what do you think; Are we alone?

[RevanA4]

ok I've often thought about what life exists out side our solar system and even our galaxy.

 

I wonder what others think

 

basically we can discuss the possiblity of whats out there in the vastness of space.

[JediKnight707]

No, I do not think that we are alone. I'm a Christian of sorts, so I don't think that God would have created this big-ass universe just to put a couple billion people on one measly planet. So, NO I don't think that we are.

[The Doctor]

This could go very wrong. My brother and I have come to blows on this subject...

 

Anyway, I think that there is life out there. There has to be.

 

Religon Based Reasoning:Why would God create the entire universe, all the stars, the gasses, and everything else, and place just a single sentient species. He wouldn't.

 

Scientific Based Reasoning: What are the chances of the human race being the only organisms capable of evolving into sentience?

 

Here's another question for you:

Do you think that the universe is infinite?

 

I think not. If there were infinite space, not only would there need to be an infinite amount of matter to fill it to classify it as the universe, but there would also need to be an infinite amout of light, and our night sky would not be dark.

[GrandMaster]

I don't believe we are alone just as a repetition of above i think with all the planets and stars etc etc I think its just a bit narrow minded to think out of all those possible habitable planets that only ours has spawned organic life!!!! I think the question is when will we find it?

[The Doctor]

^ Maybe, maybe not. I think that the species are strategically placed so that they will not meet until they are ready for it.

[RevanA4]

Here's another question for you:

Do you think that the universe is infinite?

 

I think not. If there were infinite space, not only would there need to be an infinite amount of matter to fill it to classify it as the universe, but there would also need to be an infinite amout of light, and our night sky would not be dark.

 

 

that my friend depends on many factors as there are many theories out there I read and artical just the other day called the universal chain theory I believe thats what it was called

 

Basically it states the no the universe is not infinite but there are an infinte number of universes out there all linked together like a chain...blah...blah...blah

 

I'll find it later

 

others believe that each black hole leads to another universe

 

there are many many different possiblites out there

[Vladimir-Vlada]

Several million stars class G (Sun class), orbited by several planets around each of them in just one Galaxy of about... 673 million galaxies (if not even more) and we are the only Life formed in the Universe? It's like saying that life is impossible.

 

There is a high chance of life existing outside of our Solar System.

[RevanA4]

^ Maybe, maybe not. I think that the species are strategically placed so that they will not meet until they are ready for it.

 

 

I see we have another outerspace nut in our midst

 

I for one believe that what intelligent life is out thier hasn't contacted us because we aren't ready to handle it XD

[edlib]

No... the odds against us being the only sentient life form in the entire universe are just too high.

There must be someone else out there, although it may be centuries or even millennia (if our own species can manage to keep it together that long) before we make even radio contact. And that's likely to be only one-way for huge stretches of time.

 

The universe is not infinite, although, for all intents and purposes to our species, it is. However much there is, it's unlikely that anybody will ever see it all before the last sun cools and the entire thing goes dark.

Remember, except for the very closest objects inside of our own galaxy, everything we can see is how it was millions of years ago. Expansion has already brought those objects even further away from then they currently appear.

 

Then there's always the question of alternate universes, hidden dimensions, other planes of existence, 'branes', and the rest of the theoretical "Multi-verse" that things really get out of hand.

[The Doctor]

The concept of the "multiverse" is a little strange. Yes, it's sound (in a way), but it's not really believeable. The idea that there are countless dimensions, one varying only slightly from the one before it? It's a little more out there than I can tolerate.

[El Sitherino]

It's not that much farther out there than other life. The popular versions of it however, are crap and disgust me.

[The Doctor]

^ The popular version is waht I was referring to: that there is a seperate dimension created by each possible choice that anyone can make - it's too.... crazy for me.

[Aash Li]

The concept of the "multiverse" is a little strange. Yes, it's sound (in a way), but it's not really believeable. The idea that there are countless dimensions, one varying only slightly from the one before it? It's a little more out there than I can tolerate.

 

You say that, but youre a doctor who fanatic... the whole show if I remember correctly revolves around different dimensions. If Im wrong, Im sure youll correct me.

 

As for the original question. No were not alone... its too unlikely that wed be the only sentient species or even non-sentient species to have been created/evolved/replicated/whatever.

[edlib]

The idea that there are countless dimensions, one varying only slightly from the one before it?

Well, there are many different theories, all of which come out of exploring different aspects of our universe that seem to have no rational explanation.

 

That particular theory that you described came out of the 2-slit photon experiment.

 

The others come out of the mathematical quirks necessary to make quantum mechanics or the various string theories possible.

[The Doctor]

@Aash Li: Damn right I'll correct you:xp:

 

The Doctor travels through time saving lives. He only visits other dimensions a few times (off the top of my head, in the episodes "Full Circle", in which he travels to E-Space by mistake, and "Inferno", where he travels to a parallel universal Earth). The episodes where he leaves our dimension are my least favourite, as they are more far-fetched than the rest of the series (which, admittedly, is a difficult feat).

[RevanA4]

^ The popular version is waht I was referring to: that there is a seperate dimension created by each possible choice that anyone can make - it's too.... crazy for me.

