exick: FlashHarry: the universe is almost infinitely big and 14 billion years old. to think we're the only planet to develop intelligence is just incredibly improbable. however, this vastness also means that it's incredibly improbable that we'll ever contact another intelligent species.

The likelihood of any other intelligent species being too far away to contact, the possibility of them not being advanced enough to have the ability to receive any sort of radio communication, let alone of the interplanetary variety, and of having no way of interpreting each other's communications anyway makes me sad.

Wait a minute...are you suggesting Star Trek was total fiction???

/ Unavailable for comment
 

/ Obscure?

I find it mind blowing to look at the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field and think that one tiny patch of sky has 5,500 galaxies in it. To think that we are it is hubris

exick: FlashHarry: the universe is almost infinitely big and 14 billion years old. to think we're the only planet to develop intelligence is just incredibly improbable. however, this vastness also means that it's incredibly improbable that we'll ever contact another intelligent species.

The likelihood of any other intelligent species being too far away to contact, the possibility of them not being advanced enough to have the ability to receive any sort of radio communication, let alone of the interplanetary variety, and of having no way of interpreting each other's communications anyway makes me sad.

Also, they could be religious fanatics who have shunned science, and only gaze upwards in fear to interpret signs of their impending doom.

But then I guess we really couldn't call them "intelligent", could we?

Move the quotation marks one word to the right and then change that word to knows; only then does it become interesting.

Elzar: / Unavailable for comment
[img266.imageshack.us image 271x320] 

/ Obscure? apparent, clear, explicit, obvious, perceptible, understood

FloydA: I'd bet everything I own that there are living things on other planets. I would not bet on intelligent organisms. It would be pretty neat though.

This. You know how I know life is pretty likely to exist on other planets? Look at how soon life began after the formation of Earth.

Life on other planets = yes, almost 100% definitely

Intelligent life on other planets = that's a toughie, I'll go 25% chance

/not a scientist

YOU CAN'T PROVE THAT THERE ISN'T.jpg

I would be absolutely shocked if there was no life outside of Earth just in our solar system. Heck, I'd give even odds that we'll eventually find life on Mars, although it'll be microscopic.

We've found life inside of freakin' volcanos and the bottom of the ocean. It may be difficult to realize it's alive, but it'll be out there.

Now, sentient life that can build things more complex than nests...that's a more difficult question.

I think that extraterrestrial life is there -- and that at least some of it is intelligent.

In fact, I think that some of the random static we get from the skies might be communication that's too cryptic or something for us to be able to even recognize as communication.

Furthermore I think . . . well, I think I'll have another drink.

/don't get me started on the *apparent* randomness of the universe

Sybarite: I tend to believe the Rare Earth hypothesis that while simple, unicellular life is probably fairly common, highly complex life is likely to be quite rare.

I think when most people hear "intelligent life" they immediately assume one is talking of an organism that is as complex as a human being which is extremely unlikely. I agree with you, bacteria and other such small creatures are probably fairly common in the universe but I doubt very much that we will ever come into contact with anything that is an complex as we are. It will be a big, big day for science if we are ever able to bring interstellar cultures back to earth for study.

/note: complex does NOT mean "the same as"

unless that life has big ol' green space titties and needs a solid earth-dicking, I don't really care.

Ronald Regan?

From the same gods that created us. Exept the green hot alien babes.

keiverarrow [TotalFark]
2012-11-02 10:45:43 AM

Statistically, it's ridiculous to argue otherwise. However, it should be noted that we've never even been able to communicate effectively with the domestic house cat, among the other creatures our planet has to offer. Let's hope they're more like dogs if we ever meet any.

Or cats have never been able to find intelligent humans to communicate effectively with.

I have no doubt there is life on other planets and that those forms of life have some form of intelligence my only question is to the nature of that intelligence. I wonder if the intelligence of life on other planets would develop a technological intelligence to perform tasks other than food gathering and reproducing. If they have developed technological abilities it is likely that they are far more advanced than us given how relatively young we are in our galaxy let alone other galaxies.

A lot more kids would read up on space if we had the occasional war with Martians.

I imagine a conversation with alien intelligence going something like this...

