Viewing Thread:
"Life in the Universe"

Life in this galaxy to be precise.
Do you believe in intelligent life?

There are of course prequisites:
The planet must support life
It must be stable
It has to have time for intelligent life to evolve

For me the prospect is dim. There are millions of planets in the galaxy at large but what is the possibility that they have intelligent creatures
living on them?

Remember that intelligent life could well wipe itself out in a war (think how close we came in the cuban missile crisis) and that even if there was intelligence it may still be in the stone age.

I believe that the galaxy is full of life ranging from bacteria to animals but I think the chances of itelligent life evolving (you need precise conditions) in slim. Remember that if aliens visited us 69 million years ago they would find dinosaurs but not sentient beings.

And even if there was what is the chance that they would come to this corner of the galaxy? They obviously haven't yet or we would know about it, unless you believe that they are keeping out of human affairs to avoid war or that they just haven't travelled to this part of the galaxy yet.

Any comments on this?

Who says space is infinitely big?

It's not, it is a finite size, just very very large...

Protoss wrote:
> Life in this galaxy to be precise.
> Do you believe in intelligent life?
>
> There are of course prequisites:
> The planet must support life
> It must be stable
> It has to have time for intelligent life to evolve
>
> For me the prospect is dim. There are millions of planets in the
> galaxy at large but what is the possibility that they have intelligent
> creatures
> living on them?
>
> Remember that intelligent life could well wipe itself out in a war
> (think how close we came in the cuban missile crisis) and that even if
> there was intelligence it may still be in the stone age.
>
> I believe that the galaxy is full of life ranging from bacteria to
> animals but I think the chances of itelligent life evolving (you need
> precise conditions) in slim. Remember that if aliens visited us 69
> million years ago they would find dinosaurs but not sentient beings.
>
> And even if there was what is the chance that they would come to this
> corner of the galaxy? They obviously haven't yet or we would know
> about it, unless you believe that they are keeping out of human
> affairs to avoid war or that they just haven't travelled to this part
> of the galaxy yet.
>
> Any comments on this?

there is no life in the universe there is no universe we dont even exist because to find the amount of matter in the universe (us, planets, stars and things) you need to devide the ammount of matter in the universe by the ammount of space in the universe and since there is infanate space in the universe the answer has to be 0.

Protoss wrote:
> Life in this galaxy to be precise.
> Do you believe in intelligent life?

Where i come from.No

Sodding Idiot wrote:
> Well that's utter toss, in my view.
>
> We know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the bottom
> of the sea. Speaking of the sea, could you live under it? Nope.
>
> Can you travel through the air? Nope. Well, only downwards.
>
> Could you survive at the top of a mountain, by yourself? Nope.
>
> So I'd say we can't survive in any environment, other than the one
> we're in. I.e. living on the ground and spending our time killing each
> other for fun.

You completly missed my point! We are the only species that can INVENT things from our enviroment that ALLOWS us to live in other enviroments.
Its all about the power of the Brain, our natural defense if you think about it. Fish can breath underwater but they can't invent a plane to fly. Our mind gives us that potential.

Maybe they would open diplomacy with us like we do with nations.
You don't see us the West just nuking every enemy (N.Korea, Iraq) because we have the power to do so.

And if aliens were really that destructive chances are they would have destroyed themselves in a war or they have no morals or appreciation for philosophical issues. They would just be animals in a way, and to me that is not a measure of intelligence.

I think intelligent species have to be social as a factor to lead to better evolution and this leads to morals.


But what if and alien race had been wiped out by its own machines (after they invent A.I.), then we may be in trouble. Biological creatures need emotions to sense things and survive in a way, intelligent machine won't.

Maybe aliens would sent out robotic probes first?

Protoss wrote:
> I classify intelligent life as one that can enter every enviroment on
> a planet (sea, air, land, mud, mountains etc.) rather than
> specialising in one.



Well that's utter toss, in my view.

We know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the bottom of the sea. Speaking of the sea, could you live under it? Nope.

Can you travel through the air? Nope. Well, only downwards.

Could you survive at the top of a mountain, by yourself? Nope.

So I'd say we can't survive in any environment, other than the one we're in. I.e. living on the ground and spending our time killing each other for fun.

ok so maybe they would kidnap a load of us first to play with and test
then this planet is so screewed up that they would prob nuke (or some even bigger weapon of mass destruction) us from light years away

Maybe Dave, but would we destroy an alien planet with intelligent life on it (these aliens are just entering the industrial age, say) in the near future if we found it?

I highly doubt it.
As intelligent beings aliens would more than likely be driven to explore by the same curiosity that guides us Humans, and in theory also just as violent and tribal (with competing nations) as us.

Lil Dave wrote:
if there was something smarter it would have
> destroyed earth years ago
> i know i would

---

Scary in it's logic but I agree.
You see a planet. It looks nice and green, water everywhere (if that's your thing)
But on closer inspection, it's too full.
The people are continually trying to kill each other.
There are diseases everywhere, bombs, war and general hostility.

I'd nuke us from orbit.
It's the only way to be sure

well i think that we are the most advanced intelligent beings in the whole universe coz if there was something smarter it would have destroyed earth years ago
i know i would