Are we alone in the universe???

[Game & Watch]

A question that is unsolved and can or cannot remain unsolve. Do you think that us, we as people, mammels, bacteria, etc. are the only thing in this universe?

I belive that we are, for the thousands of years that man has been on earth and the techology made to find the planets, stars, etc. and we still haven't found any other form of life. We have got to be the only life in the universe.

 

[dejavu3k]

there has gotta be another life-sustaining planet in this universe...so, we are not alone in this universe...it would be really screwed up if we were...

 

[Stompman]

I honestly believe that there is life on other planets. However, I don't believe there are aliens with super-powerful space cruisers that could destroy the planet. Instead, I think there are people, similar in structure to us, out there pondering the same question. Honestly, from a scientific standpoint, chances are really good that another life-supporting planet exists in outer space. From a religious standpoint, I don't think that God would create one planet that had lifeforms and create billions of others as decorations for the people on Earth. Will we ever come into contact with these other life forms? Probably no. Can believe that other life exists logically? Yes.

 

[bball2012]

We're not alone, that's impossible. Do you have any idea how big the universe is? There are billions of suns (stars) out there giving energy to planets just as our sun does for earth. The universe is expanding as we speak, and stars are being born and stars are dying. Of course there are other creatures in the universe. But for all we know, it could just be bacteria. Or it could be creatures that have undergone trillions of years of evolution. We don't know, and we won't know until long after everyone at these forums are dead.

 

[Muffinman389]

Of course there is. First, bacterial life has been proven to exist on Mars. Second, with the huge perhaps infinate reaches of the universe, it would be absurd to have only one planet with intelligent life. Now, I don't believe in those little blue men in flying saucers that come to earth and abduct people for experimenting as they please. To me, that's rubbish. I think that other breeds of life will have means of living that are completly unfathumable to us.

 

[Evil Eye]

Well, answering your question is a matter of how one thinks, and how one thinks varies on the person. A 'Trekkie/Spacey' person would think that there is already such proof, latching themself to whatever evidence that can be found; relevant or not. A skeptic would think that there's no chance, basing their argument on things such as that only our atmosphere is suitable for life. I, myself, fit inbetween somewhere. I think that the universe is far too vast for there to be only one planet like ours; and even so, I'm sure some life-forms have adapted to odd atmosphere, or lack there of. However, the next time I see a shooting star, I'm not gonna crack out the interstellar-radar-communication equipment. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

-I

 

[Samus_2021]

I believe that there is other life forms out there in our infinately vast universe.

To follow up with what bball2012 said; Think about it. There are millions beyond millions of stars within our galaxy alone. And on top of that, countless more galaxies. Think of all those planets that orbit around each and every one of those stars.

Sure, not every solar system is going to have the right "requirements" to make up a hospitable planet (by requirements I mean: right distance from the sun, hydrogen and many other things that make up the primordial soup).

But solar systems very similar to ours do exist, although our technology is not developed enough to actually scan these other solar systems for life, only time will tell and hopefully end our question that always remains in the back of our mind, "Are we alone?"

<small>[ April 01, 2002, 01:02 AM: Message edited by: Samus_2021 ]</small>

 

[Evil Dr. Reef]

I think there is some kind of life out there. One thing that really bugs me is that scientists say that life cannont be sustained on planets that aren't like Earth with oxygen and water and stuff. People say all too often that that's the reason no other life can exist in our solar system. The fact is that life can exist just about anywhere. In laboratories, they have testing zones where they subject bacteria to conditions based on what they know the planet Jupiter to be like. The bacteria survived. If we do find life somewhere, I doubt it will be intelegent, but hey, who knows. A spot that people are speculating about is one of Jupiter's moons (Can't remember the name of it, but it's the one that's made entirely of ice). The ice is supposedly only a mile or 2 deep, so the rest of the water underneath is liquid. Who knows, maybe some intelegent life evolved under the water but they can't leave the sea because of their bodies. Maybe they're like jellyfish that, if stranded out of water, die rapidly. Who knows, but I think that there must be at least some single celled creature out there.

