Do You Think There's Other Intelligent Life Out There?

A cliche overly asked question I know, but I wanted to hear your views on this as well as share my own. I don't mean aliens who fly around in their UFO's making crop circles precisely, but just animal like life on other planets.

Earth is obviously the only place we know of that has life. Intelligent life that is, not just germs and all that. It's a very bizarre thing really and a seemingly incredibly unique circumstance. When you take it all into account, what's the odds that another planet followed a similar path? It seems slim when you think of it. A planet would have to be in the right place next to its sun, at the right rotation, have the exact same atmospheric forming eruptions occur, be the right age with pretty much everything else being identical to Earth. Otherwise any life it may have wouldn't be identical to ours, or possibly not even intelligent.
At the same time though, if we did find intelligent life similar to ours inhabiting a planet of their own, I believe that would change everything. It would mean to me that Earth isn't unique and went through some one of a kind evolutionary process, but that it was supposed to happen. If we found just one other planet with life, it would pretty much confirm to me that some planets are intended to create and hold life forms.

Yes, so many planets, if life started here then it could start somewhere else (or gods could have put life on other planets if that is your inclination.)

Yes, so many planets, if life started here then it could start somewhere else (or gods could have put life on other planets if that is your inclination.)

tenaka2

I don't necisarily mean a god or such, but something created everything, something intended for everything to exist, be it a conscious being or not.

[QUOTE="tenaka2"]

Yes, so many planets, if life started here then it could start somewhere else (or gods could have put life on other planets if that is your inclination.)

sune_Gem

I don't necisarily mean a god or such, but something created everything, something intended for everything to exist, be it a conscious being or not.

Don't place intent where there is no evidence of intent. It is not necessary that something intended anything. This implies a creator.

A cliche overly asked question I know, but I wanted to hear your views on this as well as share my own. I don't mean aliens who fly around in their UFO's making crop circles precisely, but just animal like life on other planets.

Earth is obviously the only place we know of that has life. Intelligent life that is, not just germs and all that. It's a very bizarre thing really and a seemingly incredibly unique circumstance. When you take it all into account, what's the odds that another planet followed a similar path? It seems slim when you think of it. A planet would have to be in the right place next to its sun, at the right rotation, have the exact same atmospheric forming eruptions occur, be the right age with pretty much everything else being identical to Earth. Otherwise any life it may have wouldn't be identical to ours, or possibly not even intelligent.
At the same time though, if we did find intelligent life similar to ours inhabiting a planet of their own, I believe that would change everything. It would mean to me that Earth isn't unique and went through some one of a kind evolutionary process, but that it was supposed to happen.If we found just one other planet with life, it would pretty much confirm to me that some planets are intended to create and hold life forms.

sune_Gem

Wait
The conclusion you would reach from other forms of life on other planets
Is that these planets were also chosen by some higher power?

Or am I misunderstanding that

[QUOTE="sune_Gem"]

[QUOTE="tenaka2"]

Yes, so many planets, if life started here then it could start somewhere else (or gods could have put life on other planets if that is your inclination.)

tenaka2

I don't necisarily mean a god or such, but something created everything, something intended for everything to exist, be it a conscious being or not.

Don't place intent where there is no evidence of intent. It is not necessary that something intended anything. This implies a creator.

I think I may just worded that wrongly. I try to think of it like a plant as it intends to grow. It has no conscious thought, or any hopes of what it may accomplish by doing so. It just does.

[QUOTE="tenaka2"]

[QUOTE="sune_Gem"]

I don't necisarily mean a god or such, but something created everything, something intended for everything to exist, be it a conscious being or not.

sune_Gem

Don't place intent where there is no evidence of intent. It is not necessary that something intended anything. This implies a creator.

I think I may just worded that wrongly. I try to think of it like a plant as it intends to grow. It has no conscious thought, or any hopes of what it may accomplish by doing so. It just does.

[QUOTE="sune_Gem"]

A cliche overly asked question I know, but I wanted to hear your views on this as well as share my own. I don't mean aliens who fly around in their UFO's making crop circles precisely, but just animal like life on other planets.

