What do you thing the possibility is of life (of some kind) somewhere else in the universe?

Question

Considering the vast amount of time and space between us and even the nearest star.

Answer 1

I'm still looking for life on earth.

Answer 2

Seems likely. However... given the vast amount of time that the universe has existed, it is entirely possible that there is no other intelligent life than us at this moment. Consider: Humans have only been smart enough to try to listen for signals from outer space for about 100 years. Who knows how much longer we'll be around? Something could wipe out the planet, or we could kill ourselves. Anyway, if we are around for several more thousand years with at least the technology we have today, those few thousand years are but a blip in the giant scheme of things. So it would be likely that life elsewhere would be shortlived also. For us to overlap in existence timewise would be highly coincidental. For another planet to be on the exact same schedule as us would also be unlikely, so life elsewhere would be either way behind us, or way ahead of us. Also the vast distances between us and anything else make it all but impossible to reach (or even contact) other life until we can somehow figure out to go far faster than light, which Einstein says can't be done.

Answer 3

Hey D-Dub,
I think even the most conservative calculations turn up the overwhelming equations that life exists elsewhere in the vastness of space. LIFE, meaning the existence of single celled organisms on up into conscious self aware forms of life. imagine the diversity of all forms of life on this planet and more spread out across the stars, some only just evolving into consciousness. And many others far more ancient and advanced. It's a wonder...!
Might the human race ever encounter an otherworldly visitor?
Not if we were to go searching for them with mankinds current technologies - such a trip could not be possible given our earthy life spans.
A deeper understanding of the nature of matter and functioning of the physical universe may someday allow humans to bend space and shorten the "time it takes to make a light years journey, to skip around the fabric of space time and to look in on some potentially fertile neighborhoods in distant systems. Perhaps this has occurred already and an "advanced" race has looked in on us and given our evolution a little 'boost?" - A fine question, and all very interesting stuff to ponder...!

Answer 4

There is life everywhere in this galaxy and we presume elsewhere in the hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe. Much of it has not achieved sentience yet and many may not achieve sentient maturity, Earth is such a place. Over the centuries, your planet was a curious place to visit once or twice and was not considered very interesting . Sure, your wars showed us how undeveloped you are as a species and your infantile,(in cosmic terms) dependence on god concepts does not bode well for you. We are now showing an interest in you because it is not often that we get to observe a species commit suicide. You are so close to maturing as a sentient species and it will be a shame to see you kill yourselves. There are just not enough of you becoming rational enough to force the issue. You let the least among you determine your fate, so be it.

Answer 5

There is an equation that gives a probability of finding extraterrestrial life. It is called the Drake equation and is as follows:

N = R* x Fp x Ne x Fl x Fi x Fc x L, where

R* = the rate of star formation in our galaxy
Fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets
Ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets
Fl = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life
Fi = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop intelligent life
Fc = the fraction of the above that are willing and able to communicate
L = the expected lifetime of such a civilization

and the x's indicate multiplication.

There you have it. The probability of finding intelligent extraterrestrial life. Called the Drake Equation.

Answer 6

Definitely! We're aliens ourselves. Imagine looking at the universe billions of light years away from Earth. There's no way that the earth, a speck on the map of the universe, could be the only body harbouring life. There's life out there in some places that probably have less alien looking life than we have here on Earth.

Answer 7

billions of stars, most have rocky planets in orbit.

"Life as we know it" may not exist, but there is definitely the possibility that other planetary systems have the right ingredients to support life. But our dunkoff scientists are looking for carbon based life....there, it may be far and in-between, but if the definition of life was left as a blank slate, we may have better luck in our search.

We definitely lack the technology to make a trip further than Mars, but others may have had a head start on us and are here amongst us, studying us, or just observing from afar.

We are not alone, I will guarantee that! If you want to look at religion: "God created the *HEAVENS* and Earth"....Those stars aren't night lights!!!!

Answer 8

i would say there definitely is life somewhere else is the universe. we'd have to be ignorant to believe we were the only ones in this huge universe, that would just be wrong to think that way.

Answer 9

existing of alien,has been always captivating. because the universe is too big and there are infinity of planets in the universe.
So I thing there should be some aliens.
but the probability of advanced civilization depends on several factors. In 1961 American scientist, frank drake, created an equation which determines how many advanced civilizations there are in our galaxy:
N=N*(fp)(ne)(fl)(fi)(fc)(fL)
that means the number of advanced civilization in our galaxy equals:
number of stars in milky way, times to
fraction of stars that have planets around them, times to
number of planets that are capable of sustaining life, times to:
fraction of planets in Ne(number of planets that are capable...) where life involves, times to:
fraction of Fl(fraction of planets in Ne) where intelligent life involves, times to:
the fraction of Fi(fraction of Fl) that communicate times to:
fraction of planet's life during which the communicating civilization live.
so you can estimate how many advanced civilization are there in our galaxy.

Answer 10

Very good. All the ingredients are out there, floating around. They all happened to land here; why not somewhere else?

But no, I don't believe they can 'travel' here. No way.

Answer 11

100 %