 

[Arrow]

I agree with this ^ guy. The universe is a pretty big place... I'd say there are pretty good odds that there are at least single-celled organisms and bacteria thriving on other worlds. Maybe even plant or animal life. I do not however believe that it's likely that any alien species has acheived any where near the level of intelligence that humanity has. I used to be a big fan of UFOs, and the unexplained. But the more I researched, the more I became aware of just how weak UFO theories actually are. It's still fun to read stories and see picture of UFOs... but I don't believe any of them are actually real anymore.

 

[RyokoYaksa]

The technology that we use to find galaxies and other solar systems beyond ours does little to find life in any way. The universe is uncomparatively HUGE, and our technology doesn't reach that far at all into the depths of space, and is useless for detecting life forms. On top of that, matter (planets) is very, very spread out and diversed in space. Differently originating life forms don't exactly just run into each other, even if both sides are on the lookout for one another.

I, for one, believe that there is life outside our solar system. While we have very little to work from, we know that the universe is large with innumerable masses that may or may not support life. Considering how vast the universe is and truly how little we know about the matter out there, it would be self-centered and practically ludicrous to matter-of-factly say that we are the only life.

 

[Evil Eye]

Dr. Reef just reminded me of something. It almost seems egotistical that scientists say that only our planet is suitable for life. This bothers me a great deal, because they're basically assuming that, no matter HOW vast our universe is, the only intelligent life out there is like us; assuming there is any.

How do they exactly KNOW that we are the only form of intelligent life? We adapted to OUR atmosphere, I'm willing to bet that there's life out there that adapted to THEIR atmosphere, and OUR atmosphere would be poison to them.

Another thing that bothers me, is how there is supposedly so many aliens out there shoving probes up abducted people's anuses. This cannot be true because of these things:

1) If they are so much more advanced, then why would they have to study a species less evolved, unless they needed lab-rats?

2) If there are so many different saucers that come to our planet, then that suggests that there are many, many, MANY different alien races close enough to get to us. If there are so many, why would we be the only species to be studied, if a different species arrives almost every day? Isn't there a more interesting species to mutilate?

Let's face it, the eggheads are wrong. Read the above, and think about it.

-I

 

[tmw_redcell]

Life opn other planets? Almost certainly. Carbon is not a rare element at all, and I'm sure you all know that life on earth is Carbon-based.

Of course, one shouldn't rule out the possibility that life can exist in non-carbon based organisms.

Now, the universe does go on forever, but the planets do not. If you had some sort of infinite speed spaceship of wonder you could go to a point where you are simply going through a vast mpty void. The universe is infinite, but the number of planets is not. But, there is a rather large amount of them, and scientist estimate that somewhere around eight of them would be almost ideantical to Earth, same atmosphere and soil or whatnot. I can't remember the source, however, but I think it was in Scientific American magazine.

Is that life intelligent? Are there aliens that wath us and have intergalactic megacannons and other cool hyperfuturistic garbage?

The chances are small.

It isn't the natural order of evolution for things to get smarter over time. The occurences of intelligent life would be incredibly rare, and it may be possible that our race never comes in contact with another intelligent alien race.

 

[*Sabre_wulF*]

I personally beleive that there IS Life out there. How do I know?

First, of all, Game and Watch, your statement isn't entirely true. Humans have only been looking, at least with actual technology, for life for the past 30 years. They haven't even looked beyond this galaxy yet, besides one instance, where they may have found a planet from the nearest galaxy to ours. You must remember that a galaxy is one speck of a universe, and each of those trillions of stars you see at night are galaxies.
Many scientists seem more interested in making other planets suitable for us to live on, or look for naturalresources, like minerals, that would be of use.

My theory? There are more living things than what lives on earth, yet there may be cats or dogs on other planets. I also beleive that on each of these planets suitable for human life that there is a species that found a way to evolve, and that our planet happened to evolve primates.

I beleive that, for instance, one planet may have had dinosaurs at the same time we did on Earth, but these Dinosaurs never became extinct. I beleive that instead, these dinosaurs evolved into human forms. I've seen in a book what dinosaurs would look like if they had evolved, and they look much like the science-fiction versions of aliens, with the green bodies, big heads. The differences are that the eyes weren't big black lemons, they were reptilian. Also, the skin was scally and plated.

In conclusion, yes, there MUST be at least ONE planet out of googleplexes of galaxies out there cantaining life, if not intelligent life..

<small>[ April 01, 2002, 02:36 PM: Message edited by: *Sabre_wulF* ]</small>

 

[Quirky_hamster1]

Since all the points have pretty much been stated already Ill just add a bit.

Just take one night and sit outside and look at the sky. Now multiply the stars you see by a few hundred million. Then think about how each one of those stars can have its own set of planets revolving around as well. There's got to be at least one more planet with 'intelligent' life and thousands with 'simple' organisms like amoeba, bacteria etc.

 

[Evil Dr. Reef]

I wanted to post this little thing I've seen numerous times on alien documentaries. It's called the Drake Equation, named after the man who first started using radio telescopes to look for aliens. The equation is kinda based on Earth-like life, but it's still relevant nevertheless. The equation is:

The number of intelegent civilizations =

The rate of formation of sun-like stars

TIMES

The fraction of those sun-like stars with planet systems

TIMES

The number of planets with liquid water in those systems

TIMES

The fraction of those planets in which life develops

TIMES

The fraction of those planets where the simple life evolves into intelegent life

TIMES

The fraction of those planets with intelegent life develops technology to send signals into space

TIMES

The length of time the civilization sends signals into space.

 

[DarkLink111]

I believe that there is life outside of earth as well. Not necessarily intelligent, but life nonetheless. If there is intelligent life out there, they are probably alot like the aliens in E.T. What i mean by that is that they're peaceful, and only come to Earth to study. I don't believe in abduction stories or anal probes, 'cause that's just crap made up by lots of drunk rednecks or cowboy-wannabes.(ever notice that?) The aliens in E.T. came to earth to collect plant life, because thier whole planet revolves around vegetation. That's probably what an intelligent civilization would most likely do. Not abduct and perform experiments on people without a very good education. Just my two cents.

 

[Chaotic Yoshi]

About it being impossible for us to come in contacts with those life-forms that are most like-ly out there. This planet is VERY limited, Population doubles, while resources [insert opposite of double]. There is a chance that another planet may have enough resources for it's life-forms to evovle enough to travel lightyears and whatnot, but then again, Planet Earth might be the most evolved planet, so it is possible to come in contact if there other life-forms have had a good enough head start to figure out something, but it's highly unlikely because Earth will probally waste away before we come in contact.

-Chaotic

 

[James macloud]

theres a greater chance that we not alone than that we are. (Stistice GCSE LOL)

 

[smashbro]

The ironic thing is: chances are, there are other life forms out there. Nonetheless, we have absolutely no substantial evidence of it.

By the way, the question should read, "Is there intelligent life on other planets." Like someone said before, there have been traces of bacteria on mars.

 

[Battlecruiser Operational]

It is logically impossible that we are alone. Based on the assumption that the universe is infinite, there is no limit to anything, therefore there must be more life out there because the universe is everything and goes on forever. It's hard to put into words...

Garg. I give up.

 

[Gamer4Fire]

Venus is described as a planet in a primordial state, such as earth was when the first living things were created...

Maybe if we sent a butt load of bacteria and stuff to Venus, we could instigate life for the planet. Although, we wouldn’t know of the effects for thousands of years, but, what an experiment that would be! Imagine if we start life on a planet and they eventually evolve into a conscious species.

 

[James macloud]

life is a rarety. and the chanches of exact human replication is very very slim. but there are alot of know planets which are in early stages of development. and alot unknown. if we did find life the chances they even use the same raidio wave as us is extremly thin. there is inteligent life out there just not as we know it.

P.S.
question for you: what do you think the furthest form of eveloution is (clue it's not SS4 lol) <img border="0" alt="[Laugh]" title="" src="graemlins/laugh.gif" />

 

[smashbro]

I'm confident Venus is mostly filled with all types of horrible gas and heat; thus, unable to sustain life.
It wouldn't matter which radio wave frequency they used. We would be able to pick it up nonetheless. Moreover, it would depend if that radio wave would ever reach us.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Titanium-FiRe]

Well actually smashbro, they might think that it is impossible for us to sustain life because of our atmosphere, and maybe oxygen to them is like acid to us. From a religious perspective, God might have created other life forms and just didn't tell Moses about it for some reason(Moses wrote the first few books of the Bible). But he might not have. Anyways back to smashbro's post, they might not have radio's and they have different technology. or mabye they all died out. Or possibly, they live in another dimension so their "eyes" can only see parts of us such as we can see only bacteria(as muffinman839 said). But i believe(a bit) that maybe life somewhere else may be somewhere far and distant out in the universe, some place that we cannot reach.

 

[Infiltrator]

When you think about it, because the universe is constantly expanding, it is infinitely big. When I say the word "infinite," I mean it. It has no end. Therefore the chances of there being only one planet out of all of the infinitely other planets would be infinitely small. Rather, there would be an infinite number of planets with life on them, but they may be trillions of light years apart. Other whole civilizations incredibly more advanced than us have probably been and gone. There are probably other planets out there with life just beginning. Also, our understanding of what is suitable for sustaining life is primarily based upon what we need. Other life forms could be entirely different, and live in places where we would instanly die.

"There were so many events that had to happen just right to begin life on this planet"

Well, if the universe is infinitely large, there will be an infinite number of times for that lucky combination to happen. To really understand this, you must try to understand that the word "infinite" has no bounds. Most people can't fathom that the universe isn't centered around us. Remeber, people did use to think that. Maybe it will take another thousand years to realize we are far from the "center" of the universe.

 

[Choronis]

i agree that there are other beings in the universe than us on Earth. like bball mentioned, theres millions of stars and suns and galaxies as well that could have planets with other life forms on it, whether theyre aliens or other humans, its quite a big possibility.

 

[Demi-Moon]

Hey, take this for instance : Imagine there were only two planets who had living things in the universe. Don't forget the fact that in, like, 5 billion years, we'll all be engulfed by the expanding sun. When our civilisation would be destroyed, maybe a new one will evolve on another planet. What I'm trying to say is that if life existed on another planet AFTER we disapeared, we wouldn't even be there to know it anymore. Agh, my brain hurts...

 

[tmw_redcell]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by Infiltrator:
<strong>When you think about it, because the universe is constantly expanding, it is infinitely big. When I say the word "infinite," I mean it. It has no end. Therefore the chances of there being only one planet out of all of the infinitely other planets would be infinitely small. Rather, there would be an infinite number of planets with life on them, but they may be trillions of light years apart. Other whole civilizations incredibly more advanced than us have probably been and gone. There are probably other planets out there with life just beginning. Also, our understanding of what is suitable for sustaining life is primarily based upon what we need. Other life forms could be entirely different, and live in places where we would instanly die.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I don't believe that there is an infinite number of planets in the universe. There is infinite space in the universe, but infinite matter? That's quite improbable.

<small>[ May 12, 2002, 12:18 PM: Message edited by: tmw_redcell ]</small>

 

[Bumble Bee Tuna]

The argument that the universe is infinite and thus the chance of there being life is a certainty due to infinite planets is foolish. I believe it was redcell who pointed this out, but it appears Infiltrator did not notice. The Universe is infinite, but the substance inside it is not. Eventually, you reach the end of the universe, where past it is just a void. This is theory, mind you, but there's certainly no good reason to believe that the planets and stars in the universe are infinite...

However, there are a huge number of planets to the point where it SEEMS infinite...but it is not. This does create high chances of life out there, but it does not make it a certainty.

I'd like to introduce a theory as food for thought.

The only way to observe other life currently is to listen for radio waves and such. If we take an anthrocentric view of the universe, we can hypothesize that all intelligent life inevitably creates a society like ours. The time frame from when we created radio to when we created nuclear weapons is a pretty small window in the grand scheme of things. The theory is that eventually, civilizations develop nukes, and destroy themselves. I'm pretty much copying this theory out of a sci-fi novel, but anyway. The other part of the book's theory was that if civilizations did not destroy themselves, they would develop the technology to transfer their minds to computers and then you'd never notice them anymore. That part of the theory is a little crazy. But the idea that all intelligent civilizations eventually destroy themselves is an interesting one. This theory could be expanded to say that all civilizations eventually run out of resources, and have to revert to not using electricity (doubtful), or to say that they inevitably pollute themselves to death.

I'd post more ideas, but I have to go.

-B

 

[smashbro]

Moses didn't write the first few books of the bible. They were written during the exile. Stories were written down and such, eventually common folks and priest alike organized them.

They idea that civilization is created to eventually be doomed is not one I go for. I'm gonna live forever!

 

[Arkane]

I think we are alone.. Why? Earth is freaking rare. I'll edit in if I get any more...

Earth has JUPITER. Jupiter is like a nice big shield for defending us from meteors, due to its density.

Earth has water. I know its possible for other planets to have water, but its pretty... you know, uncommon.

Earth has a nice, MEDIUM SINGLE STAR, not too far, not too close. We ain't Pluto, subzero temperatures everwhere, but thank bob we aint Mercury either. This baby fries... To the point of Humans being burned or melted.. Oh yeah... the fact its a ONE STAR SYSTEM is quite incredible. Remember Star Wars? Luke looks up into the sky and sees two stars rotating around themselves? Well, you know how HOT Stars tend to be? And the stars in that weren't very close...

Volcanic Eruptions i think, can pretty much rid the last chance of other life existing...

But I dunno, really. We will never be able to tell. It's not like Earth's gonna dock on a ship, and travel to our NEAREST galaxy (Andromeda), and wait 22 BILLION YEARS (IF WE WERE GOING THE SPEED OF LIGHT!!.) Besides.. We'd have nothing to come back to, once we left. Sun would have incinerated Earth by then.

(EDIT: Speed of Light, not Life <img border="0" alt="[Laugh]" title="" src="graemlins/laugh.gif" /> )
(2nd Edit: Thanks for correcting me, BBT! I meant Galaxy.. not Universe x.x

<small>[ May 14, 2002, 07:48 PM: Message edited by: Arkane ]</small>

 

[Bumble Bee Tuna]

I beg to differ with one piece of your astronomy...

I'm almost certain that Alpha Centauri is the nearest star to us, not "Andromeda". Though you were talking about "closest universe", which doesn't even exist since there is only one universe. Closest galaxy maybe? We don't need to travel to another galaxy to reach a new set of planets, just travel to another star. And I'm pretty sure I've read in my ultrareliable sci-fi novel sources that Alpha Centauri is only 2 light years away. 22 billion light years is pretty **** far. Of course, if you take relativity into account, a ship going almost the speed of light would have shortened time...so it might take the ship 2 years but meanwhile thousands of years have gone by...I'm not hep to the jive with my relativity so I'm not sure how much the effect would be.

-B

 

[S_O_B_SlasherZ]

We'll you never know. So many possibilities but if there isnt oh we'll if there is oh we'll they might even be more effed up then us so dotn be too excited.We'll thats my two cents........