Earth is obviously the only place we know of that has life. Intelligent life that is, not just germs and all that. It's a very bizarre thing really and a seemingly incredibly unique circumstance. When you take it all into account, what's the odds that another planet followed a similar path? It seems slim when you think of it. A planet would have to be in the right place next to its sun, at the right rotation, have the exact same atmospheric forming eruptions occur, be the right age with pretty much everything else being identical to Earth. Otherwise any life it may have wouldn't be identical to ours, or possibly not even intelligent.
At the same time though, if we did find intelligent life similar to ours inhabiting a planet of their own, I believe that would change everything. It would mean to me that Earth isn't unique and went through some one of a kind evolutionary process, but that it was supposed to happen.If we found just one other planet with life, it would pretty much confirm to me that some planets are intended to create and hold life forms.

chaoscougar1

Wait
The conclusion you would reach from other forms of life on other planets
Is that these planets were also chosen by some higher power?

Or am I misunderstanding that

Not exactly from a higher power, but just that existence dictates these things should exist. They're supposed to be there.

It's hard to word it without making it sound like I'm speaking of a Gods intent...

[QUOTE="chaoscougar1"]

[QUOTE="sune_Gem"]

A cliche overly asked question I know, but I wanted to hear your views on this as well as share my own. I don't mean aliens who fly around in their UFO's making crop circles precisely, but just animal like life on other planets.

Earth is obviously the only place we know of that has life. Intelligent life that is, not just germs and all that. It's a very bizarre thing really and a seemingly incredibly unique circumstance. When you take it all into account, what's the odds that another planet followed a similar path? It seems slim when you think of it. A planet would have to be in the right place next to its sun, at the right rotation, have the exact same atmospheric forming eruptions occur, be the right age with pretty much everything else being identical to Earth. Otherwise any life it may have wouldn't be identical to ours, or possibly not even intelligent.
At the same time though, if we did find intelligent life similar to ours inhabiting a planet of their own, I believe that would change everything. It would mean to me that Earth isn't unique and went through some one of a kind evolutionary process, but that it was supposed to happen.If we found just one other planet with life, it would pretty much confirm to me that some planets are intended to create and hold life forms.

sune_Gem

Wait
The conclusion you would reach from other forms of life on other planets
Is that these planets were also chosen by some higher power?

Or am I misunderstanding that

Not exactly from a higher power, but just that existence dictates these things should exist. They're supposed to be there.

It's hard to word it without making it sound like I'm speaking of a Gods intent...

I think it's definitely possible, but there's no way to know for sure at this point. I certainly don't believe any other life has been to Earth though.

I think there is.

I think so, could be in any form as well, carbon based, silicon base :D, hyper dimensional (something the latest Indiana Jones movie tried to make popular, they failed in the execution), you want to learn something about possible hyper dimensional entities look at the molecule dimethyltryptamine, occurs as an endogenous molucule in our bodies and is found all over the planet in plantlife.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfvBIPHg-hA

Interesting? Yes, quite.

[QUOTE="sune_Gem"]

[QUOTE="chaoscougar1"]

Wait
The conclusion you would reach from other forms of life on other planets
Is that these planets were also chosen by some higher power?

Or am I misunderstanding that

chaoscougar1

Not exactly from a higher power, but just that existence dictates these things should exist. They're supposed to be there.

It's hard to word it without making it sound like I'm speaking of a Gods intent...

The laws of physics dictate that a heck of a lot of things can exist that don't exist, or wouldn't have existed without our help. For example, machines. Still though, what dictated that the laws of physics themselves could exist? Was there ever a reason as to why they should exist? Of course we're entering unanswerable territory with that, but it sure is a curious subject.

Another thing which I kind of find strange to think about is that if life never existed, there would be nothing to experience the universe and all its creations, as there would be nothing in existance capable of having an experience. From the biased point of view of a living being, if that was the case, it would seem pointless in there even being an existance what so ever. It would make no difference to anyone if it was there or not because there would be no one there to begin with.

[QUOTE="chaoscougar1"]

[QUOTE="sune_Gem"]

Not exactly from a higher power, but just that existence dictates these things should exist. They're supposed to be there.

It's hard to word it without making it sound like I'm speaking of a Gods intent...

sune_Gem

The laws of physics dictate that a heck of a lot of things can exist that don't exist, or wouldn't have existed without our help. For example, machines. Still though, what dictated that the laws of physics themselves could exist? Was there ever a reason as to why they should exist? Of course we're entering unanswerable territory with that, but it sure is a curious subject.

Be careful of falling for the thinking 'It's all so wonderful something must have did it', it is not a logical train of thought.

If a being did decide to create everything it went to a whole of of trouble to make things appear completely natural. i.E. being is dishonest.

It's statistically impossible not to.

Yeah but I doubt we will ever run into them, or they will ever run into us. There probably has been thousands possibly millions of intelligent civilizations on other planets long before us, and there probably will be long after us as well. It also makes me wonder how many of them have came together or connected, or if space is just too vast for any of us to connect so we all end up dying off without ever knowing if we are truly alone out there or not.

I'd imagine there are other people out there on distant planets looking up at the sky at this very moment and wondering the same things we are.

Yeah but I doubt we will ever run into them, or they will ever run into us. There probably has been thousands possibly millions of intelligent civilizations on other planets long before us, and there probably will be long after us as well. It also makes me wonder how many of them have came together or connected, or if space is just too vast for any of us to connect so we all end up dying off without ever knowing if we are truly alone out there or not.

I'd imagine there are other people out there on distant planets looking up at the sky at this very moment and wondering the same things we are.

LLYNCES

Possibly, but I'd settle for just animal like life on a planet just living their lives. I'm sure none of the animals on our planet think about this kind of thing. So it would be very similar.

Just imagine it though, a habitable planet that has totally different species, with different looking tree's and different looking everything. It would be incredible to see. Of course if it was to resemble Earth many things would be the same, like the leaves on a tree would have to remain green for the most part. But still, the shape and size of all the different animals would be fascinating.

I believe there may be something, but not the same species that are gonna invade New York anytime soon.meconate

Yeah. I'm fairly certain that we're the only hyper intelligent species within reachable distances of Earth.

Can't know for sure though.

[QUOTE="meconate"]I believe there may be something, but not the same species that are gonna invade New York anytime soon.sune_Gem

Yeah. I'm fairly certain that we're the only hyper intelligent species within reachable distances of Earth.

Can't know for sure though.

And dolphins.

[QUOTE="sune_Gem"]

[QUOTE="meconate"]I believe there may be something, but not the same species that are gonna invade New York anytime soon.iHarlequin

Yeah. I'm fairly certain that we're the only hyper intelligent species within reachable distances of Earth.

Can't know for sure though.

And dolphins.

Are they really considered hyper intelligent? I don't see them building under water cities, and creating contraptions to live happily with us on the surface.

And don't use the "thumb" excuse! :P

Earth is obviously the only place we know of that has life. Intelligent life that issune_Gem

No

no

[QUOTE="iHarlequin"]

[QUOTE="sune_Gem"]

Yeah. I'm fairly certain that we're the only hyper intelligent species within reachable distances of Earth.

Can't know for sure though.

sune_Gem

And dolphins.

Are they really considered hyper intelligent? I don't see them building under water cities, and creating contraptions to live happily with us on the surface.

And don't use the "thumb" excuse! :P

I'll start by saying that I've never heard of the term 'hyper intelligent' as basic human condition - I've always seen it paired with super intelligence to describe a person that has above-the-ordinary 'intelligence'. Second, the concept of intelligence itself (and our notions of stratifying it and placing humans at the top of the scale) is biased and can't be taken seriously: we judge animals' intelligence according to what we consider intelligent. The way I see it, all we are is a species - a mammal, sharing all internal characteristics with mice, whales, cats and bears, and a considerable chunk of external characteristics. Our anatomy, brain included, differs little from that of a dolphin or any other mammal. Who claimed having buildings, roads, vehicles and other contraptions is a product of elevated intelligence? We did. The reason they lack these 'advances' IS largely due to the fact that they lack grip and object handling capacity - don't understate this, because it was extremely important not only to our development as a species, but to our survival.

