Question

[younger]

Do you think we are alone in Universe?

[Rudy Pena]

Do you think we are alone in Universe?

Nope, there are the Jaffa,Ori,Nox and many other races. And there are still many worlds that have yet to be explored that are in our gate system.

[jelgate]

Nope, there are the Jaffa,Ori,Nox and many other races. And there are still many worlds that have yet to be explored that are in our gate system.

LOL, someone been in the sun too long. That is a little broad. Sentinet life or any kinds of lifeforms

[Rudy Pena]

LOL, someone been in the sun too long. That is a little broad. Sentinet life or any kinds of lifeforms

Which all the races mentioned are sentinet life/ other kinds of lifeforms.

[Jarnin]

It really depends on a lot of variables. When you say life, do you mean "life as we know it" or "any life what-so-ever"?

I think life as we know it exists on other worlds in our solar system. I'd bet there's "life" on the moon right now. Of course it's inactive bacterial life that likely made it's way from the Earth to the Moon on an Apollo capsule, but life none the less.
It's probable that asteroid collisions hitting the early Earth spread bacterial life all over our solar system and possibly to nearby star systems. Life has existed on Earth for about 3.8 billion years, plenty of time for some escaped bacteria to have made it to the Alpha Centauri 3 system.

It really comes down to how DNA forms. We know a lot of the bits of DNA and RNA are found in comets and nebulas. There are a lot of hypotheses of how DNA forms, but no experiment to date has been able to recreate it.
If DNA and RNA form in space, then there could be life everywhere. If DNA and RNA only form under special conditions, then the chances for life become much smaller. For example, DNA might form in only 1 spot based on a bunch of really improbable events taking place (which would be us), or it might form in 100 spots due to less improbable events occuring, meaning similar life would be like island populations separated by vast distances. Then again, it could be fairly common everywhere. Once humanity figures out how DNA forms, then we'll have a much better idea how life fits into the universe.

If that life isn't based on DNA, then the odds go out the window. Even if, one day, we met a squid-like intelligent being that spoke in whistles and chirps -- if it has DNA then it's like us.
That's one of my major gripes about Scifi fans: They think just because an alien is shown with scales or is a snake-like parasite that it's "completely alien". If they have DNA, then they're not alien from a genetic standpoint.

My opinion is that bacterial life definitely exists in our solar system outside of Earth. Multicellular life probably doesn't exist in our solar system, but could elsewhere in our galaxy. As for intelligent life, sure, I think aliens exist, but they exist so far away that we won't ever be in direct communication with them (unless we discover wormholes and hyperspace before our sun goes ka-blooey).

Ultimately I think humans will become the aliens. Once we leave this rock and head out to colonize the galaxy, the human species will undergo adaptation and mutation at a relatively accelerated rate due to the new environmental pressures they'll be living under.
Worlds with different gravity will cause humans to become stocky dwarves (high gravity) or skinny giants (low gravity). Skin and hair pigmentation will change based on the amount of radiation the people are receiving. Different day/night schedules will have all kinds of weird effects on the human mind (try living in Alaska for a couple weeks). Even the foods they eat will be different because it too will have adapted, mutated and evolved.

In the end, I think the only "aliens" we'll be meeting will be our descendants.

[jhkplaya888]

Nope, there are the Jaffa,Ori,Nox and many other races. And there are still many worlds that have yet to be explored that are in our gate system.

lol i think he ment in real life O_o

[ManiacMike]

what does this have to do with technology?

[fugiman]

what does this have to do with technology?

Well its Science

But the way I see the odds are in favor of sentient life being out their if the galaxy was small then maybe not but its huge so I would put my money on it

[Supreme Commander Sil]

My view point is that DNA cannot create itself, it is possible that God created life on other planets,(but I don't have one on this one so I shouldn't care! it had to be said)but this does not necessarily have to be 'intelligent', eg bacteria.

[avidffan]

Do you think we are alone in Universe?

No.

[Jarnin]

My view point is that DNA cannot create itself...

Let me stop you there. DNA creates itself all the time. In fact it just created itself in you about a couple million times

I think you meant that it has to have a creator, in which case it does; The universe creates it.

