Do you think that we will find other life in outer space?

Question

There must be other life! But I want to know what you think!

Answer 1

The problem with this question is that we can't define what it is we mean by "LIFE". We only have one example of life and that is the life here on earth. 'Life' may exist on other planets (mars, neptune, some of the moons etc) but we might not recognize it as 'life' because we don't have anthing to compare it to besides the life we have here. This doesn't mean there is not life on other planets, it just means that it will be difficult to find and recognize it - it may be so alien to what we now consider to be 'life' that we won't see it as life.

Answer 2

If you look at the Drake Equation, you will know that our chances of finding E.T. vary. You need to take into account:

1. Number of stars in the galaxy(current estimates 100-400 billion)
2.of those stars, how many have planets(estimate 20-50%)
3. For stars with planets, how many planets able to sustain life(estimate 1-5)
4. on planets able to sustain life, how many will life evolve on(current estimates sketchy 0-100%)
5. On planets where life evolves, what percentage of those evolve into intelligent life. (sketchy again 0-100%)
6. On planets with intelligent life, will they wantto and/or develop the means to communicate with us(conservative estimates say 10-20%)
7. For each civilization that does communicate, for what fraction of the planet's life does the civilization survive?

multiply these all together to get the number of communicating civilizations in the galaxy.

Question 2 and 4 make this equation tricky though. We're finding new planets everyday, so the estimates may be much higher. Also, since we try to use our own solar system for observations in guessing these variables, the debate of life on mars(the mars meteorite), and the possibility of life under the ice of Europa; greatly put these values in flux.


If you follow the link below, there is a calculator which will calculate the possible number of communicating civilizations in the galaxy. Keep in mind that if E.T. does want to chat with us, that our broadcast signals have only been going out for roughly a hundred years, and if they are just now getting our signal, theirs still has to make the return trip.

I did my own calculations on this, and I came up with greatly conservative estimates of .0031(i.e. us--we're all there is). On the less skeptical side, It could be more in the area of 280,000.

Answer 3

I can answer with a 99.9% certainty.
First, life is just a chemical process (or processes) surrounded by something that keeps it separate from the environment, and allows natural selection.
Most of life on earth is based on DNA reproducing. However, some life is based on RNA, and some life is solely based on proteins. These are all just molecules that replicate.
Scientists at MIT have already discovered self-replicating molecules, and other scientists have already created life in test tubes (using RNA).
To think that only Earth, in a galaxy of about 100 billion stars, in a universe of 100 billion galaxies, is the only rock that can have self-replicating molecules seems a bit egocentric.

Answer 4

There's really no reason to think we would.
Perhaps there may be, but the more I think about it, the more I think the Earth posesses something unto itself that allows life.

None of the other planets or moons in our own system have life forms and we have heard no radio transmissions from outer space, so if there is life- it is either unintelligent or very far away from us indeed, or it is in some form we could scarcely begin to comprehend.

Answer 5

I would say most certainly yes. Our solar system is just a tiny dot in the Milky Way and there are millions upon millions of other galaxies. There is just no way God created so many galaxies and only had ONE planet with life forms. That would be boring

Answer 6

Yea..i guess other life does exist in outer space....our solar system is just a small portion of the whole wide universe...so yea definately other life should be existing.....

Answer 7

I think yes there is many planets out there and by one chance there is live on our there has to be live on a different planet. lets count all the planets to many one out of how many there has to be a other planet with some kind of life on it even if it is a single cell organism

Answer 8

it's ignorant to think that life cannot exist on other planets. there's no way that we can be the only planet in the galaxy with life on it, we're not that special.

Answer 9

No,only on other Planets.

Answer 10

I think there's other life out there. I'm sure that God didn't just make the human species.