Do you think it's possible that we might actually be alone in the universe....?

Question

....and effectively be the beginnings of life.

I read recently that Martin Rees (the Astronomer Royal) thinks it's quite possible - that we'll eventually evolve so massively that in several billion years we could have colonised the entire universe. Life has to have begun somewhere, so why not here?

And would you be more inclined (if you are an athiest) to believe in God if it did emerge that we're currently all there is?

(And yes, I agree with those who'll be adamant that we are very unlikely to be alone, given the sheer scale of the cosmos. But it's still an interesting thought).

To the person with odd name (oOposh0 or something) - my head, for the past couple of decades, has been buried in books. Where has yours been? Crop circles! Do me a favour!!!!

Answer 1

Firstly i believe that there is life somewhere else in the univers. It may only be in the form of microscopic bacteria but i believe there is some form of life on some planet somewhere.

Secondly, we will not evolve to be able to colonise universes... Its like saying we will evolve to fly. Evolution is based on genetic mutations benefitting the survival of an organism where the previous genes were not good enough. For example, it may be that somethign evolves to run faster because the particular animal that could only run slowly was killed and eaten by a predator, however the animals with a gene mutation benefitting faster running survived and reproduced. In other words, you evolve to adapt to threat. You dont just evolve because it woul be nice to have another arm or because it woul be nice to fly or because it would be nice to colonise the universe and everything as we know it.

Thirdly, i do believe that we will eventually colonise other planets, i.e MARS. Plans are already being thought up of how to bring about an atmosphere of Mars to allow for colonisation in future decades. The trip two Mars, the closest suitable planet, takes years!... It is barely even possible for humans to survive a trip to Pluto due to lifespan an resources. So although technological advances are still to come, it is unlikely that Humans will ever even reach another solar system because unless a safe spacecraft that can travel faster than the speed of light is constructed to even nearen another solar system, it is not going to be possible. With a travel to the closest neighbouring solar system (billions and billions of miles away) seeming an unachievable feat, there is not a chance humans will ever colonies the whole universe. The universe is ever growing for a start and so even if it were possible to colonise life sustainable planets, the Universe would just grow some more - at a rate much MUCH faster than the speed of light.(going by what i believe to be correct: The Big Bang).

In answer to your questions:

1. I don't believe we are alone in the Universe.
2. We will not evolve so massively, and we will not colonies the Universe.
3. God is not real.

and 4. a very good question - really got me thinking lol.

Answer 2

I have made myself less than popular in some forums when I remind people that they can't be so certain that we are not alone. Many consider it impossible that we are the only intelligent life in the Universe. This could be a mistake, and is certainly not the scientific way to view something. Martin Rees is not alone, nor is he the first. It IS possible that we are alone.
But for the sake of argument, I think one should at least give a good reason why he/she thinks there isn't any other life. What is it about the earth that makes it the only planet in oh, a few billion-trillion worlds to have life? I think that would be fair to ask.
Our moon, for example, may be a major player in the evolution of life, and it might be an exceptionally rare situation, a planet and moon like ours.
Then there is the thought that even if there are millions of other civilizations out there, it wouldn't make any difference because they are so far away. Our galaxy could be colonized in dozens of millions of years, but it would take billions of years for us to get to other galaxies. So if there was one civilization in each galaxy, that would be maybe a trillion of them, and a very good chance that our species will never discover any of them, even over billions of years.
As for God, it doesn't affect my view either way. The absence of life elsewhere would not be the evidence an athiest would require in order to believe in God.
I do believe we are unlikely to be alone. But how un-alone are we? That may make all the difference in the world.

Answer 3

This is one of the biggest questions of all time and we really do not know the answer yet. An astounding number of coincidences had to occur for life to have evolved the way it has. We could easily be the only outpost of life in the whole universe. Technically we couldn't know that until we explored the entire universe and that will take quite some time. Some of the other big questions...what came before the big bang, how did life start, what is the ultimate smallest sized object if there even is such a thing, what is the ultimate largest sized configuration if there even is such a thing?

Answer 4

some thing has been right here, continuously, that all of us understand little to no longer something approximately. it is not from outer area. it is going to fool all the agnostics via fact the 'answer' to all the worlds issues, particularly quickly. it fairly is waiting to holiday via the airlines and IS what human beings call unidentified flying merchandise and there ARE beings on it. Very powerful, surprisingly intelligent, with technologies we can under no circumstances understand, a minimum of no longer Christians.

Answer 5

Yes it's possible we are alone.. It's not likely we'll ever colonize even a tiny fraction of the universe.. If man colonized outward from earth at light speed starting tommorrow we still wouldn't be close to most of it after a billion years..

Answer 6

It is very interesting. The universe IS huge, though.. the chance or life being some where else is pretty good. I think scientists are looking in the wrong places, though.. Who says other life needs to be like us? Just because humans need water and oxygen dosen't mean other life does.. And thats what they're looking for.

Answer 7

If you mean by absolutely alone, no. Advances in physics have pointed to at least 7 dimensions, and there may yet be more. There may be worlds and denizens in other dimensions that we yet have no knowledge of, although some would point to spiritual phenomena as indicative of such entities. That these worlds many inter-penetrate that of ours and beings from other dimensions visit us from time to time is not to be ruled out. As for existence of beings in other galaxies/systems, it is probable, but if the nearest one is impossibly out of our reach, the issue is almost irrelevant. I mean, what if I told you that there might be some sentient beings 20,000 light years away. We'll never get to see them, and they will never get to see us. So even if they're there, so what?

Answer 8

Of course that's a possibility.The enormity of space and the sheer number of potential planets suggests that whatever process got started here has a good chance of starting up elsewhere.

I mean, if you set a trillion monkeys in front of typewriters, perhaps one or more of them would "accidentally" type something we would be able to read. It doesn't mean the monkey is smart. Its just statistics and probability.

Answer 9

Absolutely Not, man, where have you had your head for past couple of decades. we have have a human-alien war in Dulce New Mexico, we've had numerous crop circles, we've had siteings galore, government denials. and of course we are here, so there fore life is possible, so therefore life is possible elsewhere too. there a billions upon billions of gallaxies in this universe and there are many other universes too in which there are billions upon billions of galaxies also.

Answer 10

Martin Rees is a fool.

The dinosaurs were the most successful creatures to ever exist on the planet.. and where are they now?

Humans will make it a little bit longer, and then kill each other off, die of disease, or something natural like a meteor impact will do us in... "Several Billion Years".. lol..