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Just curious on members belief in extraterrestrial life.

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  • 14 votes
  • 6 votes
Kristian 4 Nov 8
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44 comments

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1

Until some verifiable evidence, facts and data can be produced to support the existence of aliens (or any claim) then the default position is the claim is false.
Hitchens' razor is an epistemological razor asserting that the burden of proof regarding the truthfulness of a claim lies with the one who makes the claim, and if this burden is not met, the claim is unfounded, and its opponents need not argue further in order to dismiss it.
"What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence”.

One thing I have struggled with is that perspective in the face of the scientific method. It's somewhat a catch 22, I don't believe it till you can prove it, yet you can't prove it without believing it's there and doing experiments (with the all important ingredient - research funding LOL). In some areas it's not a problem (observing HIV or radiation on cells), but in others it is (M-theory, particle physics, etc). I'm not saying scientists should allow their beliefs to sway research data and interpretation, but on the flip side, dismissing stuff we don't understand just b/c we don't understand it could be a hindrance to knowledge also. It can be a fine line to walk sometimes.

7

I think its the height of arrogance to believe humans are the sole sentient beings in the universe.

Not to mention what a disappointment that would be. 😀

@Seeker3CO not for long atleast.

@Seeker3CO Agree to that. There are other brains on Earth that are larger than ours but function differently

6

If Aliens exist we may be to inconspicuous to even be noticed by them .

Inconspicuous isnt the word id use to describe humanity 😂 were likely just not mentally/technologically advanced enough to attract their attention

@Kristian of course under that theory everything and anything exists we're just not able to comprehend it yet. Somewhere out there there's a time machine that someone else has that we just haven't been able to figure out yet and on and on and on. Sound anything like how people made up gods in the first place? There's a volcano! There must be the god Vulcan! Sorry, call me a skeptic but it's a pretty big leap from if we have it it's got to be somewhere else and if we don't have it it still has to be somewhere else.

@lerlo im not really sure what point you are trying to make. I got lost when you started talking about a time machine. What we were discussing is that in the event that aliens do exist, a likely scenario for why we havent seen any is that we are too primitave to attract the attention of beings capable of interstellar travel. Im not sure how vulcan ties in to that.

@Kristian people made up vulcans like you are making up aliens...your initial premise is wrong but everything that flows from it must be right. You asked if people believe in them but all your posts seem to try and presume their existence. Your search for people's opinions went from do they exist to if they do exist we may not be smart enough to see them...are there time machines? maybe we're too dumb to know if other species have them and have been to our planet or better yet that people in the future have them and people have come back in time but we're too stupid to understand it...you see no similarities? 🙂

5

It is possible aliens have visited earth in a way that we can’t detect

Yes it’s definitely possible. The Universe is vast and it highly unlikely we humans are the only advanced life forms.

Yes. Especially if you believe in imperceptible dimensions. Its possible we just can't see higher life forms due to the fact we havent developed the right biology required to percieve them. Much like how dogs can't percieve color because they havent developed the right parts. Im no eye doctor so i can't specify what parts exactly, but i hope you get the point haha

5

There is a possibility they exist but may not be recognizable to us as a life form or exist in a subatomic universe.

5

I believe it very conceited to think that this little planet, in this enormous place, is the only place Life has started. Think how the Earth is one grain of sand in the total of all on the planet.

5

I am not the main stream science minded person. There is evidence to support extraterrestrial life exist and even existed here on earth many thousands of years ago. I have an open mind to many possibilities. There is not an infinitesimal possibility but the numbers are so staggering that the human mind is simply unable to comprehend the chances of life from other origins than earth. And that is just in our own galaxy. Add that to all the known galaxies to exist and the number of galaxies that were before and the others yet to be discovered. The numbers are pretty good that life even far more advanced than our own exist. I find it arrogant and highly dismissive that we view ourselves as superior or even highly evolved and intelligent when we cannot even work together as a human race to unite, care for one another and advance our knowledge and explore the stars. We instead commit to greed, war and exploitation. We limit our own capacity of understanding to religions and medial causes instead of embracing our greatness. We are a petty selfish race so I would say that if there is Intelligent life out there watching they likely would not want to deal with the drama and violence our race is so prone to.

