23_Tauri
Illuminator
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23_Tauri
Illuminator
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Oh it's worse than that. I buy it for the center-folds.Oh we know you only buy it for the interviews
Stray Cat
Philosopher
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godless dave
Great Dalmuti
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Has there? Do you have a cite for this?
As to your question, because of the size of the universe I believe extraterrestrial life probably exists somewhere, but also because of the size of the universe, I'm confident no intelligent extraterrestrial life forms have ever visited earth.
23_Tauri
Illuminator
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Perhaps Reivax you mean there has been an increase in the reporting of, and dissemination of reports of, UFO sightings, due in no small part to the magic of the intarweb thingy?
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The oldest fossil evidence we have for life on Earth (chemical trace fossils from Australia) are from about 3.6 billion years ago. That's roughly when the Earth cooled down enough to have liquid water seas--meaning that as soon as life COULD exist on Earth, life DID exist on Earth. (I can't say anything about the temporary liquid water seas that undoubtably formed before that--they were vaporized, or at least the rock around them melted, and so we don't have any data on that subject). What this implies is that life is relatively easy to get going. Therefore, any planet similar to Earth in terms of temperature range, pressure, and composition, should have single-celled life at least. I should point out that by "composition" I mean of the planet as a whole; the Earth had a vastly different atmosphere 3.6 billion years ago, one that would be poisonous to most living things today.
More complex organisms didn't arise until significantly later. We have evidence of colonial activity pretty quickly after the Oxygen Revolution (2.5 billion years ago), but nothing we'd call multicellular until the Ediacara Period (well, a bit before that, actually--we have trace fossils that are either from worms or from enormous ameobas). So it's safe to say that complex life is significantly less likely than unicellular life. It should also be noted that single celled organisms are still overwhelmingly the dominant ones today--you carry more bacterial cells around with you than human cells, if I remember correctly.
Given all that, I'm of the opinion that single-celled life is almost a certainty. It'd be really bizzar to NOT find that stuff out among the stars. Multicellular life is, I'd say, likely but rare, given the number of planets we seem to be finding (if there are five million planets a one-in-a-million event will happen about five times). Intelligent life......I'm leaving that one alone. The issue is how to define intelligence. Humans are very smart in certain ways, for example, but we're morons compared to computers in others, and vice versa.
More complex organisms didn't arise until significantly later. We have evidence of colonial activity pretty quickly after the Oxygen Revolution (2.5 billion years ago), but nothing we'd call multicellular until the Ediacara Period (well, a bit before that, actually--we have trace fossils that are either from worms or from enormous ameobas). So it's safe to say that complex life is significantly less likely than unicellular life. It should also be noted that single celled organisms are still overwhelmingly the dominant ones today--you carry more bacterial cells around with you than human cells, if I remember correctly.
Given all that, I'm of the opinion that single-celled life is almost a certainty. It'd be really bizzar to NOT find that stuff out among the stars. Multicellular life is, I'd say, likely but rare, given the number of planets we seem to be finding (if there are five million planets a one-in-a-million event will happen about five times). Intelligent life......I'm leaving that one alone. The issue is how to define intelligence. Humans are very smart in certain ways, for example, but we're morons compared to computers in others, and vice versa.
Perhaps most people here, yeah, but certainly not all. Half the point of biogeochemistry is to figure out the conditions life arose in here on Earth so that we can determine where we're likely to find it out in space. And while biogeochemistry papers are also called soporifics, it is a subject I keep my ear to the ground on as much as I can.Pup said:
Tiktaalik
Half True Scotsperson
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I think it's likely life exists elsewhere than on earth, given the size of the universe and the fact that everything in the universe started at the same time, thus making it less likely that other galaxies are in extremely different stages of development.
I think it's unlikely they visit earth, for the above reasons.
I think it's moderately likely they are sentient to some degree. I don't think sentience is an "end" in evolution, a necessary developmental milepost. Many animals do quite well on the earth without advancing further along the path that leads to sentience. Crocodilians, for example, have been around for 200 million years or so. They do fine. So I don't think it's inevitable that life will evolve human-level consciousness.
I think it's unlikely they visit earth, for the above reasons.
I think it's moderately likely they are sentient to some degree. I don't think sentience is an "end" in evolution, a necessary developmental milepost. Many animals do quite well on the earth without advancing further along the path that leads to sentience. Crocodilians, for example, have been around for 200 million years or so. They do fine. So I don't think it's inevitable that life will evolve human-level consciousness.
Tiktaalik
Half True Scotsperson
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True. I wouldn't be surprised if there were sponge-analogs on some other planets somewhere.
Aepervius
Non credunt, semper verificare
I think it is safe to state that the probability that our planet is not the only planet arbhoring life, is non zero. But that probability is depending on factor we do NOT possess at the moment. Therefore it cannot be concluded. Now we don't have info either on prevalence of sentience for a planet arbhoring life. Anotehr unknown. But we can guess it is above zero however infinitesimal.
So in term of probability , the existence of alien specy probability is non zero is all I can sadly say. Could be high and we could have neighbor within ab dozen or hundred light year. It could be low and not have a neighbor in billion light year, or even not at all. Not enough data to say more.
What I can say with a relative high probability, is that almost certainly none made the way here.
So in term of probability , the existence of alien specy probability is non zero is all I can sadly say. Could be high and we could have neighbor within ab dozen or hundred light year. It could be low and not have a neighbor in billion light year, or even not at all. Not enough data to say more.
What I can say with a relative high probability, is that almost certainly none made the way here.
mrgrouch
Muse
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i can't really say i fit in any of this categories. i usually like to base my opinion on facts not "beliefs".
it is highly probable that there's life in other planets, but until there's actual proof, i don't believe jack.
cheers
mikeyx
Banned
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the proper term is bubble headed fetus rustler, actually
Stray Cat
Philosopher
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Squid Fishing features heavily in the world of UFOlogy and in recent years scepticism too.
... It's a long story.... about 240 pages long at the moment
Stray Cat
Philosopher
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USEagle13
Muse
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What video upload site is the best to view other people's/companies'/schools vids then?
Yeah it does have a lot of BS but that is any media source since the beginning of radio; Hulu and all the others suck in my book because of all the commercials and ads. Me personally does not want to watch stupid commercials. Remember some of the old cig ads!?
Doctor cig ad
Flintstone cig ad
Or the War of the Worlds incident? Most TV is and always was utter BS and except for the news, church channels, and sports I do not watch it anymore.
I used to be a huge fan of the documentary type stuff like Discovery, History channel, etc. but now they show just crap. I pulled the plug on my satellite well over a year ago because of the constant BS they show (I can watch it on the net anyways).
Also the newer cell phone signals (cell phones did not always cause this much interference) that make all my electrical stuff (especially TV, computers, and radios) go bonkers annoys/worries the heck out of me.
As for the OP.
I believe that some form of ETs has to exist. Once we have discovered every animal on Earth and have explored the very bottoms of the deepest part of the oceans and drilled all the way to the core in multiple areas (which the release of pressure would probably not be good for earth) then I may think otherwise.
MG1962
Unregistered
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Dinwar....put the pretty fossils down and calm come to the light. In the same issue the magazine pronounces "we peer review Playboy" And you didn't even notice
EHocking
Penultimate Amazing
