Aleins

[Viking]

actually, arnt we carbon based?

Yes, that is right, I was unsure whether to call it "carbon based" or "waterbased". I think he called it waterbased, but I`ll correct it.

[Don Corleone]

Hard to say. Traditionally, we've referred to ourselves as carbon based, as that is the base element in organic molecules. But.... we're something like 70% water. I think we should describe ourselves as water based.

[Big_John]

Not true. Life arose only some hundred million years after the creation of the Earth, and at that time Earth was still heavily bombarded. That means that micro organisms could have travelled on big pieces of rock that was thrown in to space and potentially infected planets like Mars. Or the other way round: Mars infected Earth and we`re all Martians.

you said the "early beginning" of the solar system, which is ~11-13 billion years old. life could not have existed on the earth during the first half of the solar system's existence. for one, the earth body itself probably hasn't been in existence more than 5 billion years. and even once most of the body had formed, accretion rates were still high enough that the early earth was molten. it is highly unlikely that life formed on earth until after accretion had slowed enough for the earth to form a crust (and an atmosphere). this is what i meant by "life did not come into being on earth until well after the solar system had calmed down".

in any case, i agree that life can be transferred between planets, large enough impacts to do such happen to this day. however, i don't consider earth life seeding mars (or vice-versa) to be an example of what we are talking about. by "extraterrestrial life", i mean life that has different origins to the life found on earth.

Well, if it's more or less, the point of that post was to show people that, with the amount of stars, solar systems and galaxies out there, the probability that there would be life on others worlds in close to 100%

i still don't see how you have enough information to compute any probability, assuming the universe of not infinite in size.

[Sigurd]

I guess agnosticism is the safe choice on this issue as it is with other big issues.
That the ancients believed in other worlds (a world is a populated planet) is pretty sure.
The Zohar (a commentary on the books of Moses) mentions worlds created and destroyed by God.
Abraham looked and beheld the universe through two stones and saw worlds without number. He saw the world where God resided.
Moses was told that God had created worlds without number but that God would only show him this one. “You can’t take it if I showed you my other worlds”(parph).
It is also interesting that the ancients called the supreme God by a plural name, suggesting that there were many. This is true even in ancient Judaism.
If you were to look at the other ancient religions there is much supporting the idea that we are not alone.

In the event of an angel teleporting through my roof saying he is from the 1000 year revolving Kolob and that I have better believe in the supreme God Elohim, his son Jehovah and the unnamed Holy Ghost or else… I will continue being an agnostic with a soft spot for religion.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

WTF!? Everyone knows we don't exist! What are you, stupid? D'oh!

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

I can't imagine we're the only intelligent lifeform out there.

I am unaware of the existance of ANY intelligent life forms.

[Ianofsmeg16]

i still don't see how you have enough information to compute any probability, assuming the universe of not infinite in size.

BAH! I've always been bad at maths.....i beleive there] is other life out there, you may not believe, i dont mind.

And would we know what aliens looked like...wheneveer somebody has an experience with aliens, be it Abduction or the film Independance day, they always seem to portray aliens as human like, whether it be an insect or an intelligent crystal they always seem to portray human emotions and actions, like speech, for one thing, maybe these aliens have no concept of death, therefore cannot die(like you can't chop someones arm off if they dont have an arm)? anyway that is my bit.

p.s Read Sphere by Michal Crichton, damn good book, s'bout aliens

[Divinus Arma]

That humans thought the earth was flat during the middle ages is a myth from the nineteenth century.

Prove it. This is one hell of a statement. Sure there were a few underground scientitsts, but that's about it. They all thought Columbus would fall off the side of the world. Myth? Promulgated by whom?

I say again: Prove it.

[Big_John]

BAH! I've always been bad at maths.....i beleive there] is other life out there, you may not believe, i dont mind.

i'm not talking directly about belief; believe what you like. i'm just curious about people's foundation for the belief in alien life. personally, i don't think we have a statistical basis to form an opinion. hence, i remain neutral, neither believing nor disbelieving.

Prove it. This is one hell of a statement. Sure there were a few underground scientitsts, but that's about it. They all thought Columbus would fall off the side of the world. Myth? Promulgated by whom?

I say again: Prove it.

i certainly couldn't prove it, but iirc, the spherical earth model was common in antiquity (e.g. ptolemy, eratosthenes, pythagoras, aristotle). it was challenged by flat-earth models propagated by early christian authors (on scriptural grounds) in the early "dark ages". but i don't think it's clear to what extent flat-earth teachings were prominent, or what the more commonly held belief was, either among learned people or the common man. in the medieval period, certainly, the generally accepted idea seems to be the geocentric model of the universe (which has a spherical earth).

it'll always be difficult to estimate the belief's of the common man in the medieval period. however, by the 1100s learned men were already trying to estimate the circumference of a spherical earth. flat-earth ideas have always been around, but they weren't accepted among the scholars of the medieval period to any great degree.

[HunkinElvis]

i don't mean to hijack the thread, but i'd like to know one thing; all of you who believe that extraterrestrial life is likely, what is your basis for that belief?

Well than what is the basis of your belief that there are no aliens? You have not been to the entire universe. Therefore you do not have proof that there are no aliens.

[Viking]

you said the "early beginning" of the solar system, which is ~11-13 billion years old. life could not have existed on the earth during the first half of the solar system's existence.

Sorry, my mistake

[Big_John]

Well than what is the basis of your belief that there are no aliens?

i do not believe there are no aliens; i'm neutral on the issue, atm.