General / Off-Topic Do you belive in the existence of intelligent alien life?

Do you belive in the existence of intelligent alien life?

  • Yes

    Votes: 70 77.8%

  • No

    Votes: 4 4.4%

  • Maybe

    Votes: 16 17.8%
  • Total voters
    90

TheAntitheist Crusader

T
Becks said:
If he really created us ... no.

I count myself to deism. I think there is a god, but I don't care enough to worship him/her/it/Flying Spaghettimonster/whatever.
Click to expand...
As an Antitheist, i'm just glad your not a theist lol. (no offence to theists, it's your beliefs i despise, not the people, well, not all of them anyway).
 
Last edited:

We Are Groot

We Are Groot
Simple life could be quite common in the universe. Complex life maybe a little less so. Intelligent life less then that. Intelligent life that has developed technology is probably quite rare. There are many hoops to jump through to get to intelligent life. To develop advanced technology you are going to need dry land for fire and electricity. You will need energy sources like coal and oil. Religion can slow or prevent technology so that is just one of many other obstacles life has to overcome on a planet.

Space is also extremely hostile to life and we are probably pretty lucky to have gotten as far as we have. If life will come about under the right conditions intelligent life will as well but the distances in space are vast so I think making contact with others is a long shot even with advanced technology. Our galaxy is rather small compared to some where the chances might be greater.

Short answer? Yes.
 

ElGuappo

ElGuappo
On Earth, I think the jury's out. In the infinite reaches of space, yes. Have they visited here? Probably not.
 

Deleted member 110222

D
Let's just say my life experiences oblige me to believe in sentient life on other worlds.

My bio' has more information.
 

DeadMeatGF

DeadMeatGF
I'm with the great Isaac Asimov on this one:
To sum up his excellent book on the subject, even taking the most conservative estimates the probability that there is recognisably intelligent life elsewhere is virtually 1, but given the vast size of the universe, its lifespan, and the limiting factor of the speed of light the chance of two civilisations being in communicable proximity at the same time are so small they can effectively be ignored.
 

AluminumAlloy

AluminumAlloy
The first thing that comes to mind when people say "aliens" are green men with big eyes, when actually it should be intelligent lifeforms that comes to mind.
 

Frank

Frank
DeadMeatGF said:
I'm with the great Isaac Asimov on this one:
To sum up his excellent book on the subject, even taking the most conservative estimates the probability that there is recognisably intelligent life elsewhere is virtually 1, but given the vast size of the universe, its lifespan, and the limiting factor of the speed of light the chance of two civilisations being in communicable proximity at the same time are so small they can effectively be ignored.
Click to expand...

Asimov is great. But Douglas Adams had this to say about life in the universe..

There is no life in the universe. The size of the universe is so mind-boggingly vast that any microscopically insignificant amounts of life on say, something as tiny as a planet, is small enough to be statistically negligible.
 

Minonian

Banned
Minonian
DeadMeatGF said:
I'm with the great Isaac Asimov on this one:
To sum up his excellent book on the subject, even taking the most conservative estimates the probability that there is recognisably intelligent life elsewhere is virtually 1, but given the vast size of the universe, its lifespan, and the limiting factor of the speed of light the chance of two civilisations being in communicable proximity at the same time are so small they can effectively be ignored.
Click to expand...

Talking about asimov? The thing about his universe, thee was alien sentient life, but the terraformer robots wiped them out with all existing alien biosphere.
 

JacoTheBad

JacoTheBad
All things considered, it would seem a lot more likely then not. I would honestly be more surprised to find out that nothing's out there.

We really don't understand much of anything yet. Time and space are one hell of a grand mystery; however, the chances that we are alone out in this uncomprehendingly massive space would have to be mind bendingly tiny..
 
Last edited:

Fray

Fray
I don't think it's relevant to decide whether you 'believe' or not - given the scale of the galaxy and universe, it's likely to be statistically certain there is other complex life out there.

None of that really matters if we never cross paths with it, and given our place in the galaxy I'd bet on us - at least - never seeing a trace of it from here until the Sun shreds our atmosphere and our species dwindles. Yes, I am just a [proverbial] ray of sunshine when it comes to life and the universe... ;-)

I find it fascinating to think that if we ever do develop means of escaping the Solar system and exploring the stars, it could be more probable we discover the remnants of intelligent life; ruins of a civilisation spread amongst a system or two, perhaps. There'd be no handshake or mutual exchange of ideas, but it would result in generations worth of incredibly hard to collect/extract/study xenoarchaeology (given the worlds we find the ruins on would likely be extremely irradiated and otherwise hostile to human existence), and we'd finally know we weren't alone - even if we still kinda would be...

(though if we developed means to escape the system, it's more than likely we'd have long had means to detect the remnants of the other species well before we venture out)
 

[VR] Mad Mike

[VR] Mad Mike
Minonian said:
I think the question is pretty straight, and out of curiosity.

I toss my coin into yes, the problem is, you cant prove or disprove it, but in theory somewhere and some time maybe in the past or future it must be exist, even if we now we are alone.
It's basically the same problematics, as hawking M theory. you can't prove, or disprove it, although is a good theory. And my answer is the same, as on that question. I leave it open until validation.
Click to expand...

I think playing ED should make the answer more obvious than ever... just look at the mind boggling number of stars in the milkyway... now i know ED procedurally generates most of them, and there may not be even close to as many earth likes as in ED, but just look at the number!!! imo the question is not, is there life elsewhere (imo there has to be, the chances of this happening only here just does not seem plausible to me) but more interestingly to me is, will it ever be possible to reach that other life, or that other life to reach us.

and on that I think the answer is much harder to predict... but I am going to go with no. I think the distances are so vast that it is unlikely... And looking at how we treat each other, I cant help but feel it may be for the best.
 

Adept

Adept
Minonian said:
I think the question is pretty straight, and out of curiosity.

I toss my coin into yes, the problem is, you cant prove or disprove it, but in theory somewhere and some time maybe in the past or future it must be exist, even if we now we are alone.
It's basically the same problematics, as hawking M theory. you can't prove, or disprove it, although is a good theory. And my answer is the same, as on that question. I leave it open until validation.
Click to expand...

Currently in the Milky Way? Almost certainly 99.9+% I would say. In the whole universe? Beyond any doubt.

Heck, where do you draw the line? Elephants, higher primates and some whales are pretty darn smart. Ravens too. They don't have much in the way of technology though, and I suspect you mean intelligence like ours in the sense of being tool builders and engineers.
 

Dozer.k.a.o.

D
I always thought it was very probably... having in mind the big the universe is.

but Recently i read an article about... if there is extraterrestial life... why everything is so silent out there?... certanly the article was talking about all the theories why we can be the only ones or not, ... Sorry but it was in Spanish and don't remember the web page a read it..

So right now i don't know what to think, there is always the possibility we have a very precious gift and we are alone... maybe now and in this moment... humanity will dissapear at some point, who knows how many times that happened to a civilization.. really the more deep i think about it the less i understand anything.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom