QUESTION FOR SCIENTISTS ONLY! Why is it that we have the single minded view that aliens will be like us?

Question

GET THIS STRAIGHT! I don't want any trash talking about scientists. I want real scientific answers.

Now, here's the question.

Why is it that scientists always assume that alien's bodies will work like ours?

By that I mean carbon based, oxygen breathing, and water drinking. Is there some type of Scientific Law that life can only exist in that form?

I'm not saying there is life on Mars or anything, but why do scientists use the exuse that there's not enough oxygen? What if they breath something else?

NO SAYING THAT SCIENTISTS ARE CLOSED MINDED! I KNOW THEY ARE SMARTER THAN US AND THAT THEY HAVE A REASON FOR THEIR ASSUMPTIONS, ALL I WANT TO KNOW IS WHY THEY HAVE THEIR ASSUMPTIONS!

Well, I've chosen the winner, but I've got to wait longer, and since the feedback section is so small I will do it here.

Iridflare, you're answer was short, sweet, and to the point. You backed it up to, so you get 1st Place, and 10 points.

Steven B, you come in at 2nd place. You gave a very detailed answer but most of it really drifted from the original question.

Scooby, you're in 3rd place. You worked hard on it, and although you're answer did not really apply to my question, it did make me think about some other stuff.

Well that's it. 2nd and 3rd place, you get, well, nothing. Try harder next time.

StevenB, thanks for the answer.

As a final note, people, I was talking about scientists, not masses of uneducated people. My question came from my surprise when I heard scientists say that life can't be on Mars because there's no water and little oxygen. I was apalled at first, then realized that they might have a point and I wanted to know for sure.
Thanks you.

Srry, I meant thanks Iridflare for the answer, not Steven B. Sorry.

Also, thank you, not thanks you.

THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT!

Answer 1

From a chemical point of view, life is complicated. We take energy in store it, use it and get rid of the waste products. We can walk, talk, chew gum and reproduce ourselves, and that needs a huge number of different chemicals, with just the right balance of stability and reactivity. Only carbon gets that balance right and allows so many different chemicals to be formed.

Answer 2

Okay...I'm really way too tired to be trying to give you a good answer to this question, but I AM a scientist, and in fact, I teach college courses that address this. So, forgive me for being brief but I'm really wiped out today.

First, Given the way elements on the periodic table behave we're forced to accept certain constraints on the types of compunds they will form. We're not closed minded about this, we're just forced to accept that elements behave they way they behave. It is most likely that genuine organic processes have the greatest success if based upon Carbon. Silicon, as others have mentioned, is also viable but almost nothing else can be--if they have the same valence properties, but are too heavy they may not have the mobility to form some new type of "organic" compounds--nothing we can do about it, that's just the way it is. BUT, I think the better issue is that we've discovered VAST molecular clouds (in deep space) that are loaded with organic compounds and all of these we've found out there are ALL carbon-based. That means water is needed as the perfect medium for reactions, and oxygen is needed as the ultimate oxidizer.

As to "life" out there...well, keep in mind that something as simple as prokaryotic bacteria "counts" as LIFE. But viruses don't. If you're interested in "intelligent" life, well Carl Sagan said it best when he pointed out that "they" are probably out there, and while the odds of us communicating with them is very unlikey, it's SO important to humanity, that we have to at least keep up a search.

I don't think scientists are really closed minded on this subject, but I can see how non-scientists might easily come to believe so. Let me suggest you go and get Timothy Ferris's excellent video called : Life Beyond Earth, and some popcorn and a Pepsi or two. Watch the video, eat the goodies, and enjoy. It's really a great video, I'm sure you'll enjoy it! After you've digested that, then go and rent Sagan's movie, Contact (with Jodie Foster). He covers the ideas about the compexity of dealing with the whole "intelligent life" subject very well!

Enjoy! I'm going to bed now.

