Does anyone think there is actually life on another planet?

Question

Or life on this planet for that matter? Never mind that's a whole other ball of wax.

Do you think we've been visited?

Answer 1

Well, to answer your question, I would say that it is a matter of likelihood, or good probability that there is "some kind" of life on another planet. But, and this is a BIG but, I don't feel that the life that will be found exists within our Solar System, i.e., the Sun and its 9 planets. I believe that within the Milky Way Galaxy there is at least one planet orbiting a star which has similar features and similar gases/water combinations to that on Earth. If you look at the number of stars in the Milky Way, astronomers say there are about 100,000 Billion of them, it would take only one of those that met our requirements to have life forms of some type. Odds are pretty good that there is at least one. If you are game, consider that there are some 10,000 other galaxies beyond the confines of our Milky Way Galaxy. And, each of those galaxies contain just billions of stars in addition to the ones I just mentioned. So, for there to be one planet like Earth out there...odds are real good when you have that huge a number of possible sites.

What is most important to consider, but seldom mentioned, is that in the history of the Earth, human kind of life has only been in existance for a teeny fraction of the Earth's age. Scientists have dated the Earth at some 4 Billion years old.
Our best guess as to how long humans have been around on this Earth works out to be on the order of 4,000 or 5,000 years. However, real intelligence has only been exhibited or flourished within the human society in the last 100 - 300 years or so. That is when all of the really great discoveries were made in science, medicine, mathmatics, and physics. So, if you look at 4,000,000,000 Years and 100 to 300 years, the age of real intelligence is very, very short. So, if we find a planet with the right stuff out there somewhere, how will we know what period in the development of intelligence that planet is presently undergoing? Will it happen that man (or an equivalent intelligent life form) on that special place has come and gone...wiped out by some tragic collision with another space object, war, or disease? Or, could it be that when we start to look at the equivalent planet with a degree of intensity, the life forms there are just developing fishes and sea life?

In conclusion, what I am trying to tell you, is that the search for extraterrestrial life goes on, but one should not expect to find russians or spaniards living out there on a star's planet in distant space. What we might find is only evidence of life beginning in its very simple forms, or only ashes from life forms that once were. The distances from Earth to distant stars which might have equivalent planets range from the tens to the thousands of Light Years. So travel there will most likely not occur. And, communications will take years and years to accomplish if it is ever successful. How, for example, would we send a microwave radio message to a distant fish or bird? Remember, intelligenct species there "might not" have developed yet, or reached a level equal to ours. In amateur radio, ham radio operators bend over their short wave radio sets listening for weak foreign stations and try to contact them via their two way radio equipment. They call those foreign stations "DX." Mayber some day we will all be bending over microwave radio sets at home listening for signals from deep space foreigners which could be called
"DSDX" or "DDX" for Distant DX. Who knows?

Regards,
Zah

Answer 2

Yes and no. Yes, there is probably life elsewhere; but no, we've never been visited by intelligent beings.

Energy is so limited and space is so vast, intelligent beings, even if they wanted to, could not muster up the kind of energy it would need to travel the distances in a reasonable time. Even at the speed of light, it would take over four years to get here from the closest star Proxima Centauri. And that would take more energy than is available to typical planets because the rest mass of the spaceship would be almost infinite near the speed of light. Discount the scifi stuff, most of it is based on bogus physics that has little bearing in real science (e.g., no worm holes, warped space, teleportation, and so on).

There have been books written on the subject of ET intelligent life. Most of them are pure myth, based on little real science and a lot of pseudo-science. Even Carl Sagan fell into the oversimplification of the factors that go into leading up to intelligent life. [See source.]

Having said that, there is no reason why, out of the billions of galaxies containing billions of stars each, life, intelligent or not, could be created at random. After all, we know intelligent life happened at least once...us...no matter how rare the probability might be. Certainly rudamentary life has even a greater chance of happening.

Answer 3

Considering the extraordinary number of stars in the universe,and the discovery of planets going around stars close to our own sun, I would say the odds against there not being life, and a lot of it, in the universe would be astronomical at the least.
Who knows if or when our planet has ever been visited by
extraterrestrials, after all we don't know exactly how life got started on Earth ourselves . Now do we? this planet may have
been "seeded" millions of years ago by intelligent life or asteroids from long dead once inhabited planets.

Answer 4

The odds of the universe would say that there is life on other planets. However I don't believe that we have been visited. Its a physical impossibility. Unless The aliens have developed a different way to transport themselves. And then why would they come all this way just to anal probe somebody? Those aliens must have a sick sence of humour

Answer 5

I doubt it. To give you an idea of the probability use this equation, known as the Drake Equation:

N = N* fp ne fl fi fc fL

Where N* =the number of stars in the Milky Way (about 100 billion), fp is the fraction of N* stars with planets around them (about 20-50%), ne is the number of planets per star that can sustain life (estimated to be 1-5 per system), fl is the fraction of the planets represented by ne where life actually will evolve (from 100%, meaning that if it can, it will, down to nearly zero by estimates), fi is the fraction of fl where that life will become intelligent (same probability range as fl), fc is the fraction of fi that has the desire and means to attempt communication with us (10-20%), and fL is the fraction of the planet's life during which the communicating civilizations live(hard to say-perhaps from 1/100,000,000th of its lifespan to 1/1,000,000th.).

So, using the handy gadget, let's assume the best-case scenario. There are 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, with which we are reasonably certain to come into contact with. Half of all stars have planets around them, and 5 planets per system can support life. If life can evolve, it will in every case, and if it does, it will eventually become intelligent. 20% of life that dos evolve will desire to and have the means to attempt communication, and they've been around or are going to be around for 10,000 years (if I'm not misinterpreting the article.)

This makes for a ridiculous number-25000 civilizations, all trying to tell us something.

Try the worst-case scenario for yourself, if you like. But there's no evidence for extraterrestrial life except a bunch of weirdoes who say there is.

Answer 6

I believe there are simple life forms on other planets.
I've heard there are peroxide based organisms on Mars, and there's a possibility of plant life on one of Jupiter's moons (Europa, it has a thick layer of ice and obviously water underneath).

I am not sure about intelligent life on other planets. Our universe is infinite, so I'm sure they exist, but I doubt we've been visited. If they did, they'd come to invade us, not advertise in our wheat Fields.

Answer 7

Nothing I have heard gives credible evidence to the discovery of any life other than Earth. I do believe that it is highly unlikely that the Earth is that unique, therefore I believe in the likelyhood that life exists elsewhere in the Universe.