 

[Arkane]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by Bumble Bee Tuna:
<strong>I beg to differ with one piece of your astronomy...

I'm almost certain that Alpha Centauri is the nearest star to us, not "Andromeda". Though you were talking about "closest universe", which doesn't even exist since there is only one universe. Closest galaxy maybe? We don't need to travel to another galaxy to reach a new set of planets, just travel to another star. And I'm pretty sure I've read in my ultrareliable sci-fi novel sources that Alpha Centauri is only 2 light years away. 22 billion light years is pretty **** far. Of course, if you take relativity into account, a ship going almost the speed of light would have shortened time...so it might take the ship 2 years but meanwhile thousands of years have gone by...I'm not hep to the jive with my relativity so I'm not sure how much the effect would be.

-B</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Thank you for correcting me with that galaxy thing ^^ Hehe...

Yes, Alpha Centauri is 2 light years away, but the closest one is Actually Alpha Proximi... hence the last part of the name, Proximi.

 

[*SHADOW FOX*]

Are we alone in this universe? No. Why? I belive in UFO's that's why. For some reason aliens or other beings do exist flying saucers or space ships ( or whatever you whan't to call them ) are belived to be seen in mayor cities and other places around the world there's even proof that they do exist they recorded and have taken pictures of UFO's also people have proven that some images are fake and made up by other people. But the real question is why do they come here? Why they don't make contact with us?

<small>[ May 17, 2002, 12:19 PM: Message edited by: *SHADOW FOX* ]</small>

 

[RoY iS tHe BeSt]

Well Scientifically scientists haven't been able to prove if there is life besides us in the solor system..However..I hear a rumor that Uranus(haha) May have water under its thick layers of ice..So there can be life there.

 

[B0r3d*m Alien]

I'm starting to think this topic is going nowhere, since it's mostly on sided. Although, alot of people have compared us humans to the aliens. Carbon based? Doesn't really have to. No water? Aliens can adapt to their surroundings by evolving. No air? Like someone said, our oxygen can be acid for them (or vice versa?). It's pretty hard to decide. Before I came into this topic, I was for the aliens, now I go out of this topic still believing in aliens but my thoughts have been altered.

 

[GM Sniper]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by B0r3d*m Alien:
<strong>I'm starting to think this topic is going nowhere, since it's mostly on sided. Although, alot of people have compared us humans to the aliens. Carbon based? Doesn't really have to. No water? Aliens can adapt to their surroundings by evolving. No air? Like someone said, our oxygen can be acid for them (or vice versa?). It's pretty hard to decide. Before I came into this topic, I was for the aliens, now I go out of this topic still believing in aliens but my thoughts have been altered.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Scientifially, humans are more like aliens than animals. "God" may have created us, but here must be more than just one form of "life" in the universe than mankind. And Pro wrestlers too!

 

[Bumble Bee Tuna]

modly bump

 

[Crono]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by RoY iS tHe BeSt:
<strong>Well Scientifically scientists haven't been able to prove if there is life besides us in the solor system..However..I hear a rumor that Uranus(haha) May have water under its thick layers of ice..So there can be life there.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Uranus is a gas giant with no real surface. I'm assuming you mistook Uranus for Europa, one of the Galileo moons of Jupiter.

A "rumor?" Are the astrophysicists passing notes in class again? "Hey Gary, Bonnie told me that Europa has water under it! Pass it on!"

Astrophysicists find it highly likely that Europa (which is covered entirely by ice) actually has an ocean of liquid water beneath its extremely thick ice crust. The ocean is presumably over 20 miles deep and is kept in a liquid state by the thermal energy emitted by the core of Europa.

Life has been discovered near sulfur vents on the ocean floor in the forms of bacteria, crustaceans, and tube worms. Astrobiologists do not doubt that there are bacteria deep within Europa that obtain energy from sulfur evicted through thermal vents, just like on Earth.

<small>[ June 11, 2002, 12:35 AM: Message edited by: Crono ]</small>