The PROOF is out there...

[Steve0]

FFS.
There is no PROOF that life, much less *intelligent* life exists beyond our own planet. NONE.

There IS evidence to suggest that Life can and might very well exist beyond what we definitely know about. But there is no PROOF. No alien has landed their spaceship and categorically told you that they are from another world.

I hate the argument that "the universe is so big that the chances favour life existing elsewhere." It's the flimsiest get-out by those who are too eagar to dismiss creationism. I can flip that same arugment on its head and say that yes the universe is big, but at the same time it is finite, and therefore there must be at least a chance - maybe a very high chance - that life has NOT ever existed elsewhere.

If Life is simply a matter of biochemistry and cosmic chance, then it should be recreateable in a laboratory, yes?

and I *believe* in science. Yet I am not stupid or arrogant enough to claim that I know for sure something that is not knowable. I'm agnostic - I know enough to know that my own view of the universe cannot tell me the answers to everything. That's as crazy as religious zealots who *know* that there must be a high power.

Refuting creationism scarcely hinges on there being life elsewhere. Lol.

Also planets occur by chance yet we can't recreate planets in the lab either. With the greatest respect they're two of the daftest arguments out there.

 

[Steve0]

I would suggest it is a perceived democracy, an illusion or pretence, but as you say, democracy isn't the best of all systems as it is very easily corrupted

Humans are corruptible so any system we use will be open to abuse.

 

[roydo]

FFS.
There is no PROOF that life, much less *intelligent* life exists beyond our own planet. NONE.

There IS evidence to suggest that Life can and might very well exist beyond what we definitely know about. But there is no PROOF. No alien has landed their spaceship and categorically told you that they are from another world.

I hate the argument that "the universe is so big that the chances favour life existing elsewhere." It's the flimsiest get-out by those who are too eagar to dismiss creationism. I can flip that same arugment on its head and say that yes the universe is big, but at the same time it is finite, and therefore there must be at least a chance - maybe a very high chance - that life has NOT ever existed elsewhere.

If Life is simply a matter of biochemistry and cosmic chance, then it should be recreateable in a laboratory, yes?

and I *believe* in science. Yet I am not stupid or arrogant enough to claim that I know for sure something that is not knowable. I'm agnostic - I know enough to know that my own view of the universe cannot tell me the answers to everything. That's as crazy as religious zealots who *know* that there must be a high power.

No its not. As best we know anyrate.

And it has been.

But you are right. There is no proof either way.

For what it is worth, I think earth/advanced life on it, it as a biological one off in the known universe. But just cos there are gazillions of planets and stuff, the chance of another one being just right, is both highly likely, (sheer weight of numbers), but also unlikely, (the chance of being just right). For example, in terms of space, Earth and Mars are millimeters apart. But conditions here support life, there, they dont.

 

[verreauxi]

You mean like a human? You're right, it is laughable that we exist.

Meant to say "other" bilaterally symmetrical, four-limbed... but yes our existence is laughably random.

 

[moyeslovechild]

dont see why people get worked up about it either way

 

[moyeslovechild]

love a bit of sci fi though

 

[dublinbluenose]

There is a theory that there has been intelligent life, probably many time over & there will be in the future but because of nature of civilisation, we will never meet or indeed find any evidence of it. The vastness of the universe and the self-destructory nature of civilisation means that life is never around long enough to overcome the great logistical problems of traversing the universe to find other life.

Brian Cox used the example of Easter Island as an example in a recent program on the beeb.

 

[Goodison87]

What if we all live in a rather large computer simulation? One big experiment to see what happens?

Guess that would mean their is a god (or creator) after all....