life on other planets?

[rae121452]

what do you think are the chances?

i watched a nova episode last night on the subject and it would seem to me that the chances are pretty good. apparently they are finding new planets in the galaxy almost daily and some of them have environments that they think could support life as we know it, if their calculations are correct. a few months ago i read a new book by a zoologist who gave his views of what life on other worlds might look like, drawing on the history of evolution on earth.

do you think that life on other worlds might resemble the xenomorph in 'alien' more closely than zsa zsa gabor in 'the queen of outer space'?

 

[PaxNurgle]

I think life on other planets might resemble any number of things: Prehistoric c. 58,000,000 BC Earth, or primordial ooze/zooplankton only, to any number of the "Star Wars" type planets. (Or Star Trek, where all the alien planets seem to look like the Mojave Desert, ha ha)

While it is possible that there might be highly evolved intelligent life out there with a technological level of civilization as advanced (or more) than we are, I don't think it's as common as some people think.

 

[jarigi]

When we look at life here on Earth, it takes so many forms and all evolved from single cell organisms and share a common ancestor as well as some DNA. So, it's hard to believe life elsewhere could look completely different but I hope we find SOMETHING before I shuffle off this mortal coil to satisfy my curiosity. I suspect life of some form is quite common throughout the universe, but perhaps life which can explore that universe is rare, though I doubt we are the only ones and thus somewhere there are beings millions of years ahead of us technologically. Perhaps they're the ones sending bloody flying saucers here! My SO is religious and can't believe life exists elsewhere, but then WHY did 'god' go to so much effort create such a vast universe only to put life on one insignificant planet? Answers on a self addressed envelope please.

 

[Lazaran]

.
I have no doubt that LIFE exists throughout the universe, but LIFE FORMS that have evolved as far physically, mentally, spiritually, and technologically as human beings have is another matter altogether.

Consider all the quirks of nature and human innovation that led us to where we are today and then ask yourself how likely it is that all those things repeated themselves elsewhere in the universe.

And if there is a species that could achieve interstellar travel or communications without following a similar evolutionary track as humans, then we would likely have very little in common that would allow us to interact successfully.

I would love to be proven wrong.

 

[Saint_Ann]

Still looking for signs of intelligent life on the GB.

 

[pecksniff]

There are at least 11 billion potentially habitable Earth-sized planets in this galaxy alone. Of course there is life on some of them, it's a statistical certainty. Intelligent life could still be vanishingly rare -- it took 2 billion years for Earth's biosphere to produce any. If we visit an exoplanet, all we're seeing is a momentary snapshot in its evolutionary history. ETs visiting Earth even 1 million years ago would have found no intelligent life here.

 

[pecksniff]

I recall Stephen Hawking warned it might be dangerous to look for extraterrestrial intelligence, because we might find ourselves in the same situation as the Indians when the Euros arrived in the New World. But I don't think the analogy applies -- the New World was full of things Euros could use. Suppose we were to find a planet with intelligent beings primitive enough for us to enslave -- what can we do with that? They don't breathe the same air we do or eat the same food -- a slave who has to have his own air and food supplies is too inconvenient to be useful. They don't grow anything we can eat -- different biospheres produce different biochemistry. They don't have any land we can live on without life support. They might have mineral resources, but, to any civilization that has interstellar travel capability, mining asteroids would be cheaper. Really, the only thing of value such ETs would have to offer us would be their art.

 

[rae121452]

even if they look like zsa zsa gabor?

 

[pecksniff]

even if they look like zsa zsa gabor?

Queen of Outer Space!

 

[pecksniff]

do you think that life on other worlds might resemble the xenomorph in 'alien' more closely than zsa zsa gabor in 'the queen of outer space'?

Even the Xenomorphs are unrealistically close to the human form. See Starfish Aliens.

 

[pecksniff]

Even the Xenomorphs are unrealistically close to the human form. See Starfish Aliens.

But see Human Aliens.

 

[jarigi]

Unless a life form exists in water, then it needs a skeleton, either an exoskeleton like an insect or a bony skeleton made from calcium, though maybe it could be made from carbon? Alien life everywhere possibly has an equivalent type of lifeform here on Earth, given our spectacular range, from bacteria and fungi/moulds to jellyfish, seapigs, boneless fish, bony fish and insects, reptiles, platypus.....the list is HUGE. I am always amazed when I hear of a new, bizarre animal. Perhaps when we do find an alien lifeform, it may look surprisingly familiar?

 

[Dribble]

Those thinking there is intelligent life on this planet are surely mistaken.

 

[coati]

The postulation about life on other planets is regularly used as an excuse for trashing the thin skin of life on the surface of this planet.

Ever see a mold cover the surface of an orange and eventually consume its substrate? Mold can afford to do that, because there are many other other oranges around that the mold spores can land on. Mold continues to exist for many generations, relative to the span of its life cycle.

Humans have not found any more planet surfaces to consume, other than the one we are currently living on. Gluttonous billionaires flying just beyond the thin skin of this planet will not solve that basic problem-- they are just making the problem worse. We are ripping off future generations of humans by rapidly destroying the complex web of life on Earth right now.

We are basically consuming our sustenance at an alarming rate, with no other prospects available to support this rate of consumption. So, in order to sleep at nights, we invest undeserved faith in our extremely limited scientific capabilities to discover and exploit other substrates.

 

[Champakian]

Fear mongering.

 

[coati]

Denial

 

[pecksniff]

The postulation about life on other planets is regularly used as an excuse for trashing the thin skin of life on the surface of this planet.

Not that I ever heard of before.

 

[Wrong Element]

what do you think are the chances?

i watched a nova episode last night on the subject and it would seem to me that the chances are pretty good. apparently they are finding new planets in the galaxy almost daily and some of them have environments that they think could support life as we know it, if their calculations are correct. a few months ago i read a new book by a zoologist who gave his views of what life on other worlds might look like, drawing on the history of evolution on earth.

do you think that life on other worlds might resemble the xenomorph in 'alien' more closely than zsa zsa gabor in 'the queen of outer space'?

It's probably unknowable. Microscopic life, of the sort that we had exclusively for the first 80 percent of the time life has existed on Earth, will be impossible to detect. And any intelligent life that has developed the capacity to roam the universe is probably going to exist on a level that's beyond our understanding (think about the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey).

Even life on other worlds that's just "trees and bugs" — how would that ever be found, aside from measuring teensy atmospheric changes across millennia?

 

[Philthy_Phil]

Odds are that the answer is yes.

 

[pecksniff]

https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/0/03/exoplanets_2010.png

 

[pecksniff]

Are we about to find life on Venus?

 

[Wonderer67]

In cannot believe that no one has put a cheap “I’ve found life on Uranus” joke in here yet.

 

[Champakian]

If we find any sort of life it will be defined by the abundance of that planet.

We have copious amount of water and carbon, ergo, we're water and carbon.

What would be produced on a planet dominated by methane? fart monsters of Planet Ix?

 

[rinaopps]

I believe that life on other planets is real and it's not a myth.) But I want to live on a planet of orgasm)))) Just kidding of course) I am quite happy with our planet for life, completely and utterly so to speak))

 

[hobbit.]

IS Gordon alive or not?