Do you believe there are aliens?

[Akka]

What if the probability of life forming is 1-in-howevermanystarsareintheuniverse?

It's not, so there is no need of "what if ?" arguments.

There is already some potential candidates observables around 1000 light-years. Even if only one in a million of millions of such candidates actually does harbor life, with the size of the universe it means there would still be millions of millions of life-harbouring worlds.

that was so much more concise than I could try to write.

I hope it was both more concise and much more pointless, because his answer is just showcasing a certain kind of ignorance, the unability to distinguish between "faith" (which is based on wishful thinking) and "probability" (which is based on reasoning).

 

[Rashiminos]

What if the probability of life forming is 1-in-howevermanystarsareintheuniverse? Our existence cannot be used as evidence that life is common.

It's considerably higher.

 

[Mark1031]

Any form, anywhere- yes it is just a numbers game.

 

[warpus]

With the threads about aliens eating us and wanting..... 'other' things, I figured I might as well start a poll about it. So, do you believe in aliens?

As for myself, nope.

You will have to explain exactly what you mean by "aliens".

I'm also assuming that "believing in" means "believe that they exist".. I only bring it up because the phrase tends to have various meanings, depending on which religious person you talk to.

What if the probability of life forming is 1-in-howevermanystarsareintheuniverse? Our existence cannot be used as evidence that life is common.

It can't be, but you can analyze the situation by looking at the probability of probabilities.

What's the probability that the probability of life arising is so small that it only happened once? Who knows, right?
But it's exactly the same as the probability that life arose twice.

With that in mind, the probability that we are the only life in the Universe is rather small. But intelligent life? That's another matter.

 

[emzie]

It's not, so there is no need of "what if ?" arguments.

There is already some potential candidates observables around 1000 light-years. Even if only one in a million of millions of such candidates actually does harbor life, with the size of the universe it means there would still be millions of millions of life-harbouring worlds.

It's considerably higher.

Please demonstrate this with evidence that has been collected.

 

[muhtesem insan]

I said no but in a sense that they're here and givin us anal probes. I think it's highly probable that intelligent life evolved somewhere in the galaxy.

 

[Akka]

Please demonstrate this with evidence that has been collected.

Hello :

"There is already some potential candidates observables around 1000 light-years. Even if only one in a million of millions of such candidates actually does harbor life, with the size of the universe it means there would still be millions of millions of life-harbouring worlds."

That's written in the very post you're answering to.

 

[timtofly]

Yeah. And thanks to our ConDemnation, more of them flood in every day, taking our jerbs and sexing our womyn

Those are illegal ones. We are talking about the legal ones.

Are demons alien?

 

[emzie]

Hello :

"There is already some potential candidates observables around 1000 light-years. Even if only one in a million of millions of such candidates actually does harbor life, with the size of the universe it means there would still be millions of millions of life-harbouring worlds."

That's written in the very post you're answering to.

I'm asking for a justification of 1-in-1,000,000 or 1-in-any number. Justify how you're grabbing the odds, in the face that if the odds are 1-in-suchasmallnumberastoonlyleaveEarth, we'd not be able to "see" a difference in the universe.

 

[Rashiminos]

Please demonstrate this with evidence that has been collected.

No need for me to do that. It will come to you, one way or another.

"faith" (which is based on wishful thinking)

 

[Theov]

Life? Probably.
(Too many stars, so some will have - or have had - life)
Life that travels interstellar? Possible.
(It could be. But I find it hard to believe another form of life builds space travel devices. Then again, with billions and billions of galaxies that have billions of stars on them, then yes it could be)
Life that travels interstellar to our planet at this moment? Highly unlikely.
There is a billion stars in our galaxy, and there are billions of galaxies. In all the billions of years, technically, we don't even exist. So the probability that interstellar travel is here ... now... is ridiculously close to 0.

 

[Theov]

Please demonstrate this with evidence that has been collected.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler-22b

 

[Akka]

I'm asking for a justification of 1-in-1,000,000 or 1-in-any number. Justify how you're grabbing the odds, in the face that if the odds are 1-in-suchasmallnumberastoonlyleaveEarth, we'd not be able to "see" a difference in the universe.

What do you need for life ?
For life as we know it (and it may very well be only one kind of life among MANY others), you requires a certain range of temperatures, certain "materials" and time.
The materials themself are rather common in the universe on telluric planets. Moreover, the temperatures required means that a planet which is at the correct distance of its star to fall into the said temperature range, is often a telluric planet with a good chance of having these materials.

As such, the main limiting factor is having a planet in the correct distance range of a star. Even if we limit life to stars like our sun (which is probably not actually required, but I'm playing conservative here), they are a minority, but still a sizeable one that doesn't reduce chances that much. Planets in this correct range are a rarity, but not that much (we know several dozens candidates for such ones in the near vicinity of our solar system, and they tend to be very hard to see, so they may actually be much more numerous).

As such, we can safely consider that even if life is a very rare occurence, even the cumulated restrictions of all the requirements are dwarfed by the size of the universe, making other life elsewhere a certainty.

 

[NickyJ]

You will have to explain exactly what you mean by "aliens".

I'm also assuming that "believing in" means "believe that they exist".. I only bring it up because the phrase tends to have various meanings, depending on which religious person you talk to.

"Believe they exist" is what I meant, yes.

 

[Tahuti]

Intelligent alien life is a possibility, but not a certainty.

 

[Verarde]

Is there life outside of Earth? Most likely.

Is there intelligent life capable of communication with Earth? I don't know.

Life outside of Earth? Yes.

Intelligent life outside of Earth? Currently no, but over the whole existence of the universe probably yes.

Kinda my view. Certainly possible that there is alien life, but I don't believe that it would be sophisticated enough to become a civilization and have its own culture, cities, etc.

 

[duckstab]

I think that some form of life almost certainly exists elsewhere in the universe, and there's a significant chance we'll have strong evidence of it within the lifetimes of at least some of the people reading this thread.

Does intelligent extraterrestrial life exist with technological capacities comparable to our own? I think that's also extremely likely. But I think it's probably quite a rare occurrence. I don't think our galaxy is brimming with civilizations. Maybe a small handful, at best.

And given the enormous technical challenges of locating and visiting other civilizations, I think the chance that any of them have come to Earth are almost nil.

 

[Gamemaster77]

Just because I planet is suitable for life does not mean there will be life.

 

[Akka]

Just because I planet is suitable for life does not mean there will be life.

Nobody said that.

 

[Power_of_Beer]

Just because I planet is suitable for life does not mean there will be life.

Planets suitable for life we know: 1
Planets suitable for life we know where life evolved: 1

The probability seems pretty high to my knowledge. Stating anything else is ignoring facts.