Life on other Worlds?

[Wings Don't Cry]

I believe I saw this documentary where they discovered a very simple jellyfish like creature in the oceans of Neptune, but they weren't intelligence and they were nearly microscopic and 98% water.

 

[Neutrino]

People who think that, in all of the Universe, Humans and things that live on Earth are the only species, are just stupid.

 

[icyace]

There has to be life on other planets, we're not the only species!

 

[mike182]

i think its possible that there could have/will be life on other planets
if there WAS life on other planets it probably occurred similarly to earth but there may not have been enough water, oxygen, etc. to support that life

and this is just my idea i could (and probly am) be totally wrong

 

[Neutrino]

Mike, the other life that is on other planets will probably not need water and oxygen to survive. Remember, they will msot likely have different anatomies to us, so they'll have adapted so they can live on the planet's own natural sources.

 

[Haza]

Its kinda odd to assume with no proof that we are alone in this universe.

 

[The Scientist]

I support nitrogen-based life.

 

[Åzurε]

I personally don't think there's other life out there, but if there was, I wouldn't lose my mind or anything.

 

[Gary the Magic Fairy]

I don't know. There are tons of people who think.. "There are trillions and trillions of planets out there, so odds are, one of them has some form of life." But... why?

Okay, the universe is... bigger than we can imagine, lets say infinite. Going by this, there are also an infinite amount of galaxies, stars, solar systems, and planets. Lets say the universe always has been and always will be. Time is infinite in both directions. Forever and always.

People seem to take time out of the equation when they assume there's extraterrestrial life out there. What if there isn't life out there yet? What if we're too late, and missed them? What if they never evolved past microscopic life forms? What if they aren't far enough along to develop intelligence yet?

99.9% of all terrestrial beings are extinct. Life is fragile. What's to say they still exist? We won't be around forever. Eventually we'll go the way of the dodo or Tasmanian tiger. Lets face it, we're lucky to have made it this far. We're flying through space, dodging asteroids, slowly using up our natural resources, irreparably damaging our planet... why would extraterrestrials be luckier? Maybe their last 0.1% finally got it too.

Then there's another problem: we're basically stuck here, and there's no reason to assume that any currently living extraterrestrials have more advanced technology than us and are on a planet close enough to stumble upon us... or that they care. Maybe they aren't as obsessed with other planets as we are, and just worry about their own?

So... even if there is currently life on another distant planet, we're almost certainly too far away for it to effect us in any way. And if there's unintelligent life somewhere within reach, like a moon in our solar system, like microscopic organisms, then we won't be around long enough for them to evolve into anything interesting. If by some ridiculous chance they're animal-like in intelligence, then... whoo, aliens? So what if there's like- jellyfish on Neptune or something? We probably can't bring them here, we for sure can't go there, so... it still doesn't really effect us, other than getting everyone excited and causing them to waste more time, money and effort looking for more when they could be doing something useful on Earth.

tl;dr = It doesn't matter because it's basically impossible for us to contact each other, if they're even alive at this point in time.

 

[Idiot!]

Back here on Earth, we are not the only species. Look at the lizards, birds and fishes.

Out there, probably there is some sort of life form.

 

[Miz en Scène]

I'm a fairly scientific and religious person so here's my view.

Life is a relative term. Generally we think something is a living being when it is carbon/nitrogen/ect. based manifestation of something that can grow and reproduce. However, as I've said, life is a relative term. There could be other forms of life that are not element based nor are physical. They could be photon based, heat based, energy based life forms that do not necessarily have to grow old or reproduce. They would not even have to think.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is. With other creatures, the definition of life varies. For example, a rock at the side of the road. It does not breathe, does not grow, does not reproduce, and it doesn't think. To us, that would mean that it was not a living organism. But, from a rock's point of view, it is there it exists and it has cousins (i.e. gravel, quartz, heavy metals) therefore from its point of view it is a living thing. To it, humans could just be natural phenomena.

Life as I've said is a very relative. Who's to say that beams of light are not life. Even more radical would be, beings made of light. Beings made of heat. Who knows, maybe dark matter is a sentient form of life that makes up much of the mass of the universe.

