Are we alone in the universe or ...?
I’m sure this question has been asked on Fluther before, but having just read an article titled “NASA’s Kepler spots Five planets in its first six weeks of data,” I find myself once again speculating. Personally, I believe there are countless other lifeforms out there, at least one of which will contact us one of these days—maybe in my lifetime. What do YOU think, gang?
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Ummm..good question that has been debated for eons! My guess is, and that is all it is, no! Has to be someone else out there!
Seems very arrogant to think we are it!!
@Austinlad A bit off topic, but I would love a link to the article.
We are a tiny dot surrounded by zillions of planets I don’t think we’re alone.
I don’t know if we are alone or not. Fermi’s paradox states that given the number of planets in the Universe there must be intelligent life, so we should have been contacted by now, but haven’t. I would argue that we don’t know the actual probability of intelligent life evolving from constituent chemicals, even given the presence of these chemicals, and I’m not sure we know the distribution of these chemicals. It is possible that the odds are so low of intelligent life evolving that it is only because of the vast size of the universe that we evolved at all. We’re the infinite monkey who types the last word in the works of Shakespeare. Even if intelligent life is more common than that, we still have yet to arrive at anything like a technology that would make travel possible at the distances necessary to contact that life, so there is no reason to think that life on other planets has solved this problem either. As for transmitting radio signals, they become so mixed in with the background radiation that no one is likely to be able to make heads or tails of them on the other end. And they only travel at the speed of light, not enough to reach intelligent life in a reasonable time frame.
In short, there maybe intelligent life out there, but the probability of evolving intelligent life from scratch that can create the technology to cover the vast expanse of the universe and reach other intelligent life is so small that we should never expect to make contact.
@Snarp What makes you think we haven’t been contacted already? Just because we don’t see it on our tv’s on the news doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened.
People aren’t ready to hear yet. A panic isn’t going to help anything.
Good point @Snarp. You’re absolutely right.
actually thought, i was the only one here!
@rawrgrr I don’t much go in for conspiracies. The more people who know about a secret, that harder it is to keep quiet, eventually it would come out, even in the mainstream media. But mainly, there’s no evidence that we’ve been contacted. I generally don’t believe things that are based on pure speculation without evidence.
I do believe that there are others out there however I doubt that there has been “contact” in form of a hello or high five. Just because “secret” federal areas exist does not mean anything to me.
Definitely not alone. There are probably jelly people out there somewhere.
Yes.
We are all alone. Get use to it, and it is about time we worked together to get along.
@Snarp Who says we don’t have evidence? Just look around. Our internet is filled with information. Specifically this website. All the evidence has been hidden from us and when it is not we dismiss it.
Are you familiar with the movie War of the Worlds? It was a shock test and the public can’t handle the truth yet. Nasa knows this and this is why they haven’t revealed it to the public. Do some searching and you’ll see. People just aren’t ready.
I disagree with this part.
”(...) at least one of which will contact us one of these days—maybe in my lifetime.”
I would be surprised if anyone out there (assuming there is anyone) would ever even find out we exist at all, let alone contact us one of these days.
As far as modern science knows, faster-than-light travel is impossible. That makes it not very feasible for any alien species to explore enough of the universe to stumble upon us. Even if they found a way to keep even an unmanned vessel going long enough to make it to the Sol system, it would be a project of millennia and enormous loads of money (or whatever equivalent they use) to go look for people like us.
And even if they had ways to find us and reach us, why would they show up one of these days? Is there any reason to expect it now, and not in the year 4391?
Good points, Fyrius. Maybe I’ve watched too much Star Trek. Also, I’m an optimist who plans to live another 2381 years. ;-)
Why do I keep getting the cranks on Fluther lately? @rawrgrr The fact that someone writes something on the internet does not make it true. Evidence has to come from a reliable source and preferably corroborated by multiple sources, especially evidence for extreme statements, which require stronger evidence.
We are here.. so why not there be a “They” and “There” ?
I think odds are there are other intelligent life forms in the Universe.
There is no proof but some say Astronauts have seem unexplainable things in Space.
“If there wasn’t, it would be an awful waste of space, don’t you think?”
The face the universe in our understanding, seems infinitely vast, the prospect of us being the only life form (sentient or not) is infinitesimal. We are just one of billions if not trillions of star systems each with the possibility to form life. Now I believe that creating life is a huge undertaking in a scientific perspective, and I believe that most of the universe is vacant of such a miraculous creation. It is more then likely that we share the vast unknowns with a wide variety of caporal life, like lots of different marine life share the great oceans.
The Disclosure Project has brought together over 400 witnesses from the various divisions of government, military and intelligence agencies. Each with direct, first hand experience with ET’s, super advanced technology and cover-ups, and each one is willing to testify before congress that what they say is true.
As if we don’t already have enough trouble living with the other life on this planet. Maybe there’s extraterrestrial life, maybe there isn’t. Either way we’ve already got our hands full here.
The odds that life life exists outside our planet are very high. The odds that this life is intelligent, will discover us, will have the technological means of communicating with us, and will employ the effort to do so are quite low.
@Snarp ”The fact that someone writes something on the internet does not make it true.”
Uhm yes I know this but in a website like the one I posted earlier you will find an enormous amount of information contributed by others not just of someone saying how they saw “an alien in their backyard.”
There is a lot being hidden from us. More than you can imagine. For example the Spiral over Norway. There is irrefutable scientific proof—yes, mathematical proof that the spirals over Norway were not “failed missiles” (Google David Wilcock and you can read more) like Russia and many have claimed. There is proof all over the internet. If you just look, you will find.
@rawrgrr I’m sorry, but that’s just a load of crap.
rawrgrr I also heard that Astronauts saw UFOS in space but no one has given the world conclusive proof. They say most governments are afraid people will panic.
It would be very frighting.
@Snarp Okay i’m not forcing you to believe anything. Obama will reveal the truth later on in a a two-hour television address aired around the world very soon. Just wait.
@philosopher Yes I heard that too. I don’t disagree.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there were other living beings in the universe.
Our chances of ever having a get together are remarkably slim, though.
For starters, unless there was an alien race very close nearby (like in this solar system) I don’t see any reason why they’d fly by this marble. Or even head in its direction. To get here would be an amazing act of luck and coincidence. Unless they had some kind of telescope (radio, light, whatever) that could see that the Earth had land and water and, maybe (unlikely), plant life it would still take a very long time to get here. Of course, if they were using light to even see the planet then what they were seeing would be way different than what it would be by the time they got here. For all we know, aliens took a look at the planet and saw a bunch of volcanos and poisonous atmosphere and decided to pass on taking a closer look. Unless they had light speed travel. Maybe.
But time and distance is a huge factor in something like this. For instance, if we evolved at slightly different rates or the same rate but different starting points, that would make a huge gap. If a race started evolving even 100 years after we did, they’d be getting to the point of listening to radio and being afraid to drive a car at speeds in excess of 25MPH. Not quite enough to find us. If they started 100 years before us they may have been looking for radio signals that they’d never get and move onto another section of space.
Even if we were essentially on par right at this moment there are other things to consider. Do they even have an interest in the rest of the universe? Do they bother to listen to radio signals from space? Do they even have radio? Would they recognize an “intelligent” broadcast if they saw it? Would we? If something was coming from a totally alien species what may be logical for them could be quite confusing to us.
So, short answer to “Are we along in the universe?”: No, I don’t think so (unless we really live in a Red Dwarf universe)
Chances of meeting another being: Really, really, really, slim.
There is a good probability that there is simple life, like bacteria, out there somewhere. But intelligent life would be rare. The chance that we’ll ever find them is even slimmer.
I recommend a book called Rare Earth
The organic materials used as the building blocks for life are known to be quite common in the stellar ocean.
It’s a nigh impossibility that these molecules have not assembled themselves in ways we would call “alive.”
There is just too much space, too many places that life could spring up in the universe. I think life is probably common. However, intelligent life will surely be more rare. There has most likely been many, many, civilizations that have risen and fell in the course of the universe.
I think anything is possible. I also think that if they have contacted/seen our planet, we must not be very interesting. I don’t see flying ships in the sky or an alien on tv saying “take me to your leader”. I think we humans overestimate our importance in the grand scheme of things.
@rawrgrr
Hm.
The danger with conspiracy theories like the one you’re defending now is that they tend to boost your confirmation bias to a point where nothing could convince you you’re wrong any more. Please be cautious with that, for the sake of your own intellectual honesty.
The danger is that it’s a cool and exciting idea that the people in charge are hiding all sorts of amazing things from us, and that it makes us feel better than other people for “knowing” something awesome they don’t know. That alone should be a reason to be particularly suspicious of such notions – beliefs should never be based on wishful thinking, and that’s exactly what conspiracy theories tempt you to do.
Just be careful, ‘kay?
I find a swift application of my two razors is generally enough to dispel any conspiracy theory. Occam is in my left hand and Hanlon in my right.
Occam’s Razor: “Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity.”
Hanlon’s Razor: “Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.”
@Fyrius Well of course. It is the source of my power.