As part of our egotism, we perceive our society, our rules, our standards as the definite answer to intelligence - whether something is smarter or less smart than us depends on how they fair on our scale.

[QUOTE="iHarlequin"]

[QUOTE="sune_Gem"]

Yeah. I'm fairly certain that we're the only hyper intelligent species within reachable distances of Earth.

Can't know for sure though.

sune_Gem

And dolphins.

Are they really considered hyper intelligent? I don't see them building under water cities, and creating contraptions to live happily with us on the surface.

And don't use the "thumb" excuse! :P

So what are you saying? If they are intelligent why are they not behaving like us? I would say why would they? Look at us, if you were another lifeform would you want humans as your friend? A single human, yeah sounds great, a whole pack of them, dangerous.

From a logical aspect you can' t expect only one planet to bear life in the billions of stars in each of the billion galaxies out there. Apart from that justification it depends on each individual' s perception of existence since sadly we have no evidence about this matter. I' m one of those that believe that we' re not alone in this vast and unexplored space.

And it doesn' t necessarily have to be on a planet with an atmosphere or internal structure identical to Earth' s. These intelligent life forms could be "designed" to withstand the conditions of their own home planet of origin.

It is my personal opinion that existence is too mysterious and incomprehensible to be revolving around this one particular planet.

[QUOTE="chaoscougar1"]

[QUOTE="sune_Gem"]

Not exactly from a higher power, but just that existence dictates these things should exist. They're supposed to be there.

It's hard to word it without making it sound like I'm speaking of a Gods intent...

sune_Gem

The laws of physics dictate that a heck of a lot of things can exist that don't exist, or wouldn't have existed without our help. For example, machines. Still though, what dictated that the laws of physics themselves could exist? Was there ever a reason as to why they should exist? Of course we're entering unanswerable territory with that, but it sure is a curious subject.

[QUOTE="sune_Gem"]

[QUOTE="chaoscougar1"] The laws of physics dictate that these things can exist

chaoscougar1

The laws of physics dictate that a heck of a lot of things can exist that don't exist, or wouldn't have existed without our help. For example, machines. Still though, what dictated that the laws of physics themselves could exist? Was there ever a reason as to why they should exist? Of course we're entering unanswerable territory with that, but it sure is a curious subject.

:lol:

[QUOTE="sune_Gem"]

[QUOTE="chaoscougar1"] The laws of physics dictate that these things can exist

chaoscougar1

The laws of physics dictate that a heck of a lot of things can exist that don't exist, or wouldn't have existed without our help. For example, machines. Still though, what dictated that the laws of physics themselves could exist? Was there ever a reason as to why they should exist? Of course we're entering unanswerable territory with that, but it sure is a curious subject.

LOL that is the funniest sceptical guy face I have ever seen, you win a price for this

I'll just answer honestly and say yes.....even though I can't prove it. I find it hard to believe that there wouldn't be at least ONE planet with intelligent life out there, amongst all the gazillions of stars in the universe.

Of course. The number of stars in the universe with multiple planets? It's extremely unlikely that only Earth has the right conditions for intelligent life.

But I think it's unlikely that other intelligent life will find us, or vice versa.

I'm open for the fact there being none. You need the perfect conditions. LustForSoul

Kind of how I think on the matter. Even with all them other planets out there it's quite possible that they're all just barren.

I'm open for the fact there being none. You need the perfect conditions. LustForSoul

I realize that it's a flawed argument.....but the earth is one such example of that. I can't see why it couldn't happen elsewhere.

If it was a technical impossibility for similar conditions to exist on other planets, then surely that would have apply to earth as well.....right? >_>

*shrug* One can dream, I guess.

The math says yes. With an estimated billion-billion planets in existence, even if life had a one in a billion chance of occuring, that would mean 1-billion planets with life on them. I think they are just far too far apart to come into contact with each other (the intelligent ones obviously).

I don't know it seems kinda pointless to think about.

Nope, just me.