Do you believe in life outside our planet?

[quasar]

Most definitely. Considering the vastness of space surely even the odds are in favour?

 

[Jester25]

Yes, I believe there is a lot of other intelligent life out there and I really don't see how anyone could not think that.

I was talking to a very right winged christian about this once and he gave one of the best answers I had ever heard in support of humans being the only ones in the universe. He said, "If humans were the only ones out there, wouldn't that be a miracle"

 

[jjc_7]

YES, That would be like thinking the world is FLAT!!
INFINITE STARS with INFINITE PLANETS with INFINITE POSSIBLIES for Intelligent LIFE!!

Just add water and stir!!

Ditto! It's hard for me to believe that in a place so big, there wouldn't be any other intelligent life besides our own.

 

[DryIce]

As others have pointed out, the statistical odds are more likely than not that the universe is teeming with life. And I don't believe that the exact ingredients that gave rise to life on this planet necessarily has to be the same recipe to give rise to life elsewhere. I believe it's quite likely that civilizations hundreds if not thousands of years more advanced than us have come and gone before the first signs of life ever appeared on this planet, and that there are planets out there right now where the right ingredients are just starting to come together to form life that will eventually evolve into intelligent life millions of years from now.

It's difficult to wrap one's mind around these concepts, but that is just because we are actually still very primitive in our own thinking and understanding of the mysteries the universe holds. If you think about how far we've come technologically in just the last 100 years, and then project how much further we'll advance in the next 100 years, and then consider how technologically advanced a civilization hundreds if not thousands of years beyond where we're at right now could be, the possibilities are staggering.

Whether or not intelligent life from other civilizations has visited our planet, I am not 100% convinced, but I believe it is certainly within the realm of possibility. It seems much more feasible to me that an alien race visited our planet thousands of years ago and cross-pollinated their DNA with primates on this planet to create the human race than that we were magically created out of nothing by some all-seeing, all-knowing ghost. But that's a topic best reserved for the board on belief in God.

 

[Croynan]

Yes I do. And I sure hope they are doing a far better job with their world then we are with ours.

 

[epicAdam]

I think there's intelligent life... there was a comedian I was watching on Comedy Central who was of the opinion that the aliens are out there and that they just do their best to avoid us.

"Earth!?! What a shithole! I don't even stop there for gas!"

 

[CGHJ]

I would drop dead with surprise if it were ever proved that there WASN'T.

For the people that were good enough to post the stats, it's just that simple. There's just too many possible planets...we now know that the universe is seeded from top to bottom with the requisite chemicals, that when put together it's virtually inevitable that they will combine, and that once made life is incedibly resilient. I often wonder how many civilizations I'm looking at when I look up at night...I think most likely the sky is full of them.

Personally, I've seen all the evidence I feel I need to see that they're here and visiting. I was a serious skeptic (and still am), but I have finally been convinced. I have a feeling that there is an alien Jane Goodall taking notes about what us apes are up to.

 

[Syn]

out of the billions of stars in our galaxy alone, and the other billions of galaxies in the universe we are the only ones who have survived, built a life for each other?? i think not. there just has to be life out there. it's just going to take human civilization forever to find it, just like they're trying to find us.

 

[CGHJ]

True, finding it and getting to it may be a different matter though. New understanding about wormholes and the fabric of space may, one day allow it. But current science and theories rate intersteller travel impossible, if not impractical. Even at light speed, the nearest star is 5 yrs away. Once matter achieves light speed it becomes energy. Hard to fathom. People who want to make contact with others in space..ever consider the fact they may not be nice people? Perhaps its best to live here in seclusion..lol

There's numerous ways around this now, theoretically speaking. One is that they did more accurate calculations for relativistic speeds (like 90% speed of light and above) and it turns out that a bunch of crazee shit that I don't understand happens...luckiliy the physicists do and they say it could lead to hyperspeed, or at least travel at a significant fraction of the speed of light within a century.

Also, if you can find a way to shield your craft from the effects of mass, you can zip across the universe from point to point instantly. It also has the benefit of allowing instantaneous acceleration without subjecting the craft's occupants to tortuous g-forces. In other words, what UFOs are seen to do all the time. Way beyond our know-how to do this, but a civilization even 1000 years ahead of us, much less maybe thousands or millions might be able to manage it. And since they're here visiting us, I believe they have in fact worked it out.

I don't worry about them being mean, because once again they're here already. I do think they woulld look at us the same way we look at Chimps. Some people studdy chimps, some people cuddle chimps, some people teach chimps sign language, and some people strap chimps down and test chemicals on them. I'm not sure even friendly contact would be good for the human race though...the advanced civilization always ends up swamping the less. Pretty soon we'd be wearing the alien equivalent of nikes and alien Holoscreen pundits would whine that the indiginous culture of the earthlings was being lost forever.

 

[Eric28]

I don't think we're alone, taking in consideration the full vastness of our universe!

 

[pornoboy]

absolutely..!

 

[CountryJohn]

Yes I do, and I'm sure they've been here already.

 

[theatreboi]

"if it is just us, what an awful waste of space."

 

[Fire]

I don't know, I'm still not convinced there is any on Earth!

 

[iowagunns]

"if it is just us, what an awful waste of space."

Great quote. You hit the nail on the head with that one. There has to be more than just us. Right now we're just not ready for it.

 

[Kulindahr]

YES, That would be like thinking the world is FLAT!!
INFINITE STARS with INFINITE PLANETS with INFINITE POSSIBLIES for Intelligent LIFE!!

Just add water and stir!!

Stryker, with you in charge, it would be "add SEX and stir".

 

[Aaron]

Yes. Could you imagine if we were the only ones? Talk about a fucking waste of space...

 

[Kulindahr]

out of the billions of stars in our galaxy alone, and the other billions of galaxies in the universe we are the only ones who have survived, built a life for each other?? i think not. there just has to be life out there. it's just going to take human civilization forever to find it, just like they're trying to find us.

Or maybe, like others said, they're trying to avoid us.

I wouldn't be surprised either way. The probabilities put out by people who study this sort of thing swing back and forth with new knowledge all too frequently.

THough if I were the Creator, with foreknowledge, I'm not sure I would have put more than one intelligent race in a galaxy.

 

[duroc5088]

yup. why not. I think it is very possible.

 

[frost_bite]

Life on other planets.... could be. Intelligent life, more advanced than we are, can;t say for sure, but lets be honest, life on other planets, we are probably talking about prokaryotic bacteria.