Answer 3

OK...I've explained this before but here I go again...bare with me.
we have 91 natural elements on earth right? OK, it is then safe to presume that these 91 elements that we know understand and perceive are all over the universe since at the moment of the big bang all matter spread in all directions. there might be other elements (there is a high probability that there are) in the universe that we on earth do not have. These 91 elements are the building blocks of all life on our planet. Mars, for instance is so close to us in cosmic terms that the odds of life existing on Mars that wouldn't be carbon based like us are slim to none. Why? Because since Mars is so close, all 91 elements can either exist on Mars or be created on Mars (like water generates atmosphere, such a chain of events) So, if we have on Mars the 91 element we know and perceive...how can there be a life fundamentally different from us..since it would be the sum of the same elements we are made of. Of course the would not look like your average John Smith but they would still most likely be carbon based. On another planet, much further away this premises could be true but so close...the chances are mot likely none.
I myself believe that in space there may (and most probably IS) life that is not carbon based like us but it is much further away than Mars for example.
I agree with you as far as scientists are concerned...the greatest mind in history Albert Einstein did not believe in the Big Bang theory for a long time. But now we can actually prove that the Big Bang did exist and we know even when it happened. They tend not to keep an open mind and don't search for premises in unexplored areas.

Answer 4

"Life as we know it" is pretty damn complex, chemically speaking, and we really don't even know the half of how it all really works.

I think it's likely that if a planet has chemistry similar to ours (with water, carbon, etc . . ., like Mars or Europa or Titan) then it's likely that their life would be similar to ours. Silicon-based life? Sulphur-based, or Nitrogen-based? Maybe . . . Carbon just seems so perfect to us because of it's flexibility in bonding, low weight, etc . . . We can theorize what other-based life forms might be like, but we really have no idea just how they'd work. It may take a different definition of life to accomodate silicon-based life forms. But I just think that Carbon-based aliens are a lot more likely. The elements that we're made of, well there's plenty of these elements out in outer space too, so I think it's very likely that some alien life would be carbon-based, and some probably is not.

Answer 5

I don't and in fact I laugh when I see all the descriptions of alien abductors being short with large heads and looking almost like caricatures of humans. They don't have to look like anything on earth including octupi or centipedes. I have no idea if we'd even recognize a life form as such from another planet.

Answer 6

i, myself, don't believe that ALL life is carbon-based....life here on earth is, because that is what survives in this atmosphere....taking a look at other planets and their atmospheres, it's most likely that "alien (to us)" lifeforms would most likely be nitrogen or hydrogen-based....

i feel like i should be looking these up, but alas, i am working from memory here...i've read a lot over the years, n this is what i recall...sorry if i screwed up on the atmosphere components

:0)

"scientist-wannabe"--alwayz loved it (still do), but have yet to grasp the math that goes hand-in-hand with it....

Answer 7

I doubt very seriously they will be carbon based life. And, I don't know any scientists who believe that, either. Life could be silicone based, could be hydrogen based. It's the non-scientific minds I find are the one's who believe your statement.

Answer 8

you all started out with asserting we would in straightforward terms cope with what we've on the table in front individuals. I had an alien chick on the table in front of me as quickly as. It replaced into CC Chiquita, that banana chick. she have been given creative and did some issues that have been evolutionary to me. if that replaced into clever layout, i will convert at present. i will hear the censors footsteps already.

Answer 9

The answer is really a scientific one. Science Fiction to be precise. Who is responsible for all Science Fiction. Books, Movies and TV shows. Who are the actors, directors, writers....
HUMANS.
It's not just the fact that we are not really, truly open to other expressions/forms of life, possibly very different from ourselves. It is that fact that our media, (staffed by humans) is in love with the thought of extra terrestrials. The only way we have to skillfully represent intelligence is to have humans play these roles, humans write these novels, and the Bi-Pedal, simian alien has seen glory because of it.Star Wars-Star Trek-Stargate-etc... Thats it. Thanks for asking! ------------Victorea

Answer 10

Hi. Usually there is a "life as we know it" clause tacked on. There are limitless possibilities for non-carbon based life.