Well said

5

There are 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars out there. If one in a billion has a planet the right distance away from the star to support life, and one in a billion of those actually has life, that's still life on 1,000,000 different planets.

BD66 Level 8 Nov 8, 2018

Great paraphrasing of Carl Sagan, via Ellie Arroway, in the book and movie CONTACT. I f'n LOVE that movie and book.

4

Inevitable. The Kepler telescope found enough that scientists estimate 50B Earth like planets in the Milky Way. Hubble saw enough to estimate 200B galaxies similar to the Milky Way. 50B x 200B = 10,000BB Earth like planets in the Universe (10,000BB = 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000). It is inconceivable that Earth is the only planet with life.

4

I need more options. No evidence of aliens. Probability of life should be pretty high in such a vast universe, but no way to know if any developed and how far and if that life has already died off.

Then i would say you fall closest to the exist but not o earth category 🙂

4

High likelihood that life elsewhere exists, low likelihood that its visited here yet unless earths own lives were started by panspermia, in which case we are the aliens.

4

The odds are high that there is other life in the millions of planets in the universe.

4

Well, If one goes by 'Drakes' equation, there is a strong chance that there is other life out there, but to what level they might be isn't so simple.

If you go by chemically, we are made up of the same main stuff that the universe is, so again the possibility does favor positively that there is more life out there.

But the notion of life out there being anything similliar to us is not too likely.
the human race being what it is now went through a LOT of changes to the planet, and the environment, and other species dying off. the list is very long.
the chances of having that happen again the same way some where else, is practically nill.

3

Who told ? Rats !

I thought you were taller.

@Sticks48 hahahahahahahahah !!! ?????????????? that's a great reply to Mr ET s picture ♥️♥️♥️Hahahahahahah !!!!

3

I am so surprised to read the comments on this post - pleasantly surprised I must add. So many times I read comments on this site that are not very open to anything that is not 100% scientifically validated 😀

Idk, the drake equation is pretty sound. Even just from a practical standpoint, how could one singular planet be the only one to manage to support life. And such an obscene abundance of life for that matter. When you take into account the millions of species on this planet, believing there are absolutely none others is pretty far fetched.

3

Seems a little arrogant to believe we're the only ones.

2

Intelligent life may be rare but the universe is huge. So alien civilizations are likely but the distances are too far.

2

Sure. But either the universe has not existed long enough so that anybody has advanced to the point where interstellar travel is possible, or all civilizations have managed to destroy themselves long before they advanced to that stage.

Thats a pretty reasonable viewpoint

2

Aliens scare the crap out of me. I don’t believe in ghosts or demons or zombies. But aliens freak me the fuck out

Sammmmme. I can't really think of anything scarier, not even sharks ?

2

There should be other options such as if they simply exist or don't without the earth thrown in there.

2

I love a line in the movie Jupiter Ascending, when the Earth girl says it's impossible that there are beings other than humans, the 'alien' responds, "as opposed to the idea that yours is the only planet capable of life in a universe that has so many planets you don't even have a number to count them?" (very possibly misquoted). My point is that we don't know nearly enough about the possible planets that might support life to be so smug about being the only ones who exist. I wouldn't be surprised either way.

2

"I want to believe in as many True things, and as few False things as possible." -Matt Dilahunty

There is no evidence that they exist, and no one has shown that it is true, so, no I don't believe they do.

2

I hope so and hope they have enough sense to stay away from earth. I would certainly avoid it.

2

Who could be so naive to believe we are the only beings in the whole universe.

2

I think they exist and have visited Earth. Do I spend money on that belief, or focus my whole being on that notion - hell no, but circumstantial evidence about ancient aliens theories and architecture/buildings, along with eye witness account from ancient civilizations plus present day pilots and missile silo officers puts me in the belief camp. I will add the caveat I could be 100% wrong.

2

Why absolutes?

Do exist? I don't know.

Are very likely to exist. Yes.

And are extremely unlikely to have visited earth.

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