it is more than likely that life exists elsewhere. I would go so far as to say there is probably a superfluous amount of life existing in the universe. It fills me with awe to think of how minuscule we are and how vast the cosmos really is. Just the thought of all the things that remain undiscovered gives me goosebumps.
 
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S_Spartan

S_Spartan

Well-known member
Wont we all be pissed if we find that there are other beings out there and they are living the good life while we are stuck here in shitsville?
 
MollyBeGood

MollyBeGood

Well-known member
I don't spend too much time thinking about this subject tbh

I am one of those people that needs to see things to believe them. Until I have seen for real with my own eyes, it doesn't concern me much as far as beliefs go.

I also don't care if there are others out there because unless they can get here next week and turn this world upside down and shake all of the corrupt, evil, greedy people off this planet for good, they are not going to be able to help us. We need help. We are likely too far gone at this point though. Humans have had their chance. I think we just need to die off sooner than later. Let another species have this planet. Game over.
 
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