Do you believe life exists on other planets?

[mdvaldosta]

I do. Not sure if I'm into alien body snatching or anything - but life has to exist elsewhere. Doubtful it does anywhere else in our solar system but I'm sure we'll find it someday.

 

[UncleBacon]

yup I'm a believer....

 

[AtlanticBlue99]

odds are it does. i believe it does though. i mean, the unverse is "infinitely large and expanding solar mass" or something like that. which to me means that there is an infinite amount of life out there

 

[IntruderLS1]

I think there is life out there someplace. Probably not in our solar system like stated earlier, but somewhere.

We've found dozens of planets orbiting other stars. I'm sure that means there are thousands / millions more planets that we can't see yet. ...

My vote goes for at least one of them having some sort of life.

 

[artisan00]

not sure... yeah sure there are millions of stars, and many planets, but if the odds were so high (like some people say) then wouldnt you think some of those other planets would be looking just as we are? and that wed have seen some sort of signal (radio, light, whatever)? so far all we have is cosmic static...

though all in all, i cant say i dont beleive at all - theres just so much we still dont know about the universe and what makes a planet habitable to have a real opnion about it.

 

[Haus]

yeah i do. i always think maybe theres another solar system/galaxy out there with life like our there.

 

[AtlanticBlue99]

think about how many trillion light years away that life could be. if we contacted them by flashes of light (the fastest method, followed by soundwave and radiowave emission) it would take trillions of years for the message to reach potential life...

 

[OUZBnd]

I think we would have to be pretty naive to think that we are the only lifeforms in the whole solar system.

 

[TheOriginalJames]

I do. Not sure if I'm into alien body snatching or anything - but life has to exist elsewhere. Doubtful it does anywhere else in our solar system but I'm sure we'll find it someday.

:agree I definitely do. This universe is entirely too big for us to be alone.

 

[lemon]

life exists definitely else where.

it may not be like what our science can understand, but its out there :tard

 

[hhayes]

I believe. Not sure if I'm up for any kind of interaction or anything...

 

[artisan00]

Re: RE: Do you believe life exists on other planets?

I think we would have to be pretty naive to think that we are the only lifeforms in the whole solar system.

its not naive, what if the odds of intelligent life really are a zillion to one (i know that sounds silly but you know what i mean). it wouldnt be crazy to think we just 'got lucky'.


and AB, if life was out there, but actually was a 'trillion' light years away, then unless we developed a way to go faster than light, it may as well not be there since wed never get therein the time of the human race (as we know it)'s existence. chances are our sun would explode and go nova first....

 

[lemon]

be that as it might, most likely, for us to go faster than the speed of light, we as humans may need to be instantly frozen, and then unfrozen, so that time doesnt affect our bodies, so that we can meet them :booze

 

[AtlanticBlue99]

and what if when we met them they killed us lol

 

[lemon]

well, at least we'd know that they exist before we died

 

[artisan00]

Re: RE: Do you believe life exists on other planets?

and what if when we met them they killed us lol

well, that would suck, it would

 

[artisan00]

Re: RE: Do you believe life exists on other planets?

well, at least we'd know that they exist before we died

also, what if they do the same thing, and then before you know it everyone is frozen, waiting - and no-one would meet anyone, and we'd all have freezer burn

 

[PhillyBlunt474]

Wormholes are the key... now to figure out the time space continunium... muhahah

 

[dt3]

I know there's a famous formula for figuring the probability of life on other planets, and it makes it seem impossible. I'll have to try and find it tonight.

 

[artisan00]

yeah ive seen that too, its just a multiplication of all the odds of different things that we think life (as we know it) would need. i cant remermber it either thuogh


edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation
there we go. its called the drake equation.

heres a section of that article - relating to the current estimates for the values in the equation. at the end, 'N' is the number of civilizations it expects we could come into contact with.

This section attempts to list best current estimates for the parameters of the Drake equation.

R* = the rate of star creation in our galaxy

Estimated by Drake as 10/year.

fp = the fraction of those stars which have planets

Estimated by Drake as 0.5.

ne = the average number of planets (or rather satelites; moons may perhaps sometimes be just as good candidates) which can potentially support life per star that has planets

Estimated by Drake as 2.

fl = the fraction of the above which actually go on to develop life

Estimated by Drake as 1.

In 2002, Charles H. Lineweaver and Tamara M. Davis (at the University of New South Wales and the Australian Centre for Astrobiology) estimated fl as > 0.33 using a statistical argument based on the length of time life took to evolve on Earth. Lineweaver has also determined that about 10% of star systems in the Galaxy are hospitable to life, by having heavy elements, being far from supernovae and being stable themselves for sufficient time. [1]

fi = the fraction of the above which actually go on to develop intelligent life

Estimated by Drake as 0.01.

Today, solar systems in galactic orbits with radiation exposure as low as Earth's solar system are thought to be more than 100,000 times rarer, however, giving a value of fi = 1×10-7.

fc = the fraction of the above which are willing and able to communicate

Estimated by Drake as 0.01.

L = the expected lifetime of such a civilization

Estimated by Drake as 10 years.

The value of L can be estimated from the lifetime of our current civilization from the advent of radio astronomy in 1938 (dated from Grote Reber's parabolic dish radio telescope) to the current date. In 2005, this gives an L of 67 years.

In an article in Scientific American, Michael Shermer estimated L as 420 years, based on compiling the durations of sixty historical civilizations. Using twenty-eight civilizations more recent than the Roman Empire he calculates a figure of 304 years for "modern" civilizations. Note, however, that the fall of most of these civilizations did not destroy their technology, and they were succeeded by later civilizations which carried on those technologies, so Shermer's estimates should be regarded as pessimistic.

The equation based on current lower estimates, therefore, is thus:

R* = 10/year, fp = 0.5, ne = 2, fl = 0.33, fi = 1×10-7, fc = 0.01, and L = 67 years
N = 10 × 0.5 × 2 × 0.33 × 1×10-7 × 0.01 × 67 = 2.211×10-7 = 0.0000002211