Aliens!

[Showmeproof]

I was pondering the ideas of alien the other day after watching a show. Personally, I do not believe that aliens exist because there is no sufficient data to back up such claims. Though, if you think about it, out of all the billions of stars and galaxy, wouldn't you say that there is a VERY good chance that another life form exists. The show I was watching had astronomers and theoretical physicists all say that to assume that there is no other life somewhere else among the whole universe is egocentric and ignorant. Wouldn't it be more rationale to assume that in this whole universe something else has to exist besides us? I kind of go back and forth on this topic.

 

[Denver]

It's fine to make an hypothesis either way. As long as we acknowledge we currently have little evidence to support either claim.

 

[Matilda]

There are arguments around the possible existence of life elsewhere in the universe, and then there are unsupported claims of alien craft/abduction/conspiracy/interference in human history etc. The latter is woo.

 

[Darat]

The more we know of the universe the more we have learnt that our immediate environment (the solar system) is not unique or remarkable, therefore it does smack me somewhat of a certain kind of arrogance to cling to the idea that "life" is somehow unique to the Earth.

Of course it could be that "life" here is in fact a one in trillion, trillion, trillion chance but given that every other time we've considered us or our environment to be somehow special we've learnt we are wrong I'd bet against it being true in regards to "life".

 

[Slimething]

There's no way of knowing right now so we are all at liberty to believe or disbelieve or even not care. However, calling any hypothesized intelligent life on other planets "aliens" is not correct as it infers that they are away from their own land. (I think it was Rodney Dangerfield who had a joke that he went to France but didn't like it because it was full of aliens. Ba-dum, dum!)

I find it a bit exciting thinking about other beings somewhere on a distant planet but then I get frustrated with what I believe are insurmountable obstacles in ever getting to know them. It would all be so much easier if we had never studied Physics!

 

[Cuddles]

As others have already said, given what we know about the universe and our completely ordinary, un-special place in it, it seems incredibly unlikely that we could be the only life in it. However, at the moment we simply have no evidence that there actually is anything out there. Many people, including me, think it is very unlikely that we will ever have any evidence of any other life, let alone intelligent life, because of the scales involved.

It's always interesting to speculate about alien life, and people always have different opinions about what is and isn't possible. The only thing that everyone really agrees on is that at the moment we simply don't know.

 

[Matilda]

I find it a bit exciting thinking about other beings somewhere on a distant planet but then I get frustrated with what I believe are insurmountable obstacles in ever getting to know them.

Me too. If something anything like us evolved elsewhere, and if somehow we did catch a message they sent out into space and was found by SETI, we wouldn't be able to communicate back over those vast distances quickly. Their society might well be dead before we even got their message.

Happy thought for the day.

 

[Apology]

I think there very well could be life on other planets. However, the nearest potentially habitable planet is so far away from us, it's unlikely that aliens could reach us. Well, unless they live for an extraordinarily long time or something, but that's just making excuses for them.

If you want to count bacteria as "life", then there is definitely evidence that life existed on other planets.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20020802a.html

 

[Madalch]

I think it was Rodney Dangerfield who had a joke that he went to France but didn't like it because it was full of aliens. Ba-dum, dum!

Of Major Burns on M*A*S*H, who said "I like the idea of the United Nations, except there's too many foreigners in it. That's what killed the League of nations, you know."

And one of Agatha Christie's characters who was complaining about all the foreigners (read: Iraqis) in Iraq, and then realized that she was talking to a Frenchman (and hoped he wouldn't be offended).

 

[TX50]

If you want to count bacteria as "life", then there is definitely evidence that life existed on other planets.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20020802a.html

That "evidence" is hotly disputed. There has been more work in the intervening time since
that NASA report was posted.

 

[Dogdoctor]

There is likely other life out there. To say that other life is here is going to far.

 

[lionking]

Paul Davies (yes I know he's a theist) has written some thought provoking books on this topic and as I recall (and am open to contradiction) has moved from almost certain in "the Fifth Miracle" to very uncertain in "the Goldilocks Enigma".

 

[Metullus]

Of course alien life-forms exist. How else to explain Ducky?

 

[m_huber]

Some of the minerals on the surface of Mars are usually only formed in the presence of life, and some have been found to have a high content of amino acids. We haven't found life per se yet, but we have built up lots of evidence that there was life on Mars, though it may have been gone by 3 billion years ago. There is a pretty good chance Europa has life on it, since it has a good bit of water and a means of heating the planet, and some people think Io has a shot at it.

