Do aliens really exist?

[Posherella]

well, there's gotta be intelligent life out there somewhere... there sure as hell isn't any here.

LOL.

To continue with my own thought, I continually mentioned "intelligent life" because I believe it's highly probably that there are other planets out there with life on it void of sentient beings.

I wonder what this planet would be like if all human life on it just ceased to exist. I can't help but think it would be a better place, but then again, I can't even pretend to know what that would do to the ecosystem.

[systemlord]

Life on Earth went on quite nicely for a couple billion years before humans started showing up.

[Posherella]

Life on Earth went on quite nicely for a couple billion years before humans started showing up.

Exactly and they could have continued to do so. But we're here now, so what would happen if we suddenly vanished? The Earth is a very self-cleansing planet. Without us here, how much time would it take before the Earth righted itself? I guess that's slightly off-topic, but I'm still curious about it.

[systemlord]

We are the only "sentient" life.

Slightly off topic.

Couple of centuries ago, Europeans prided themselves on being the only "civilized" race of all humanity on this planet.

Well, old thought patterns die hard.

[LordAnubis]

Well as the dude in Contact said, "if there's noone else out there, its a whole lot of empty space."

It would be a bit on the naive and arrogant side to suggest that out of hundreds of millions of suitable suns and m class planets, only ONE managed to spawn life.

Or would it?

In the book Natures Destiny, compelling data is presented indicating that the end goal of the universe is to produce humanity.

It is my personal theory that the end goal of the universe is to produce a being capable of creating it. A bit of a temporal paradox, but consistant with current theory. Anyone interested in the complete theory can PM me.

I for one DO believe in extraterrestrial life, intelligent or not.

Damn, that was profound. I wanna hear more about your theory!

[aschen]

We are the only "sentient" life.

Slightly off topic.

Couple of centuries ago, Europeans prided themselves on being the only "civilized" race of all humanity on this planet.

Well, old thought patterns die hard.

Sometimes I think they very well may be the only "civilized" race.

"Humanity is the lowest standard we as a race have set for ourself." - yours truely

[systemlord]

Lock a person in a room for the rest of his natural life. And that person may well come to the conclusion that he is the only sentient life in this universe.

How typically human.

[Donks]

I would expect there to be lots of life all over the universe. Probably not in most or all systems, but in a small percentage of them. Since there are a lot of stars and planets, that still probably translates to a lot. Also, I'd expect some to be all over the place in terms of technological advancement, from primal goo to species that have wiped themselves out.
I really doubt anyone has visited anyone else's planet, anywhere. Well, except for any systems out there lucky enough to have life in two planets.

Lock a person in a room for the rest of his natural life. And that person may well come to the conclusion that he is the only sentient life in this universe.

How typically human.

Hey, no need to lock anyone in a room, I know people who are convinced they are the only beings anywhere, and all the universe is in their minds. Just as valid philosophically as anythng else, i guess, but to me it sounds as egocentric as it can get.

[Liv]

I kind of think it would be statistically impossible for there not to be life on other planets. Intelligent life? Sure. Why not?

Considering the vastness of the Universe, our pedalling around our little sun here in the corner of no and where, is pretty much just a glimmer in the grand scheme of things.

[trinity1013]

I've read through this thread and every single person seems to believe in intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Therefore, I thought I'd offer a different viewpoint. As this viewpoint has to do with God, I hope I'm not kicked from here to Egypt for bringing it up.

First of all, I'd like to thank you for your contribution. I personally know people who are quite religious and therefore cannot accept common theories about evolution and extraterrestrial life either. Just one thing:

If God created several Adams and Eves on other planets, why did Satan choose to try to mislead only Earth? If only the pair on Earth sinned, God would have perfect beings on the other planets and simply wipe out Adam and Eve on Earth completely as there's no need to give humankind a second chance. If, for the sake of argument, there are several "Satans" trying to mislead humans on the other planets and they all succeeded in making the original pair sin, I personally think God would scrap his plans of humans at that point or perhaps wipe out all but one planet and decide to give humankind a second chance on one planet before attempting other planets.