 

 

why is it to crazy for you I mean think about it every choice we make either takes us down a different path or along the same path we were headed on

 

its not all that impossible if you think about how many choices we make in our life time

 

there is however a scientific document on the code of conduct at the point of first contact *searching for it as we speak* I read it once and man its intresting it even goes into how the no government offical is to be notified about the occurance because as far as uncle sam is conserend they are public enemy number one

 

they even have a list of what types of people with be present to meet the aliens

 

and before you go saying I'm nuts it was in popluar science magazine that I read it

[The Doctor]

^ I wasn't going to accuse you of being nuts. Talk about hypocrisy.

[Aash Li]

Ok children calm down and play nicely. Ive always liked the idea of alternate dimensions, and Ive always wondered what I was like in said dimensions.

[The Doctor]

^:confused:Play nicely? I see no indication that were were doing otherwise.

[stoffe]

basically we can discuss the possiblity of whats out there in the vastness of space.

 

Here are my thoughts...

 

Possibility of:

Life in the vastness of space: Doubtful, vacuum is not very habitable.

Life on other planets/moons: Of course

Sentient life on other planets: Most likely

That life looking/thinking like humans: Probably not

That life ever visiting our planet: Very unlikely

 

As said before, with the size of the known universe with billions of stars orbited by planets, it's highly unlikely that this is the only planet which has spawned any life forms. Most life-forms are probably very simple, single-cell organisms or bacteria, but the universe is big enough that there are still probably thousands if not millions of other sentient species living at the same time as we are, and lots more on the way of achieving sentience (and lots probably having gone extinct already).

 

That said, most of those sentient life-forms probably look and think very differently from us, as reflected by the world they evolved on, their own physiology and they way they have evolved by freak chance. Some would probably be so odd, seen by human eyes, that we wouldn't even recognize them as life at all.

 

The same vastness of space also makes it highly unlikely that any of those species, if having developed space travel, have gone any further than their own home planetary system. Thus the only chance of two sentient species meeting would be if they evolved on the same planet or on planets orbiting the same star. Since the remaining planets in the Solar system appears to show no sign of sentient inhabitants (as far as we can tell), I find it quite unlikely that humans would ever get in contact with another sentient species.

 

Which is probably a good thing, since humans have a tendency of wanting to subjugate any other culture they come across. And this is probably not a trait unique to humans.

[RobQel-Droma]

Hard question. I'd have to say yes, I think that there is at least some kind of life out there somewhere. I pretty much agree with what Stoffe said. Its a big universe, who knows- we might get way out there and find several kinds of alien species roaming around, doing pretty much what we are doing, whatever. Maybe even wondering whether they are the only life in the universe like we are right now.

 

Which is probably a good thing, since humans have a tendency of wanting to subjucate any other culture they come across. And this is probably not a trait unique to humans.

 

Quoted for emphasis! I completely agree.

[The Doctor]

This kind of debate is what makes me love shows like Star Trek, even if they are unrealistic. I mean, what are the odds that the language will stay the same 400 years later, like in Trek.

 

I believe that any alien life out there would have to be very different, just like Stoffe said. It depends on how they evolved, and what their beliefs are.

[stingerhs]

well, its hard to tell one way or the other. scientifically, you can't just say "Life exists on other worlds" because we have no evidence of it. it makes a good hypothesis considering the vastness of the universe, but otherwise, we have absolutely nothing that can either prove nor disprove that hypothesis.

 

another thing to consider is the chances of life spontaneously forming out of a bunch of proteins. religious considerations aside, all experiments to duplicate this have failed. we don't really know why, but if life is such an easy thing to create, then how come we can't duplicate it under laboratory conditions? then if you start looking at how violent the pre-life stages of Earth are supposed to have been, the possbility of life forming out of a bunch of proteins is slim to none. if the chances for life to form here on Earth was difficult, then its a reasonable assumption to say that life forming on other worlds is equally difficult. now, if you also take into account how incredibly delicate the conditions are here on Earth for life to exist at all due to gravity, distance from the Sun, rotating on an axis, the distance of the Moon's orbit, etc, the chances of life forming on another planet really begin to dim signifigantly.

 

religiously, the possibilities are endless. we could very well be looking at a whole universe teeming with abundant life. and given that God exists outside of time itself, there could be entire dimensions that exist full of many different and magnificent things that we couldn't even begin to imagine.

 

personally, i think its possible, but its something that i'll leave for the realm of sci-fi than making attempts to see if life really does exist elsewhere in the universe.

[Sabretooth]

Well a lot of guys above have said what I had to say, but since I'm not in a spammy mood:

 

There has to be life on other planets. There is always a possibility of it not happening, since we have not acquired contact with them, but then, we've only started half a century ago and covered less than 1% of the Universe.

 

As for the Multiverse, I believe in it. The universe is a strange, strange place and their is always a possibility of a fourth dimension...

[T7nowhere]

I used to think about this alot when I was a kid, but now Its not so important to me unless it turns into War of the Worlds here.

 

If there isn't life on other planets in the universe then that is alot of waisted space, to much for us to ever fill.