i dont get why some people and very few scientists that say we might be unique in our galaxy. i think we probably arent alone in the galaxy. but if im wrong, it doesnt mean anything. i always wanted to ask someone who says were alone in the galaxy, what about the other 100 billion to 1 trillion galaxies in our universe. if we are alone in our galaxy, it doesnt mean anything. u have billions, if not trillions of other galaxies to search for life. even if where rare in our galaxy, we arent rare in the universe

Bam!

Bam?? I assume you agree

To say we are alone in the universe seems pretty silly, Sure It may take a while to find life but I do believe it’s out there.

To assume that this planet is the only life in existence simply because it is all we have experienced is the single most arrogant and ignorant thing I have ever heard of.

like science states you must have proof in order for something to be true. We are alone, and noone is watching us.

Im not sure wether you are just being sarcastic or not.

But if not. No one mentioned anything about anyone watching us. Also science and mathmatics pose that the chances of earth being the only planet with life in existience is almost none.

Not to mention that we have already found past evidence of water on mars and also a moon with frozen seas upon it. And that is just in our infinitely small galaxy.

in my opinion, life is common in the universe, and animal life probably exists in our galaxy. but i think finding civilizations is a pretty low possibility. i agree with you though, there are probably 100's of civilizations in the universe. but they might be pretty rare. of course i could be wrong, but thats just my opinion

I think you mean, just in our solar system. We haven't gone out into the galaxy and looked around as yet! We've been monitoring for artificial radio signals (SETI), but we haven't sent out any sort of probes. Perhaps in about 30 or 40 years we'll have this type of probe technology. For some really cool speculation (and link to video) on this subject see Cinder's thread on Alien Planet.

As for now, the answer to the question of extraterrestrial life is: We simply don't know.

No, the definiton of science is to challenge accepted belief or thought in order to progress with knowledge. In science you cannot prove something exists, or doesn't exists. You can only disprove all other possibilities or disprove the original theory itself! Science is through observation, but even then, observations are not definitive proof.

Take aposematism as an example. True, most poisonous animals do tend to be brightly coloured, which would suggest that this is a warning.... but it's equally acceptable that it could be any other theory, whether likely or unlikely. For example. These brightly coloured animals tend not to be predated on. So the thoughts would be:

a; camouflage--> well, since they are brightly coloured (to our eyes), it doesn't make sense. Disproved.
b; the predator doesn't like the colour--> If the predator's colour-blind, or eats animals with a similar colour (eg. red) then: Disproved.
c; a warning--> seems plausable, although the animal may not conciously be able to control its body colour. That said, many animals advertise themselves in different ways. Result? NOT disproved (but still not proved).

If something is regarded as proved then it is nothing more than generally accepted common knowledge. Biology and Chemistry appear a more approachable science since they can be observed. Physics is based around theories (that sometimes totally tunr everything on their heads!).

RKD

No it doesnt.



Really? Care to show me the calculations?



The single most arrogant and ignorant thing I have ever heard of is people claiming that their belief *must* be fact, despite no evidence for or against that belief.

Yep you're right, I meant just in our Solar System, let alone our galaxy.




Well that sure is a fairly arrogant and ignorant thing to do, for sure. I for one never stated that anything I've said *must* be fact.

Ive simply said that is is incredibly ignorant for some people (some who I have spoken with personally) to outright dismiss all possibility of there being other life out there simply because we do not know about it.

As I said, we have discovered signs of previous water on the planet next to us, and also frozen water on the moon of another planet in our tiny system. There are more stars out there than grains of sand on this earth, each with planets orbiting them... and to simply say that we are the only life "because god made us and we are so special" is just utterly rediculous - in my humble opinion.

But of course Stellar, there is also the possibility that we are indeed the only life in the universe, I just think its extremely unlikely

And I simply said that it is equally ignorant for some people to ourtright dismiss the possibility of there not being other life out there.



Indeed... although I hesitate to say anything on how likely or unlikely it is because we dont have the necessary information to make any estimates on that.

its arogant to assume we alone or not alone. i agree. but all we have to do is search outside the galaxy!! i kno its far fetched, but other galaxies, like m81 or andromeda, probably the most habitable galaxies.

Great idea. How do you propose we do this?

The Star Ship Enterprise, of course!

*sorry, I couldn't resist

I believe we really don't have to look too far to see that we might be living -with roadmaps all over the planet- that other entities have been here for a very long time. Perhaps we knew that then when we were busy lining up those pyramids, not to mention the glorious things in Peru.
Geez! Everywhere!
They have been leaving their symbols everywhere. Right out in the open, sometimes. And we were drawing them on rocks and adding them to our mythos. It just took awhile for the the humans around these last few centuries to figure out that all these symbols -all over the planet- have things quite in common.
Or not.
We humans can get pretty stuck in our own belief structure. And some will indeed defend it all the way into a -oh, say- a rant.
But some of us are waking up to the viable possibility, while some of us are simply sleepwalking.

the milky way is inhospitable