Reply
Mon 9 Nov, 2009 03:24 am
I am aware that there have been similar threads, but they were posed as statements and not questions. So lets look at it from a different angle
Are we alone in the vastness of the universe?
Using statistic it seems to me if we are indeed alone then there has been one almost infinite bad use of space by the universe or God if you like
More than 400 years ago, Giordano Bruno, an Italian monk, wrote that "In space there are numberless earths circling around other suns, which may bear upon them creatures similar or even superior to those upon our human Earth."
Bruno deserves to be remembered, he was burnt at the stake, in Rome, in the year 1600.
In the vastness of space far beyond our own Solar System we can rule out alomost nothing. Astronomers have discovered, just within the last five years, many stars have their own retinue of planets.
There are trillions of other Solar Systems, more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand of all the beaches of the earth, trillions of galaxies and 99% of the universe constructed out of invisible dark matter, so surely, amongst this unimaginably vast number, surely there might be many planets resembling our Earth, teeming with life maybe very different/similar to life on our beautiful blue planet.
Even civilization billions of years more advanced than ours is?
What does the forum think??
.
@Alan McDougall,
Alan what time scale do we need for life to be a possibility.How old is our solar system compared to other systems? What are the odds on size proportion to distances from the sun, the moon and its relative size and distance? We have so many if and buts to imagine life to be replicated similar to ours. Im not ruling out the possibility but the numbers even with vastness of space are pretty hard to predict. The formula for life exists, its the circumstances that require investigation.
@Alan McDougall,
I have to admit that our knowledge about how life may begin and how long it will take to travel the road to intelligence is still very limited.
But we can never escaped the basic fact that the universe is huge and that we know of at least one place where intelligent life has indeed originated.
I think the burden of proof is definitely with those who want to make a case for humans being the only intelligent species.
Still, even if that debate can ever be laid to rest, we still have Fermi's paradox to explain.
@sarek,
sarek;102588 wrote:I have to admit that our knowledge about how life may begin and how long it will take to travel the road to intelligence is still very limited.
But we can never escaped the basic fact that the universe is huge and that we know of at least one place where intelligent life has indeed originated.
I think the burden of proof is definitely with those who want to make a case for humans being the only intelligent species.
Still, even if that debate can ever be laid to rest, we still have Fermi's paradox to explain.
I dont see them as paradoxes just questions without answers. A paradox is more defined, it refuses the scientific possibilities. There is no refusal in accepting we have many questions.
@xris,
...Alone as a Civilization in this Time frame, maybe...(and just maybe) but a as a living species, well, I think is highly unlikely !
(still we move in a very speculative environment to talk about it)
Regards>FILIPE DE ALBUQUERQUE
@Alan McDougall,
... there's an app for that:
Drake equation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ...
@Alan McDougall,
"We are alone in the universe" could be falsified by finding life on any other planet.
"We are not alone in the universe" could not be falsified: as a search of the entire universe would be required.
In any event I think that some form of life, at some point in time, in some other system (in a galaxy far far away) probably exists (existed).
It that a metaphysical assumption, a philosophical speculation, a scientific theory or a meaningless statement?
@Alan McDougall,
Alan McDougall;102570 wrote:What does the forum think??
A great wanting lies within me to be witness to the discovery of extraterrestrial life. There are a many beliefs that I choose not cultivate. One that I choose to nurture is the belief that there must be extraterrestrial life.
I do not think that the processes that lead to the emergence of life on earth should be considered in any way unique. If it can happen once, what reason is there to say it can not happen again elsewhere under similar conditions? I can not think of any.
prothero;102714 wrote:"We are alone in the universe" could be falsified by finding life on any other planet.
I would accept a fossil record as second best. What would be a really nice is if the quest to create life from stratch in an earth laboratory produced some results.
@validity,
Surly guys in the unimaginable vastness of the universe there "MUST" be other forms of life, or the universe is a colossal wast of space, no pun intended
Some guy humorously said "we can be sure that there is intelligent life in the universe, because no one has visited us"
@Alan McDougall,
Alan McDougall;102732 wrote:Surly guys in the unimaginable vastness of the universe there "MUST" be other forms of life, or the universe is a colossal wast of space, no pun intended
Or it could simply mean that the probability of the events that lead to life on earth occuring in the universe is of a certain value that it means it is just us.
As it currently stands it is a question of personal belief. I hope there is other life. But I also hope that my level 14 Fighter/Sorcerer/Arcane Archer makes it out of Underdark with his sanity.
@xris,
xris;102575 wrote:Alan what time scale do we need for life to be a possibility.How old is our solar system compared to other systems? What are the odds on size proportion to distances from the sun, the moon and its relative size and distance? We have so many if and buts to imagine life to be replicated similar to ours. Im not ruling out the possibility but the numbers even with vastness of space are pretty hard to predict. The formula for life exists, its the circumstances that require investigation.
HI xris Is it not much more unlikely that our earth is the only dust mite that harbors life within the unimaginable vastness of an otherwise empty universe , than a universe teeming with senteint life?
1) Earth = only life in the universe?
2) Universe= teeming with life?
Which of the two statements above are most likely?
I say 2) ?
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace