Extra Terrestrial Intelligence

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A_Wanderer

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Peoples opinions on the subject of Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.

I think that it is highly probable to exist elsewhere in the universe.

I will throw my chip in later when some ideas are on the table. Please discuss your thoughts on the existence of such beings and what forms such intelligent life may take. Is such a form an inevitability given enough time in a suitiable environment.
 
I strongly believe that there is no extra-terrestrial life in this solar system, and all the suppossed encounters on this earth are totally false. However, I am of a firm belief that there are 'aliens' out there in other galaxies\solar systems. That is an undisputable fact in my mind. When you think about how big the universe is, you will have to be naive to think that we're all alone. Whether in the form of organisms or full beings, we are definately not alone. We will most likely not encounter any 'aliens' for another 200 years when we can break out of our solar system.
All that flying saucer stuff is just bullshit IMO. And I doubt they'll take on the stereotypical form of a green dude with a big head and big eyes. :wink:
But there are beings out there waiting to be discovered, it's just a matter of time.
 
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This is like my UFO thread in LS. It's entirely possible that there is life elsewhere in the universe. We haven't enountered it, but that doesn't mean it's not there.
 
Now the existence of is only a fraction of the question. If such intelligences existed what form would you expect them to take?
 
I thought E.T. and Alf were pretty cool so I don't want to be too judgemental of them.

But yeah, I agree with Aussie. To think we are the only planet with life seems a little arogant to me.

Gotta go. have been inspired to dig out my X Files videos.
 
A_Wanderer said:
Now the existence of is only a fraction of the question. If such intelligences existed what form would you expect them to take?

I honestly have no idea. I feel totally clueless about this.
 
I think its very possible that there's life on other planets. When you see the stars, you know that they're suns in other solar systems that would also have planets. How could our planet be the only one out of say, millions of planets with life on it?

I think it would really cool if we came into contact with people from another planet, but scary too
 
So far, the idea that intelligent life (or even just life) exists outside our planet is based on the default belief that given the magnitude of the universe, it must have happened somewhere else.

The many unique factors which allow life to exist on this planet, taken all in combination, actually make the likelihood of life elsewhere very small.
 
But given the minimum volume of the universe
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where R is equal to 6.5 Billion LY that is one hell of a lot of space.
 
nb-- you're assuming we have intelligent life on this planet to compare other life forms to. I'm not so sure about that. :)
 
AussieU2fanman said:
I strongly believe that there is no extra-terrestrial life in this solar system, and all the suppossed encounters on this earth are totally false. However, I am of a firm belief that there are 'aliens' out there in other galaxies\solar systems. That is an undisputable fact in my mind. When you think about how big the universe is, you will have to be naive to think that we're all alone. Whether in the form of organisms or full beings, we are definately not alone. We will most likely not encounter any 'aliens' for another 200 years when we can break out of our solar system.
All that flying saucer stuff is just bullshit IMO. And I doubt they'll take on the stereotypical form of a green dude with a big head and big eyes. :wink:
But there are beings out there waiting to be discovered, it's just a matter of time.

Undisputable fact, huh? hehe:wink:

Yeah, I guess I'm arrogant and believe there are no other life forms out there.
 
AussieU2fanman said:
I strongly believe that there is no extra-terrestrial life in this solar system, and all the suppossed encounters on this earth are totally false. However, I am of a firm belief that there are 'aliens' out there in other galaxies\solar systems. That is an undisputable fact in my mind. When you think about how big the universe is, you will have to be naive to think that we're all alone. Whether in the form of organisms or full beings, we are definately not alone. We will most likely not encounter any 'aliens' for another 200 years when we can break out of our solar system.
All that flying saucer stuff is just bullshit IMO. And I doubt they'll take on the stereotypical form of a green dude with a big head and big eyes. :wink:
But there are beings out there waiting to be discovered, it's just a matter of time.

i have to disagree with aussie. If it takes 200years to get out of our solar system, why can't there be someone more advanced than us who got out of their galaxy 200years ago from today?
i don't know how the flying saucer thing first started, whether it was witnessed or just conceived by some science fiction writer...
Plus, it doesn't have to be the same factors in combination as nbcrusader said to create intelligent life forms, if there is, then there are humans elsewhere in the universe, but different factors are always able to create some sort of life form, solid, air, liquid or whatever.
This is a really interesting topic, but there's never enough evidence to reach to a conclusion...
 
