Do you believe that life exists on alien planets?

[The Good Citizen]

Do you believe that life exists on other planets, yes or no?

 

[StonedHitman]

I think there is life on other planets. Obviously not in our galaxy or anywhere near but somewhere out there.

 

[The Good Citizen]

I think so, just given the estimated 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in the universe and the fact that most stars have planetary systems. Given that number, the idea that we are unique seems daft. Even in our galaxy, billions of stars. I think life does exist, but it's isolated by the huge distances in space. I don't believe in UFO's being alien intelligence..just to clarify.

 

[TheSolitaryMan]

It's been a long time since I've done pure Physics, so I've forgotten a lot of the space-related material, but I remember talk of large Nitrogen-saturated chemical oceans on various planets that could quite happily house non-Carbon-based bacterial life and the like...possibly even larger organisms.

That's not even counting ones that are more obviously hospitable like the "Earth-like" discovery recently.

I believe that with the gigantic size of the universe, it's practically impossible for us to be the only form of life out there. It's likely we're not even the only sapient species in existence.

I've been playing XCom: Enemy Unknown recently, and I particularly loved the opening intro quote:

"Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying." - Arthur C. Clarke

 

[Walley]

i dont think its a question anymore of "if" but more like "where?"

 

[LoneKiller]

Certainly.

 

[Poguesy]

Shane Macgowan

 

[Okiedokes]

I am open to the possibility of life on other planets. Look at how many planets there are and different solar systems. Only one planet with life? hmm....

 

[ajdass1]

I think it's not only a question of 'where,' but 'when'. Human civilization is a microscopic blip on the ass of a bacterium in the time scale of the universe. Maybe there have already been spacefaring sentient civilizations that have gone extinct so long ago that everything they made has already turned to dust.

 

[Azariah]

Not just other planets. Other dimensions/universes.

 

[JasonM]

Probable. It seems quite arrogant and irresponsible to think we are the only ones.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation

 

[Lua]

Yes. I also think it's rather a question of where or when than if.

 

[bulmabriefs144]

Early biblical people saw all kinds of "angels", because they were open to alot of things, and didn't decide they knew best what was real like today's society. Ezekiel says there was a wheel within a wheel.

A wheel within a wheel huh?

 

[monkeysocks]

I saw something once that cannot rationally be explained, I had not conjured it by imagination because it was the very last thing I believed in so came as a shock. We didn't know at the time there had been other local reported sightings of weird lights in the sky, but these lights were in our house and even the cat followed them about with us. (which I would have preferred not to happen and just put it down to some weird joint psychic illusion). But swayed me to believe The universe is too vast to not sustain life elsewhere.

 

[Okiedokes]

I saw something once that cannot rationally be explained, I had not conjured it by imagination because it was the very last thing I believed in so came as a shock. We didn't know at the time there had been other local reported sightings of weird lights in the sky, but these lights were in our house and even the cat followed them about with us. (which I would have preferred not to happen and just put it down to some weird joint psychic illusion). But swayed me to believe The universe is too vast to not sustain life elsewhere.

That could be another sort of phenomenon also. Not turning down your idea at all, but it just alerted me to say something because I had a similar experience with unexplained lights in the house.

 

[monkeysocks]

I totally agree, but the lights were not what I saw ! They came a few weeks after. All I am going to say is it wasn't a little green man or a ghost LOL but its was weird. The lights just confirmed that what I originally saw was not an illusion which I originally dismissed as one, even though it was real and scared the hell out of me. I had not drank, never touched drugs and had no belief in such, neither was I stressed at the time.

 

[The Good Citizen]

100% yes, that's good.

No one heard of the Fermi paradox then?

 

[monkeysocks]

No but it sounds very interesting.

 

[The Good Citizen]

No but it sounds very interesting.

Its really not actually, just that if life exists why haven't we encountered it, a slight simplification but that's the gist. I think you should have to come up with something a bit more impressive to have a paradox named after you complete with Wikipedia page!

 

[monkeysocks]

I said the experience 'swayed' me to believe it, not that I had concrete proof - is that what you mean ? lol