So, you think there is life on other planets??

Originally posted by outside looking in
Well, though I believe in evolution, you have to be careful of how you say things. As Godel showed, you can never "prove" a theory true (unless it's a simple prediction that can be verified by observation) within any given system of axioms.

What this means, in short, is that no amount of observation and experimentation can ever prove evolution to be absolutely, irrefutably, true. Such supporting evidence can however remove all logical doubt, and it then falls into the category of "fact" as acknowledged by science.

And evolution clearly falls into that category.

i agree with that ;)
 

outside looking in

<b>Registered Member</b>
sb,

The last discussion I had online about evolution went for 17 pages (actually, it's still going, and there's no end in sight). I have lots of thoughts on the issue, but I don't think you want to hear them all. ;)

Perhaps when there's more members, we can have a serious discussion. I love talks/debates like that, as long as flaming is kept at a reasonable low level.
 

ol' man

New Member
Originally posted by sbcanada
Many people believe there is only life on earth. We call them Christians. ;) God made the heavens, and the earth. That's what it says in the Bible. Notice the enphasis on earth? Why does he give it special enphasis? Because it is unique. It is special in that it has life on it. The rest of the universe is just a bunch of gas, planets, and rocks for us to look at and see the great wonder and power of our God.

Please don't flame my Christian ass. ;) :D

Don't be stereotyping people ASSHOLE!

It is belief of life on other planets that fortifies belief in a supreme being and/or creator. We were created in his/their image.

Genesis 1:26

"And God said, let us make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness:"

Genesis 3:22

"And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil:"

You think you are funny with your Christian bashing BS.

No where does the bible mention that we are the only people/being's in the Universe. To think that there isn't life on other planets or in other Galaxies is unfathomable.

We went over this in OT at HWC like a year and a half ago.
 

outside looking in

<b>Registered Member</b>
I remember ol' man taking part on a discussion of evolution. ;)

About the discussion I mentioned on another board... it's at 18 pages now, and the Creationists have begun to recycle the same arguments for about the fourth time. :(
 

fury

Administrator
Staff member
There is no possibility of there being any other planets without life... the question is, how many of them are capable of supporting the kind of life that is intelligent and driven by thought, e.g. with a brain able to comprehend, process, and make conclusions on its own, instead of driven merely by instinctive urges to migrate and reproduce.

The life that we have here on Earth is unique. There's a very little chance that a species like us is out there anywhere, because for such a thing to happen would require a solar system to have the exact same size star, with the exact same number of planets consisting of the exact same properties as the one in this system. However, life can still evolve into an intelligent form even if the gravity is a bit lighter or the temperature is a bit hotter, etc. Obviously the species would have different traits than our own, depending on how their ancestors interpreted their purpose on that planet.

Human ancestors started making tools and using those tools to interact with the world and to survive in it, and found out those tools made it easier to live. Tools that killed game, tools that prepared them to be cooked, tools that made fire, tools that protected from invaders, etc... So, we evolved into a species that heavily relies on interaction with tools to live.

In the same way we evolved then, another planet which may have stronger gravity at the surface could contain a species that is evolving into what we would consider super strong beings, since they would have to develop ways to get around in, say, 10x earth's gravity, they would be much stronger when under earth's gravity than under their own. They might grow up with slightly more limited intelligence than our own due to having to spend so many generations working on just getting around in such gravity, but the idea I'm trying to get across is hopefully clear.

In short, I think there is intelligent life out there, or intelligent life is forming out there, just in different forms than we may be used to.
 

fury

Administrator
Staff member
Originally posted by Shadowfax
So fury, why did you stop crunching SETI then? :p
Because if some disease wipes the entire race out, there'll be noone left to greet the aliens. :D
 

T W

New Member
Life exists outside of our solar system.
Prove me wrong.

The problem with humans is arrogance. Even those of us that think we aren't. One would hope that evolution on other planets would go a different way than ours. I mean look at us...the human design is pretty crappy.
Weak bodies, unpredictible thought patterns, constant car key loss, the list goes on.

What we deem to be intelligence will probably be considered a random electrical energy when studied by other species. Maybe splitting the atom was a misfiring neuron.

And who are we to even consider that we are the only life in this universe. When we don't even know if it's going to rain next week?
 

fury

Administrator
Staff member
Another great point added to the pot. What/who we define as intelligent nowadays (Stephen Hawking, e.g.) may be nothing more than a peon compared to some of the other life forms out there in the universe.
 

sbcanada

New Member
Originally posted by T W
Life exists outside of our solar system.
Prove me wrong.

There is no life outside of our solar system.
Prove me wrong.

My thesis stands on top of yours, because we've never seen any other life, nor heard from them, so we can say that there is no other life, until we actually find it.

Who knows? Maybe there is other life. Humans will never know it during our lifetimes, so why bother argue over it? If there was other life in the universe, and it takes very certain conditions to support life, then if there was other life it would probably be so damn far away from here that we'd have to travel 1,000 times the speed of light to get there in about 20 years. ;)

Humans might be able to find other life if we had Star Trek technology. Someone go build me a space ship with a warp drive and I'll go with you to find other life. ;)
 

fury

Administrator
Staff member
Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Maybe we will see first contact happen a lot sooner than you think.
 

outside looking in

<b>Registered Member</b>
I think that if there is actually intelligent life out there, the odds of us finding it within our lifetime (mine at least, I plan to live until 100) are pretty good.

SETI is young, and the equipment used is relatively immature. If there are advanced civilizations, we should pick up a signal or two within a few decades.

Besides, I'm not counting out finding fossilized life on Mars, or living organisms on Europa quite yet.
 

T W

New Member
sb, you just proved the non existence of God.

God creates man
Man proves God doesnt exist
Man disappears in a vacumn of paradox
Woman inherit the earth

DAMMIT!
 
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