If, you're still insistent on life on other planets. More commonly speaking, intelligent life. You can use the Drake Equation.

The Drake equation states that:

where:
N is the number of civilizations in our galaxy in which communication might be possible; and
R* is the average rate of star formation per year in our galaxy
fp is the fraction of those stars that have planets
ne is the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets
fℓ is the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life at some point
fi is the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop intelligent life
fc is the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space
L is the length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.[2]

 

[Captain Hobo.]

If there is any life out there we have not proved it yet.

 

[Azonic]

I don't know. There are tons of people who think.. "There are trillions and trillions of planets out there, so odds are, one of them has some form of life." But... why?

Okay, the universe is... bigger than we can imagine, lets say infinite. Going by this, there are also an infinite amount of galaxies, stars, solar systems, and planets. Lets say the universe always has been and always will be. Time is infinite in both directions. Forever and always.

People seem to take time out of the equation when they assume there's extraterrestrial life out there. What if there isn't life out there yet? What if we're too late, and missed them? What if they never evolved past microscopic life forms?

There are a lot of 'What if's to this topic. The point is that we suspect that there ARE other life forms on other planets at this very moment based on the theory that the universe must hold another planet with life because of its colossal size.

It would just be awkward for me to think that this is the only planet in the WHOLE universe to hold life at this very moment.
What if there isn't life out there yet? We'll never be 100% sure of that unless we analyze every possible planet in the universe. We're looking for nearby lifeforms; if they aren't out there yet then that's too bad for us.
If we find out that life has existed on a planet before, then that would play a clue in a theory that will lead us to find out how life began on earth. There's a big mystery for ya.
What if they haven't evolved past microscopic organisms yet? Well, regardless of what stage of evolution they are at, analysis can, as mentioned previously, aid in studies in how life on earth began and related subjects.

I am a strong believer of the theory that we aren't alone in this universe. Theres a HUUUGE amount of space in ... space. It would be ridiculous to think that we, as small as the earth is compared to the universe, would be the ONLY creatures alive.

99.9% of all terrestrial beings are extinct. Life is fragile. What's to say they still exist? We won't be around forever. Eventually we'll go the way of the dodo or Tasmanian tiger. Lets face it, we're lucky to have made it this far. We're flying through space, dodging asteroids, slowly using up our natural resources, irreparably damaging our planet... why would extraterrestrials be luckier? Maybe their last 0.1% finally got it too.

Then there's another problem: we're basically stuck here, and there's no reason to assume that any currently living extraterrestrials have more advanced technology than us and are on a planet close enough to stumble upon us... or that they care. Maybe they aren't as obsessed with other planets as we are, and just worry about their own?

So... even if there is currently life on another distant planet, we're almost certainly too far away for it to effect us in any way. And if there's unintelligent life somewhere within reach, like a moon in our solar system, like microscopic organisms, then we won't be around long enough for them to evolve into anything interesting. If by some ridiculous chance they're animal-like in intelligence, then... whoo, aliens? So what if there's like- jellyfish on Neptune or something? We probably can't bring them here, we for sure can't go there, so... it still doesn't really effect us, other than getting everyone excited and causing them to waste more time, money and effort looking for more when they could be doing something useful on Earth.

tl;dr = It doesn't matter because it's basically impossible for us to contact each other, if they're even alive at this point in time.

Curiosity killed the cat, I suppose. You know a large amount of science is tied into the same point you make. You could apply your point to historical studies, such as what happened before our generation, how the earth began, study of dinosaurs, etc.

If there is any life out there we have not proved it yet.

I did not know that.

wut. wut y wuld ther b aliens?

Massive failure at trolling.

 

[Yuoaman]

Of course there is other life out in the Universe, what form this life takes however, is debatable.

 

[Samurai X]

I am a believer of the Rare Earth theory. I believe that life is very rare in the universe and that the properties of life on Earth and everything that is necessary for there to be life like the size of the planet, star, the presence of an atmosphere, satellites, and many more things is very rare in the universe. While I do believe there is life out there I don't think it's quite as common as everyone believes. Also, to the people who are saying the universe is infinite, it's not, the space in the universe is infinite but mass and matter are finite. It is in theory infinitely expanding and if that theory is true, which it probably is, then we are all going to die eventually because the temperature will eventually reach absolute zero which is the temperature at which molecules stop moving. This is called heat death and it is inevitable. This of course if we survive the destruction of life on our planet by our sun. Yup, the long term future looks bleak for all life.