"Morning sir, or madam, or neuter," the thing said. "This your planet, is it?"
"Well, er. I suppose so," Newt said.
"Had it long, have we sir?"
"Not personally. I mean, as a species, about half a million years. I think."
The alien exchanged glances with its colleague.
"Been letting the old acid rain build up, haven't we sir," it said. "Been letting ourselves go a bit with the old hydrocarbons, perhaps?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Well, I'm sorry to have to tell you, sir, but your polar ice caps are below regulation size for a planet of this category, sir."
"Oh, dear," said Newt.
"We'll overlook it on this occasion, sir."
The smaller alien walked past the car. "CO2 level up nought point five percent," it rasped, giving him a meaningful look. "You do know you could find yourself charged with being a dominant species while under the influence of impulse-driven consumerism, don't you?"


― Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (Good Omens)

Okay. That means that our whole solar system could be, like one tiny atom in the fingernail of some other giant being. This is too much! That means one tiny atom in my fingernail could be--

Intelligent life? It probably exists. See: WOW Signal

Cheron: I find it mind blowing to look at the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field and think that one tiny patch of sky has 5,500 galaxies in it. To think that we are it is hubris

I thought there was 100,000 galaxies in that image?

There are something like a trillion galaxies in the observable universe, and around 250 billion stars per galaxies. To think we are alone is just idiotic.

I cannot deny the possibility. But for there to be any nonzero number of sentient species in the universe, one of those species must the first, and I cannot deny the possibility that we are the first. It's a somewhat more optimistic outlook than the typical "alone in the universe" rhetoric, anyway.

I have no doubt there is life out there. Hell, there's probably a few bacteria that hitchhiked on the probes we've sent to the moon, mars etc. We'll see if anything takes root 50 million years from now.

But if any life out there is sentient, it won't be made out of meat.

Cheron: I find it mind blowing to look at the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field and think that one tiny patch of sky has 5,500 galaxies in it. To think that we are it is hubris

What's so great about us anyway?

exick: The likelihood of any other intelligent species being too far away to contact, the possibility of them not being advanced enough to have the ability to receive any sort of radio communication, let alone of the interplanetary variety, and of having no way of interpreting each other's communications anyway makes me sad.

Conveniently, they're also more or less completely unquantifiable, since we only have access to a couple planets in our general state (solid, within a distance band from our star amenable to our type of life). So the likelihood of human-compatible civilization on earthlike planets could be 1, and we just don't know yet.

If you're going to make up and assign arbitrary numbers to the probability of something no one knows anything whatsoever about, at least be optimistic about it: if you're being happy for no reason at least you're happy, if you're being depressed for no reason I'm not sure I see your motivation.

//Earthlike planets being one of the more common bodies found around a star according to modern astronomy.

When there are trillions of planets, anything not prohibited is mandatory. Since life appeared on Earth, it must not be prohibited.

come to a definite conclusion about something for which there is no evidence?>

sounds like a matter of faith to me.

Cythraul: [imgs.xkcd.com image 413x336]

Nice. It sums up my feelings about life on other planets. It could be something so inconcievable that we have yet to imagine what it would be. I smh at pictures of aliens who walk erect and have similar facial features as humans.

There's probably life. So exotic, foreign and frightening we'd never understand it. I doubt there's anything remotely like us anywhere else in the entire universe though. My best guess is there's lots of lower order...things...but zero if anything remotely like us. Our journey has been so unique, what're the odds of anything going through the same process to get where we are.

I think it would be a little sad to think that in this vast universe all the life that has ever existed or ever will exist is on this one planet.

Why is a government employee saying (s)he believes in anything, NEWS?

Other beliefs held by government employees:

We can close the Patent office since everything possible has been invented

Bush caused the Katrina storm

Todd Akin do I really need to post his "beliefs"?


We've believed there was a reasonable chance there was life on the moon . Remember this?...

busy chillin': Life on other planets = yes, almost 100% definitely

Intelligent life on other planets = that's a toughie, I'll go 25% chance

/not a scientist

Math says otherwise.

There are an infinte number of starsystems based upon observations.

Also based on observations, a finite number has intelligent life.

Finite divided by infinity is zero.

I think we can agree there is no intelligent life in the universe.

/better damn not be obscure

Counter_Intelligent: I'm of the opinion that if we do ever meet extraterrestrial intelligence, it'll be just as retarded as we are.

Or even moreso.