[Heaven]

Ultimately I think humans will become the aliens. Once we leave this rock and head out to colonize the galaxy, the human species will undergo adaptation and mutation at a relatively accelerated rate due to the new environmental pressures they'll be living under.
Worlds with different gravity will cause humans to become stocky dwarves (high gravity) or skinny giants (low gravity). Skin and hair pigmentation will change based on the amount of radiation the people are receiving. Different day/night schedules will have all kinds of weird effects on the human mind (try living in Alaska for a couple weeks). Even the foods they eat will be different because it too will have adapted, mutated and evolved.

actually a more likely scenario is we'll geneticly engineer ourselves to live in these alien environments. in order for adaptation to occur a species first has to be able to survive in the environment for several generations.
and the effects of high/low gravity conditions or atmosphere with gas composition ratio that is different than our own would be quite hazardous to humans.
there are just too many parameters that have to be just right for humans to survive, so space colonization without genetic engineering is unfeasible.

[Jarnin]

actually a more likely scenario is we'll geneticly engineer ourselves to live in these alien environments.

Hrm, I'm not so sure. If you were told that you could go to Mars, the only hitch being that you'd have to genetically alter yourself to the point you could never become "Terran" again, would you? I know some people would in a second, but the moral and ethical issues that would arise would, I think, negate any chance of wide adoption of any such alterations.

in order for adaptation to occur a species first has to be able to survive in the environment for several generations.

And they will. People will be living in habitats on other worlds permanently at some point. When they start having babies, adaptation will begin to follow.
Now these folks will probably have no problem with altering themselves to better adapt to their new environments, so here is where your genetic engineering comes into play.

and the effects of high/low gravity conditions or atmosphere with gas composition ratio that is different than our own would be quite hazardous to humans.

Life will adapt to lower or higher gravity. Pressure is a different story, but that will happen too eventually. My point is that humans will only inhabit environments they can survive in. That means if they need to create artificial environments to get the ball rolling, they will. If genetic engineering can play a role, it will.

there are just too many parameters that have to be just right for humans to survive, so space colonization without genetic engineering is unfeasible.

It's unfeasible in the short term. In the long term it's inevitable.

[Heaven]

Hrm, I'm not so sure. If you were told that you could go to Mars, the only hitch being that you'd have to genetically alter yourself to the point you could never become "Terran" again, would you? I know some people would in a second, but the moral and ethical issues that would arise would, I think, negate any chance of wide adoption of any such alterations.

yes. I agree it might seem unfavorable at this point in human existence, but the truth is we haven't even began to realize the full potential of "synthetic" genetic engineering yet. it may be possible to engineer ourselves so that both environments are habitable, and still maintain our "human" appearance even.

And they will. People will be living in habitats on other worlds permanently at some point. When they start having babies, adaptation will begin to follow.
Now these folks will probably have no problem with altering themselves to better adapt to their new environments, so here is where your genetic engineering comes into play.

well obviously the use of habitats or terraforming is a another issue, my argument was about adaptation to alien ecosystems.

Life will adapt to lower or higher gravity. Pressure is a different story, but that will happen too eventually.

that's the thing, we don't know that humans can survive to reproduce under those conditions.

My point is that humans will only inhabit environments they can survive in. That means if they need to create artificial environments to get the ball rolling, they will. If genetic engineering can play a role, it will.

agreed.

It's unfeasible in the short term. In the long term it's inevitable.

I'm not so sure about that, not everyone sees space colonization as a favorable next step.
there are many (including myself) who believe maintaining a smaller more manageable population on Earth is better than continuing to expand our numbers to the stars.

[Jarnin]

yes. I agree it might seem unfavorable at this point in human existence, but the truth is we haven't even began to realize the full potential of "synthetic" genetic engineering yet. it may be possible to engineer ourselves so that both environments are habitable, and still maintain our "human" appearance even.

Not so sure about maintaining "human" appearance. Form tends to follow function in nature.

well obviously the use of habitats or terraforming is a another issue, my argument was about adaptation to alien ecosystems.

Obviously they'd have to be Earth-like to begin with.

that's the thing, we don't know that humans can survive to reproduce under those conditions.

And we won't know for sure until we get into space and try. We don't even need to go to other worlds to test this either; we could build orbital space stations that simulate the gravity of the moon or Mars to test it out.

I'm not so sure about that, not everyone sees space colonization as a favorable next step.
there are many (including myself) who believe maintaining a smaller more manageable population on Earth is better than continuing to expand our numbers to the stars.

Humans will be working and living on the ocean floors before we have space colonies. It's a lot cheaper and has nearly the same amount of protection in case a big rock hits Earth.