Or you know, God could save us all.

 

[Richard Lynch]

The original Drake equation:

Can be rewritten as

I'm impressed someone else is familiar with the Drake equation. Carl Sagan used it, and I even saw him calculate it once on Cosmos. If I remember, the number is surprisingly low, and some factors involved in the equation are based on assumptions, which slightly diminishes the quantitative aspect of it. But I still like it, and highly respect Drake for coming up with it.

Arthur C. Clarke made a small speech in Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures that will always stay with me. I don't remember it verbatim, but I'll see if I can get the general gist of it down:

"Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living. Since the dawn of time, roughly a hundred billion human beings have walked the planet Earth. Now this is an interesting number, for by a curious coincidence there are approximately a hundred billion stars in our local universe, the Milky Way. So there is enough space in just our Galaxy for everyone living, and everyone who has ever lived, to have their own world." - Arthur C. Clarke

To think that there is not life out there somewhere is somewhat presumptuous. Probability-speaking, it's less likely that there isn't life out there, when you think about it.

EDIT:

It is in theory infinitely expanding and if that theory is true, which it probably is, then we are all going to die eventually because the temperature will eventually reach absolute zero which is the temperature at which molecules stop moving. This is called heat death and it is inevitable. This of course if we survive the destruction of life on our planet by our sun. Yup, the long term future looks bleak for all life.

It's still debated if Absolute Zero could be even reached. I believe we've come close to 0.0 K, but never got to it. We also don't know what would happen if we ever did. If electrons stopped moving, it's possible the matter would just fall apart. But, taking magnetic force into account, it could be highly dangerous. There are many possibilities! Although, new suns are being formed every day, so it's not like the Universe will become a barren wasteland of giant rocks. Not to mention the rate at which the Universe is expanding is diminishing, if I remember.

Now, Heat Death (the theory) assumes that Entropy will continue to the logical extreme, but doesn't take into account random chance. It's kind of like the absolutist theories, but applied to the inverse. In that sense, Heat Death is rather hard to believe. I was always a fan of the Big Crunch myself (a nice, almost epic closure), but I think that's basically been proven wrong, right? But still, who wouldn't want to become a Black Hole Singularity? haha

Or you know, God could save us all.

I kinda doubt that. :-)

 

[Jolene]

I do think that there's life out there somewhere, considering how huge the universe is. I also think that some of it may be as intelligent or more intelligent than humanity. I hope that in the future, people from Earth will be able to make friends with people from other worlds.

 

[Luck]

Although the chances are pretty low of life forms remotely similar to us arising, I don't believe that out of the whole universe, this tiny blue dot is the only place for life. Life can arise in certain conditions, so maybe not all planets need to be similar to ours to hold the same life forms. They just had to be similar in the primordial form.

I can't believe I forgot about the water channels on Mars, and how Venus was formed similarly to Earth early in its life. If this is all possible in our own solar system, why can't it in distant galaxies?

 

[IcyArceusRider]

I definitely believe there is life on other planets.

I highly doubt that this life is located in our solar system, or else we probably would've already found it. Also, it may not be in our galaxy, either. But surely, there's life somewhere. In a neighboring galaxy, maybe? Or in a galaxy that's farther away? There's got to be life somewhere out there besides planet Earth. ^^

 

[♣Gawain♣]

LOL

I can't count on how many post like this I've posted. Probably 10th or something.


There's life out there, but we don't know it yet. We don't have the technology to communicate, or even detect life(advanced or simple) forms on the space. The universe's so big(observable=+15 billion lt. years) that's impossible, I repeat impossible that we are the only living forms in this universe. There may be 3 or more in our galaxy(rare yeah, can be calculated in the theoretical Drake's equation. But that's not the answer, it's an assumption on how rare other life forms), maybe they're just bacterias, but definitely life.

And maybe on other galaxies, we don't just know it. All hail little green men!