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This discussion is limited mainly by the fact that we have a very limited understanding of what "intelligent life" means. It was actually a passage in an old LSAT that I can remember clearly - because human capability to understand things which they have no knowledge of or experience with is so limited, then their definition of intelligent life is limited to only that which they understand and have readily available at their disposal.

I do believe there is "life" elsewhere in the universe, biologically speaking.
 
In theory, there is a 0.00000012% chance that there is no other life in the universe, using the likelihood of creation of water etc. and the sheer size of the known universe.
 
How did you derive that? There are too many variables to come to such a figure, I will wait until we develop the terrestrial planet finder arrays that can detect the exact chemical composition of an extrasolar planets atmosphere before making such a claim.

As it stands we know that planets orbit other stars, but what we don't know is if the formation of terrestrial planets is common. Life as we know it would need to be on a terrestrial planet with the proper tempreture and atmosphere. And for intelligence to evolve that is probably rare, I mean 3.7 billion years of life on this planet and only one species pops up that we would consider intelligent life (I know that dolphins are there, they probably have intelligence and conciousness but there is no civilization). Best thing that we have now is the drake equation - and that is missing critical variables.
 
sharky said:
nb-- you're assuming we have intelligent life on this planet to compare other life forms to. I'm not so sure about that. :)

Actually, I would broaden my comment to refer to any form of carbon based life (essentially, life as we know it).
 
What we consider to technically be life is probably common throughout the universe. But Complex Life Forms are probably rare and perhaps even unique to Earth itself. If you ever get the chance, read the book "Rare Earth". Its written by an Astronomer and a Geologist. Once you read this, you'll have a new understanding of just how amazing it is that complex life on earth even exists.

It talks about of course how important the atmosphere and position of the earth to the sun is. But it also talks about other vital things such as the MOON! YEP, without the moon, and its effects on the Earth, complex life would not be possible. There would be no seasons and the axis of the earth would be tilted in such a way that one of the poles would constantly be facing the sun while the rest of the planet would be deprived or devoid of sunlight. How was Earth's Moon formed? Another planet collided with the Earth early in the history of the Solar System. How often does that happen with an Earth-Moon system that we have being the result? Another thing is that the Moon very slowly gets farther away from the earth as time passes. If the situation were reversed, the Moon would eventually collide with the earth producing a situation that would indeed wipe out complex life forms.

Jupiter and the other planets with their orbits are vital in stabilizing the Solar System and helping to attract and remove rocks and debris that could wipe out complex life on earth. The orbits of nearly all planets that have been found in other Solar Systems are eliptical instead of circular. All it takes is one planet with an eliptical orbit to create conditions that could prevent the development of complex life forms in the Solar System.

The Galaxy that the Earth is in is also ideal as well as the Sun and Earths position in that Galaxy. Were positioned far from the center where conditions tend to be chaotic, but far from the outer regions where the elements are to light to form the type of stars and planets needed for complex lifeforms.


After reading this book, I still think its possible that ET is out there, but because ET is so rare and the Universe is so vast, Humans are unlikely to ever ecounter ET.
 
the way i see it, it is not entirely unlikely that there are other living organisms out in space somewhere. i just think it is a waste of time to speculate on such a remote and abstract idea. we have plenty to worry about on this little green planet of our own.
 
People will panic when they learn that the existence of UFO's has been kept a secret from them for at least the last 57 years.
 
And, of course, one of the most intangible variables to plot in the equation is that of time. The universe being somewhere between 10 to 15 billion years old, you could've already had many organisms that developed into "higher intelligence" beings that resulted in technologically advanced civilizations, existed for millions or billions of years, and then died off (maybe with their stars). Or, there could be many organisms just starting off in some new star system that (similar to earth's) 3.7 billion years from now may result in advanced civilizations.

Still, i think probabilities are improving that there are a high number of habitable planets that could be found. I just saw a PBS show last week where they said planet hunters are looking for solar systems similar to ours...with the giant gas planets in the outer parts of the system (with circular orbits) to suck in all the space debris (comets and asteroids), so any potential habitable inner planets are protected as much as possible.

As to the kind of life? Tough one to imagine.
 
I really have no idea if there is life out there...but what i DO know is that i HAVE seen an "unidentified flying object" before. Not sure if it was alien or whatever but i do know that i have no idea what it was
 
Well I cannot believe that all this space is only for us. Seems like a great waste of space I believe was the line from Contact. As far as if anybody not of this world has been to this world--I've never witnessed it myself but I'm not about to shrug off the sightings by alot of people who I believe cannot simply be written off as "nuts."
 
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