Some believe we are alone in the universe. Does that make any sense giving the vastness of space and endless?

Question

number of systems and planets?.....surely there are near endless numbers of planets with life....and we are not entirely unique...

Answer 1

There are too many VERY large uncertainties in the terms of the Drake equation to be certain. This is only a scientific question because in principle we will be able to answer it someday. At the moment our poor understanding of terms like how long it takes (or the odds) for multicellular, life to arise from uni-celluar, of "intelligent" life from multicellular, of intelligent life becoming technically sophisticated, and how long technical sophistication lasts reduces belief or non-belief in this question to a matter of faith.

A somewhat depressing, but rather important aspect of this question to consider is the "Fermi Paradox" which is strongly suggestive that either interstellar colonization is impossible or that we are indeed alone in our galaxy, at the moment.

I strongly recommend that anyone intersted in this topic read about the Fermi paradox, the Drake equation and the anthropic principle.

My personal belief is that simple life is common because it seems to have arisen on Earth quickly, and perhaps mutiple times during the period of heavy meteor bombardment early in Earth's history, eukaryotic life almost as common, multicellular life is quite rare, requiring a fairly stable climate for a billion years or so, and intelligent life is anyone's guess.

I think green planets will be common, but they will mostly be inhabited by algae and uni-cellular life.

Answer 2

this is why there is a large debate on weather life on other planets exists or not, a possibility is exactly that- a possibility.

is there a possibility an infant could beat a grown man at checkers? yes there is, however it is slight- will it ever happen?- I highly doubt it, even if a trillion upon trillion games of checkers that infant will lose to the grown man every single time even though the infant still has a slight chance of winning

What many people fail to see is this is not a lottery- where there is always a winner, this is more like roulette at a casino there may not always be a winner but there will always be losers

but given the circumstance of infinitude we are taking about trillions upon trillions upon trillions, etc, upon trillions upon trillions, etc........l of planets- mathematically (basic calculus) speaking, a CONSTANTLY small number (possibility of life in this case) multiplied by infinity (number of planets here) will always pass 100% sooner or later regardless of time

so to finally answer your question it is sorta some sense that some people don't believe, however with all the math going in- it makes sense that there is other life forms out there

the "entirely unique" idea is also a bit true there can only be a set number of possible ways of life possible, even for us we are one in that incredibliy large number meaning a small chance for similar life forms resembling us out there- however going back to being multiplied by infinity it WILL happen sooner or later

But don't expect finding any- even if it has happened and there are presently other intelligent creatures out there- we would be spaced way too far apart to detect them, after all there are an infinite number of planets- meaning an almost infinite vast distance between us and the next intelligent creatures in the universe- looking at the drake equation it factors in time in which that species remains tech able to communicate for all we know it has already happened, but they are now all extinct

Answer 3

Given the size of the universe, I would think there is life on other planets. Conditions on other planets in other galaxies could be the same as ours and could support life. Check out the video on youtube if you get a chance. Its an hour and half long. Its called, "UFO, The secret Government." It is all about conspiracy and government cover-ups. It is very believable. The speaker calls a lot of people out. If it weren't for the specific dates, names, and places, I don't think it would be close to realistic. It gets kinda crazy too!

Answer 4

It seems really unlikely that we are alone in the universe... but (in my opinion), it's equally unlikely that we'll ever have the chance to discover or communicate with other life, if it exists.

Here's something interesting: the Drake equation was devised by an astronomer to estimate the number of extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy that we might be able to contact:

N = R*fp*ne*fl*fi*fc*L, where

N is the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which we might hope to be able to communicate;
R* is the average rate of star formation in our galaxy,
fp is the fraction of those stars that have planets,
ne is the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets,
fl is the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life at some point,
fi is the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop intelligent life,
fc is the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space,
L is the length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.

Pretty cool!

Answer 5

Not only do I think it doesn't make sense, but to a degree, I think it is nearly mathematically impossible.

As someone else had stated, we may possibly (although I feel this very unlikely as well) be the only intelligent life form. But certainly there must be millions upon millions of other forms of life whether it be bacterial, primitive like amoebas, or more complex like jellyfish and dragonflies. Or, perhaps, hopefully, primates like monkeys, gorillas or dolphins.

I cross my fingers that we discover other life on other planets within my lifetime before I die.

~jaz~

Answer 6

We might very well be alone as intelligent creatures, but it seems likely that given the immense vastness of space as we perceive it, that life has arisen elsewhere in other solar systems. Thus, if life has arisen elsewhere there is a chance, perhaps even a sizable one, that that life too is what we'd consider "intelligent". However given the chance we ourselves are products of billions of years of evolution and still cannot make it to another planet in our solar system, it is likely other intelligent species can't either. Then again, who knows!?

Answer 7

and then, too, there's the infinite number of chance happenings that 'designed' us as we are..... the mutations, the changes, the 'steps up' taken by everything from the first chemical 'life' thru amoebas, to mudfish, to shrew, to mankind... every little quirk in the DNA codes over the millenia that life of ANY kind has existed on this planet.... what are the chances of THAT happening, JUST THAT WAY, somewhere else in the Galaxy or the Universe?.... about Zip, I'd guess.....

in that way, I'd have to say that NO, there's no other life like US .... there may be other life forms, but nothing else like us.... we are unique....and we couldn't ever happen again just like we did.....

Answer 8

i agree. ever looked in the sky at night, all those stars are suns. even if only a handful of them have planets, and a handful of them could support life, the possibilities are still great. then let consider the leaps in technology that we have gained in the past 50 years. we went from germanium transistors to silicon in less than a decade. and just the fact that silicon transistors work is amazing to me. its a crystal grown from sand with a circuit diagram photographed on to it, which works just like the component would work. and we came up with this idea? i tend toward believing that it was backward engineered from alien technology. but that's just my opinion. so , i would just like to say that i hope there is some more intelligent life than us out there somewhere.

Answer 9

"Surely"? Without a doubt? Your logic seems peculiar. You seem to be saying that there must be other intelligent life formsbecaus there is a lot of space out there.Logically there is no connection between "lots of space" and "other life" forms.