There's almost certainly life, but as for intelligent life, I'm not sure that there's even 1 form of life that meets that criteria.

 

[Soapy Sam]

The argument about the trillions of stars, galaxies etc is rarely relevant to the question of aliens visiting Earth.
For that to happen , a number of factors must coincide, each of which whittles away the "billions" argument:-
The Aliens must have a highly advanced civilisation.
It must be within a relatively small distance of Earth.
It must exist NOW (as opposed to during any other million year period of the last 4 billion, or the next 10 billion).
The life forms must be of similar general size to us and able to communicate with us. (ie not microscopic, or planet sized gas clouds).
Plus they must have an anal fixation.
It all seems very improbable.

Now if we allow them to have arrived and visited any time in the last ten million years, that raises the probability, but decreases the chance of finding evidence, unless they left some on the Moon as in Clarke's story.

If we allow SETI style radio communication, we hugely increase both the time and space span of our search. So far, the results are not good.

I'm not optimistic.

Let's say we have a dozen technological societies in any galaxy at any average time. That means billions of such civilisations overlapping in time (given relativistic limits).
What is the chance that any two will ever be aware of each other while each is actually alive and kicking?

Vanishingly small.

 

[mikeyx]

I was pondering the ideas of alien the other day after watching a show. Personally, I do not believe that aliens exist because there is no sufficient data to back up such claims. Though, if you think about it, out of all the billions of stars and galaxy, wouldn't you say that there is a VERY good chance that another life form exists. The show I was watching had astronomers and theoretical physicists all say that to assume that there is no other life somewhere else among the whole universe is egocentric and ignorant. Wouldn't it be more rationale to assume that in this whole universe something else has to exist besides us? I kind of go back and forth on this topic.

the greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he didn't exist

 

[FSM]

(Psssst... mikeyx... Religion and Philosophy is two threads over if you really want to argue that the devil has something to do with aliens at all----------> that way...

And if you're saying that the aliens are cleverly and intentionally hiding the evidence of their existence to evillllllllly fool us into doing something evillllllll to us...

<-------------------------Conspiracy Theories are thataway.)

ETA: I just read some of your other posts and now I'm relatively certain you were kidding. Sorry about that. I'll take myself over to Humor, which is ----------------> that way....

 

[cafink]

This discussion reminds me of an absolutely fascinating interview with astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson from the radio show/podcast Point of Inquiry. The episode is about an hour long and covers a variety of interesting topics, including the IAU's definition of the word "planet," which was big news around the time the interview was conducted, and the importance of science education. The whole show is definitely worth a listen, but if you just want to hear the part that pertains the the topic at hand, skip right to 29:13.

 

[fuelair]

There are arguments around the possible existence of life elsewhere in the universe, and then there are unsupported claims of alien craft/abduction/conspiracy/interference in human history etc. The latter is woo.

Love your quote! It exemplifies wonderfully a large portion of my philosophy!!

 

[Cuddles]

Some of the minerals on the surface of Mars are usually only formed in the presence of life,

Usually is a problem word. For example, the Martian meteorites which were thought to be possible evidence of life contain structures "usually" only formed in the presence of life. Unfortunately, they also form without life, it's just more unusual. Evidence that says something was either caused by life or not caused by life isn't very helpful, as evidence goes. As for studies of the actual surface of Mars by various rovers, there is nothing even as conclusive as that.

and some have been found to have a high content of amino acids.

Amino acids are no big deal. They're exist pretty much everywhere in the universe, even in cold, diffuse nebulae. They were also one of the first pre-life molecules to be artificially synthesised. Amino acids are easy, it's getting anything more than that which is the hard part.

We haven't found life per se yet, but we have built up lots of evidence that there was life on Mars, though it may have been gone by 3 billion years ago.

No we haven't. We have evidence that there was probably liquid water on Mars, although we still can't tell if it was permanent or occasional flash floods. It's also entirely possible that CO₂ or even dust storms could be responsible. Theory says that Mars was probably warmer and probably wet and probably had a thicker atmosphere in the past, and therefore may have been capable of supporting Earth-like life. There is no evidence that it actually did.

There is a pretty good chance Europa has life on it, since it has a good bit of water and a means of heating the planet

"Good chance" in the sense of "it may be theoretically possible".

and some people think Io has a shot at it.

The Io which turns itself inside-out every few years? It may be possible, but people are looking at places like Ganymede much more seriously.