I think we've already found aliens, Humanoid.

55555

When we find the aliens, or they find us, it most likely won't be pretty. It's just human nature to be prejudice about things that are different than us. We are a violent species already too, and these two things could lead to war.

But if humans start to shrug off their societal norms of alien prejudice and hate, and the stereotypes the likes of "brain eating", and "little green men", we might be able to join in peace with these species, and thus form a powerful alliance that looks over us as we look over them.

Well, first off, I don't necessarily think that finding life is inevitable. It's a possibility, but not inevitable.

The Argetlam

Woah. The topic got slaughtered? It seemed so tame. Musta' missed something after I left it.

Anyway, Europa sure seems like the likely choice, if one HAD to find life in the fastest amount of time.

Mars schmars, head off to that moon already.

Who's to say our reality that we've all grown up thinking is "normal" isn't in fact a story of alien contact? We kinda' don't look like we belong here... and the fossil record helps that idea along by getting more messed up every time we find a new relative that shouldn't technically exist.

Extraterrestrials? Heck, I'm convinced most of humanity's genetics is from off-planet. I mean, literally. Look up "junk DNA extraterrestrial."

I'm also convinced that life is a lot more common in the universe than we think it is. The DNA molecule (according to my sources) is a material crystallization of a vortex-like energy that permeates our galaxy. It naturally and spontaneously forms wherever the conditions are right -- which doesn't even necessarily have to be on the surface of a planet. Comets and space dust, for instance, can very well contain their own gene pools that then gradually "rain" down on a given planet after drifting through outer space and getting caught in the gravity well.

I think we have a lot of heavy, anthropocentric prejudices about life that will inevitably be challenged as new information comes in from the frontiers of science.

I don't think there's a very good chance of there actually being extraterrestrial life. I'm pretty skeptical, as there is no concrete, undeniable evidence of alien life, but that's not to say there isn't. The universe is a big place.

I say, we're just imagining it all, while being held in pods and harvested for energy.

No, but seriously, if the universe is as infinite as we estimate it to be, than it's pretty likely there's something out there. We just have to stick around long enough for one of us to reach the other.

I say, we're just imagining it all, while being held in pods and harvested for energy.

 

No, but seriously, if the universe is as infinite as we estimate it to be, than it's pretty likely there's something out there. We just have to stick around long enough for one of us to reach the other.

O_O <---This is me. Seeing what you did there.

But seriously now.

I agree, but I'm still pretty skeptical.

No, but seriously, if the universe is as infinite as we estimate it to be, than it's pretty likely there's something out there. We just have to stick around long enough for one of us to reach the other.

This one.

The universe is, as far as we know, bigger than we can even see. There must be trillions of trillions of trillions of stars and planets out there. It's also been around for three times or so the amount of time that Earth has. So I would be utterly shocked if there weren't life (of some form or other) out there somewhere.

Now, whether that life has any means of reaching us, or us them, or if they have at some point or we ever will, that's another story. For me personally, I'll believe it when I see it... until then I remain skeptical.

The universe is definitely big, beyond our current ability to measure and examine. It's the biggest thing we know of, but that certainly doesn't mean it's infinite- if it were infinite, it wouldn't be "wearing out" and "collapsing"; thus the chances for extraterrestrial life are not infinite in themselves.

However, this doesn't mean I think the probability for extraterrestrial life is nonexistent- we're almost certainly going to find some type of animal or planet full of creatures somewhere. But the idea that there's a fully developed, modern(if not more advanced) civilization out there seems rather far-fetched to me. I think if an aspiring company in the search of other sentient life wants to find a sentient species like our own, we should start sending expeditions underground, and underwater first- as opposed to launching rockets into oblivion.

But back to what you were saying, we really need to consider how much of a hazard the large majority of humanity would be be to any sort of civilization untouched by us- most people today have a way of thinking "IF YOU DON'T INTERACT WITH THE REST OF US, YOU MUST DIE BECAUSE WE HATE YOU FOR BEING INDIVIDUAL", and would likely spawn various attacks on the alien world's cultures, ideals, and so-forth- if not all-out war. I believe if anyone wishes to make contact with any "alien" species, they must first consider the consequences of doing so when they "establish a line of communication between them and us". We must consider the all-consuming nature of the human majority's collective conscious before doing anything else. Also, it may interest you to know that I consider there to be little intelligent, or at least sentient life among the human population- if "aliens" are "just like us", you'd run into a similar problem.

That being said, I honestly do wish that there was some sort of other civilization or something out there independent from "us", but I just don't see it happening.

Extraterrestrials? Heck, I'm convinced most of humanity's genetics is from off-planet. I mean, literally. Look up "junk DNA extraterrestrial."

Assuming you're not talking about genes that we don't know go where and cause problems when missing, the other "junk-DNA" that "resemble that of viruses and other mammals" isn't hard to figure out; all you need to do is read about the assimilating nature of a virus, then perhaps more, and you'll find the answer out rather easily. There are a lot of pseudo-scientists that cite more sources, do more(flawed) research, and act more assertively than more truthful scientists that are going to tell you all sorts of things that sound correct- a lot of these people are even widely accepted enough to be recognized by schools.

But, I'm going to stop about that right there. All in all; if there are aliens, that's fine with me- I'm more worried about, if they do exist, what kind of people they'll be, more than anything else- or how we'd react to them.

-Ngakunui

The size of the Universe is more... like infinite, it's constantly expanding outwards in every direction, and so has no actual full size or anything. Things are being created along the way of the expansion, and I'd be surprised if there wasn't other forms of life. I believe that there probably is outer life, somewhere in the vast expanse of our universe. Of course, for all we know they could actually just be another settlement of humans, and nothing special at all.

For all we know, if there is such an outer planet, they're still stuck in the dawn of time, since time isn't the same in locations and things that are older, are generally more developed. Or it could be the other way around, perhaps we aren't the developed ones, while there is another planetary settlement of humans who are lightyears ahead of our time.

You never know, the possibilities are there. There is no evidence to prove one way or the other, it is merely what you believe.