What about several Gods? Blasphemy, I know, first commandment and so on, but what if our God was just responsible for our solar system?

Going back to only one God, perhaps his creations were all so different that the others were not even capable of sinning or he just wanted to keep us pesky little humans (as I don't think other intelligent life out there is only marginally like we are, with the circumstances being probably so different we can't even imagine it).

[Posherella]

What about several Gods? Blasphemy, I know, first commandment and so on, but what if our God was just responsible for our solar system?

Well it's certainly one theory that can be explored, but as far as Jewish/Christian religions go, there is only one God and there wouldn't be other gods even in other solar systems.

Going back to only one God, perhaps his creations were all so different that the others were not even capable of sinning or he just wanted to keep us pesky little humans (as I don't think other intelligent life out there is only marginally like we are, with the circumstances being probably so different we can't even imagine it).

Again, I'm not trying to stop anyone from exploring other theories, but if we are talking about the God of the Bible, then creations not capable of sinning are not sentient as they are not given free will. The sentient creatuers God created (that we know about) are angels and humans and both have free will and are perfectly capable of sinning in their perfected state. All other lifeforms on this Earth (animals, plants, fish, insects, etc) are not capable of sinning and are described in the Bible as constantly praising God - just by their presence. Biblically speaking, other lifeforms on this planet are not perfect because the Earth was cursed when Adam and Eve sinned - therefore animals may not act as they would if they were perfect and we certainly know all lifeforms on this planet fall victim to disease.

I'm not trying to discourage other theories, but the God of the Bible is fairly specific. I'm sure there are those that do believe in a god who created us and do not equate him with the one being in the Bible. I personally know a lot of people that believe there once was a god who's no longer around at all anymore theorizing he's either dead or has moved away from us (perhaps to care for his other, more perfect creations in the universe).

[trinity1013]

@Posherella: I should've known not to question anyone's ideas who knows their stuff as well as you do. I always lose in discussions with my religious friends, too.

Anyway, back on topic:

Well, I will tell my story a brief story. When I was in 9th grade I was standing outside at night waiting on some friends to come and pick me up. I was looking at the stars and all of sudden there was this thing that just hovered for about 20 seconds then it took off upwards into the sky. This is one reason I beleive there is something outthere.

I've seen some UFOs as well, but that's it for me. They're U F O s - unidentified flying objects, which just means that I can't identify them but by no means suggests to me that they were spaceships flown by either aliens or members of a secret military operation. Then again, I don't live in Nevada.

[Supreme Commander Thor]

Erm, Thro buddy I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but we HAVEN'T been here for 4 million years. We're quite young in an evolutionary sense.

Wrong Human. Your science is wrong. I have only been watching you for the last 4 million years... your kind (in some form or another) are older than that... trust me, i have been watching... glad you guys are at least starting to get interesting...

[Supreme Commander Thor]

I've seen some UFOs as well, but that's it for me. They're U F O s - unidentified flying objects, which just means that I can't identify them but by no means suggests to me that they were spaceships flown by either aliens or members of a secret military operation. Then again, I don't live in Nevada.

Ah, Trinity1013... be at ease... you are not going crazy... at least one of those had to have been me testing the latest version of the "O'Neil". You are not crazy, and you humans are not alone...

[trinity1013]

Ah, Trinity1013... be at ease... you are not going crazy... at least one of those had to have been me testing the latest version of the "O'Neil". You are not crazy, and you humans are not alone...

Ah, that was you! For the future - just remember to fly a bit higher, will you? Because what you did last time was not good for my hairdo!

Seriously, I wouldn't call anyone crazy who's seen a UFO. There are so many things flying around, you can never tell what you actually saw. I read that 95% or so of all UFO sightings can be rationally explained if you do a bit of investigation.

As the question's already raised but some haven't commented on it: Do you think that aliens are watching us/are among us/have abducted and experimented on people?
No saying "it wasn't me", Thor! Your excuses won't always work!