Do you think we are alone.

[Cath]

ooo please don't start stalking, that's just creepy.

Input your thoughts about whether you think we're alone or not rather than that.

I really don't want to be apart of the forum if I have someone following me around with things like that all the time.

[symesie04]

Hmm seems I need to update my reading.

http://www.nature.com/news/arsenic-life-bacterium-prefers-phosphorus-after-all-1.11520

Well that's put pay to the immediate idea of multiples of independent life on this planet. Although there is no explanation as to the nature of the life forms that work in my local B&Q.

[vlebo]

#62 

 tekkydave

I often think we have evolved faster than we should have done. I also think sometimes how the Earth would have a more secure future if humans had never existed. But then an asteroid could arrive tomorrow and wipe out all living things (except maybe bacteria and a few hardy insects). Well - that cheered me up a bit 

The fact that we, as humans , have evolved on this planet makes us just as much a part of the natural order of things on earth as any other species that has developed over millions of years. that we choose to use the planet solely for our own benefit with  , largely , a disregard for other species is the natural path we as humans are destined to take. In the grand scale of things everything that happens on this planet wether we are involved or not is the natural path and destiny of Earth.

[Jase_v2]

At the risk of being banned for not taking the thread seriously..............A long time ago in a galaxy far , far away ..................

and at further risk for semi quoting Contact - if we are alone its an awful waste of space

great thread though - fantastic diversion of opinion

[nebogipfel]

For anyone interested a conversation between Neil Degrasse Tyson and Richard Dawkins in which they discuss mainly this issue.

I think NGT covers the subject and explores some of the possibilities in his usual thoughtful and entertaining way.

The argument for how quickly life is thought to have established itself on earth and the ubiquity of life in the form of extremophiles on our planet bode well for a universe teeming with life.

Intelligence? That's another matter entirely

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGenk99YDwY

[Kropster]

Heheee

Now there was a very silly film,

especially as they corrupted the word,

it should have been wicca and had nothing to do with basket weave

But that's a whole different topic , , ,

What was the name of the island......' Whicker Island'  by any chance? (ref. Mony Python!)

[Crebles]

Exoplanet spectrometry is going to find ozone within the next ten years I reckon. Ozone suggests a biosphere. ESA's Extremely Large Telescope http://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/e-elt/e-elt_rev/ will confirm goldilocks zone exoplanet spectra by 2022. That'll drive a fleet of craft to Enceladus where we'll find simple life in out own solar system. and that will start a new space era for our grandkids to enjoy.

[OutThereSomewhere]

They're OutThereSomewhere

[Myopicus]

@Crebies

 That'll drive a fleet of craft to Enceladus where we'll find simple life in out own solar system. 

Really?

Voyager 1 & 2 (the fastest craft ever put into space, at 38,500 mph ish)  haven't even left the solar system yet, and they were launched in the 70's. Over 40 years, and they've still not reached the edge.

I love the idea of being able to visit other solar systems, but it's science fiction. Sadly.

[JB80]

I believe Voyager 1 officially left the solar system late last year. Then again I think that it was also not the first time such an announcement has been made.

[Myopicus]

AH yes - I stand corrected. Apologies.

[Delboy_Hog]

I love thinking about all of this.

Is there life out there?  I believe so.  I see the creation of life as a set of repeatable circumstances, in terms of physics, chemistry and biology, however unlikely.  The chemical composition of the gases and rock that formed our solar system, even our galaxy, don’t seem to be so unusual that they won’t have been repeated somewhere in the universe.  And that is assuming that for life to emerge, you need that exact set of circumstances, quantity of elements and compounds etc.

Will life found in other parts of the galaxy / universe be life as we know it?  Well I don’t think we’ll find ants and fish and monkeys and birds specifically, but ‘things’ that have learnt to survive, move around, feed etc.  I love imagining how life could have evolved on this planet, let alone all of the other clumps of rock, ice and gas out there! 

The thought that fascinates me most is this:  We have become intelligent (well, some of us have!) in a very short space of time in relation to the time that the universe that we know it has existed.  If the conditions for life had existed much earlier in the life of the universe, (and I see no reason why it wouldn’t have, once the earliest stars had formed) and a species had emerged that had had a run of ‘luck’ that saw its evolution uninterrupted by meteors, disease, ice-ages etc, just how scarily intelligent could that species be now?!

For example, the meteor that seems likely to have brought about the demise of the dinosaurs effectively enabled mammals to become the dominant group, of which ultimately, we have become the most intelligent (or at least, so we think!).  What would have happened if that meteor hadn’t struck Earth when it did?  Would dinosaurs (or whatever they would have evolved into) have become as intelligent as we did?  Would they have learned to make fire, build shelters, farm food?  Possibly.  Would they ultimately have learned to create radio signals?

For me, there are some questions which I cannot get my head around.  One being “is life (in all forms) as we know it inevitable if you put living cells on a planet similar to Earth?”

We are only here (with our radios) as a result of some pretty crazy events on the cosmic timeline.  If you started from scratch, and put the first living cells back on this planet now, what are the odds that millions and millions of years later, the ‘leading’ product of evolution would emerge, complete with radios?

Personally, I think we’re crazy to hope that someone or something will return our radio signals.  Life has taken millions of forms since it started on this planet, and only one has created the technology that we take for granted these days, and made a concerted effort to study the universe outside of our atmosphere.  I know the odds of anything we have observed happening again are miniscule, and in most cases, I would say that, with the number of stars and planets out there, it would probably have happened again somewhere, but the odds of it happening within ‘earshot’ of our radio signals seems too small for me.

As many people have said, I would die a happy man if we were able to discover life in some form, within or especially outside of our solar system within my lifetime.  I’m not sure any individual, government, or country will find themselves willing and / or able to put the resources required into this area of research, and that thought makes me really quite sad.

[Pete Presland]

Probably not, but if they are intelligent they will give us wide berth!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[Crebles]

Enceladus is in our solar system. I agree - that'll have to keep us content for an awfully long while as the distances to other systems are simply too far, even with Science Fiction rocket drives.

[bogdog]

this was worth watching

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAFGFs1yRkI