In your personal opinion do you think aliens (extraterrestrial beings) exist?

Answer 1

Of course. Dennis Rodman is an alien.

Answer 2

That's a great question. Basically the answer to whether there is life in the universe is always a good one.

To answer your question, It's VERY likely that there other civilizations in this galaxy. The reasons is simple but you have to put up with some math and some history.

Back in the 60's some scientists asked the very same question, and came out with a basic formula that figures that out.

The main idea was fleshed out by a scientist named Frank Drake, he basically put some of the parts of the question together differently and assigned a likelyhood/probability to each.

Drake asked the question this way, what was the likelyhood of us communicating with another technically advanced civilization. Since that question breaks down, into parts that we can discover by looking around the universe, over time , we will be able to make a very good guestimate of how many civilizations are out there.

For instance one "factor" in his equasion was "the likelyhood of a sunlike star"

Another "factor" was "The likelyhood of a sunlike star with planets like Earth" - this gives you the basic idea.

The link here, takes you to a PBS special from some time ago which allows you to plug different numbers in and guess how many other civilizations there might be!

But this is where you can keep an eye on the headlines,

The French have recently launched a space-telescope which should be able to find "Earthlike" planets.

Corot Launched : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6203161.stm,
when "Corot" finds some planets, we can then do math to figure out how common they are ,and basically "know" one of the numbers Drake only could guess at in the 1960's.

In a few years the US/NASA will - funding allowed - be able to launch an satelite in 2008 called "Kepler" which will search for "Earthlike" finding space-telescope of our own.

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/tpf_techwed_040526.html

Drake Equation : http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/origins/drake.html

Another question similar to yours is whether we will contact or ever be contacted by an alien civilization.

The SETI program in the 1990's and presently is designed to discovery signals from alien civilizations, and it is regularly if not constantly listening towards the stars for the faintest of signals.

But this question actually has a suprising answer, the answer may ALREADY be yes. The transmission is called the "Wow" signal and was detected on August 15,1977.

IF we asume the "Wow signal" is genuine, we would have been able to detect an alien civilization's message without it being specifically "for" us, which is a rare find, but after only 80 or 90 years could potentially mean the universe is crawling with life!

However, because it's just a fluke since we have not since found another "Wow" type signal,we shouldn't get too excited.

In the movie Contact (based on the Carl Sagan novel), the first 1/2 of the movie shows what a "first contact" situation might actually be like. It's unlikely that the signal would be able to be interpreted in the first couple of years or maybe even decades.

An open and interesting socioloigcal question is what would the immediate aftermath (on Earth) be of a first contact situation, the movie points out some of the "popular" disruptions to society.

Corot : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6203161.stm
Kepler and Corot : http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/tpf_techwed_040526.html
Drake Equation : http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/origins/drake.html
The WOW signal : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow%21_signal
Contact : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118884/

Answer 3

The chances that Earth has the only living things in the Universe are probably quite small. But living things on planets elsewhere might be the local equivalents of fish, trees, bacteria or cows.

Answer 4

<> The Church does no longer have an actual stance on clever existence on different planets. this is extremely no longer likely we will discover clever existence on different planets besides. related to elementary kinds of existence. As distant because it could be for humanity to discover even that on yet another planet, the Church has in simple terms suggested that the invention of such existence on yet another planet has no touching on Church Dogma because it relates to the sanctity of human existence. <> The Church can't declare that earth is the only planet in the universe to domicile complicated and clever kinds of existence. Neither can the Church assure that there is any existence on different planets. <<2.) no count if this is got here across that aliens do exist, what do you think of that could do to the church and faith in particular? How might Christianity cope with it?>> The Church has already suggested that the invention of existence on different planets has no touching on Church Dogma.

Answer 5

Yes, there is life outside of our ethnocentrical world. However, have they been able to contact earth or have technology to travel to earth is yet to be proven, though there is some curious evidence. Technology has improved a lot this last century, give it another hundred years and more answers will be solved only to find many more questions. :)

Answer 6

In my own opinion it would be very egotistical of us to think we are the only living being out there. So yes I believe that other life forms do exist. =)

Answer 7

We believe in what we want. It is up to you to justify your belief, not some else to say if it is right or wrong. You need to find out if it is justified to believe in aliens. If you find it wrong or hurtful to others then it is your choice still to believe of not. Personally, there is something out there, not aliens, not maniac monsters to eat us/conquer us blah, but the unknown. There will always be an unknown, until we can reveal that unknown, it is there to tickle our curiosity. lol.

Answer 8

I have only recently been thinking about these things but i find it very hard to believe that we are the only planet in the universe that can support life, there are lots of matter out there and with all the galaxies, I find it very difficult to imagine we are the only ones.
we sit at the edge of our galaxy and it's possible that in another galaxy; a planet has the right location for an atmosphere. if you do believe in god, it says he created man, there are 2 accounts of creation, maybe one for us and one for them. who's to say?

Answer 9

In my most humble opinion, it's highly unlikely that we are the only planet with life in the entire universe. With distances so great, and lifetimes so short, I doubt that we will ever make contact with any other sentient life forms.

Answer 10

The first 6 times I answered this today, I said yes. So I'll stick with that.