How odd is this… I just answered this today and then sat down to watch some TV and there was a program on called, “UFOs: The best Evidence ever caught on tape” ...Im not a conspiracy theorist or a avid UFO believer, but some of the video evidence THOUSANDS of ppl have caught over the years is staggering. To sit here and watch it for myself really leaves me speechless. Its truly incredible to see all the blatently, clear, and close up footage of the strangest flying crafts Ive ever seen. Triangle shaped flashing lights, saucers that dart back and forth, beams of light that suddenly implode and dissapear before our eyes, clusters of 30+ pearl-like balls that fly in formations that look like symbols? How do you explain that if scientists cant? NASA astronauts, video analysis guys, government ppl all saying the same thing: “We cant explain it.” The instances seem to be the most frequent over mexico- especially Mexico city airport. This well known and respected mexican journalist was talking about being amazed by all the stories and video that had been taken from the air traffic towers and pilots who claim they see strange things all the time and hate it because everytime it happens the electrical equipment in the plane goes nuts and makes it hard for them to fly safely. Also saw video of an astronaut (forgot his name) who said that its a little known fact that Buzz Aldrine and Neil Armstrong recorded something WATCHING them (from a distance) while they took their first steps on the moon… and that our country has already developed a ‘weapon’ to scare off strange objects if they feel we are in danger. Im NOT saying we should all be freaking out… believe whatever helps you sleep at night – to each his own- blah blah blah. I just think that everyone who blows off the IDEA that its possible should look at all the HONEST evidence thats out there- from all over the world- before choosing to believe that over half the ppl around the world are crazy, conspiracy theorists.
@Mrs_Rose
“How do you explain that if scientists cant?”
This is the right question.
How do you?
You should know that “it must be aliens” is a piss-poor answer. No, it mustn’t. We don’t know.
Unidentified flying objects could be any number of things, from experimental aircraft (not necessarily super ultra top secret area 51 magic) to natural atmospheric disturbances that the scientists haven’t documented well enough yet, to a glitch in the Matrix to witches on brooms. The point is that you don’t know what it is, by definition of what “UFO” means. And if you’re going to pick mysterious phlebotinum explanation A, I’d like to know why you prefer it to mysterious phlebotinum explanations B, C and D, even assuming there cannot be any mundane explanations E and F. Assuming the usual pop culture association is just freaking stupid.
Maybe it’s aliens, but I doubt it, for reasons I expounded earlier on.
@Mrs_Rose Just because the hand picked individuals on that program can’t explain it doesn’t mean science can’t. Why should we believe that the makers of that program would seek out the best minds who were motivated and had the ability to debunk the videos? That wouldn’t make nearly as entertaining a program to some, but rest assured that those people are out there. You know there was an astronaut not long ago who drove across the country in diapers so she wouldn’t have to stop in order to kill her lover and his lover? Just because one person is an astronaut doesn’t make them automatically reliable.
You didn’t way this, but many conspiracy nuts will tell you: “just do the research and don’t trust what the media spoon feed you”. Sadly, they have it backwards. The media tend to spoon feed this alien encounter crap without seeking out any fair and honest rebuttal. If you want to know why this stuff is garbage, then you’ll have to do some research. All you have to do is search for the same things you would search for to confirm your superstitions and add the word “debunk”. Start with this astronomer’s blog.
Excuse me for talking about a TV program I saw that is relative to the question. First of all I’m NOT freaking stupid. Second, I never said “it must be aliens”. What I was trying to say is that it just makes you wonder when your faced with all those videos, interviews, what have you. I’m NOT against considering or excepting explanations A B C D E F all the way to Z.
And I think the crazy woman who rode cross country in her diaper is a far cry from the intelligent respected people who can debate a subject like this and bring logical explanations (or questions) to the table. Not all astronauts are crazy… Some women just are.
@Mrs_Rose
Well sowwy if I have offended you.
But I do want to remark that you did imply a preference for the explanation that “it must be aliens”, and you did that again just now by saying this documentary is relevant to the question.
It’s a question about aliens. That means the TV programme is only relevant insofar as that’s about aliens too.
Travis Walton. Abducted by aliens in 1975.
Again this becomes a personal experience thing and one can’t discount what you actually have experienced. There are many who claim to have had experiences with aliens and many that say we have had contact. Do you believe them? You do not have to nor are you obligated to but for them there is no question. There are beings that live on other planets and yes contact has been made. We have technology that came directly from other beings. Though NOTHING I can say or do will convince others and rightly so. We all have to discover for ourselves what our reality is and it is not the same for everyone. What would you say if I were to tell you that higher beings have been here before and are here now? Many would call me nuts and without having experiences that convinced you I would say you may be right. In a different dimension are different laws and distance (for travel) is not a constraint where some beings are from. So contact from great distance is not an issue again if that were true. Mind you it may not be and unless one really knows it is conjecture. But logically it does not take much to think of the entire Universe other life exists outside our tiny little speck we call Earth.
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