Are WE the only life in the Universe?

[pmaust]

I too like to think that "life" is ubiquitous throughout the universe. There appear to be some tantalizing and suggestive clues. Methane and so on. I just choose to withhold judgement until we can confirm the source of those gases. We are still kind of new at this space exploration business. It is possible that there is another explanation for their presence. I hope that we can pay another visit to Mars to try and find out more. Some people balk at spending the money to do things like that though. :)

[Tormod]

I doubt it because i thought i heard about some foosils of bateria were found on mars. So if there isnt life than there must of been. And also over millions of years havnt some bacteria left the atmosphere. And what about our contamination of the moon and mars and other planets with bacteria that got onto/into our rockets/shuttles

Welcome, Law_Freak!

 

Actually, no such findings on Mars have yet been confirmed (well, it might be said they have been thoroughly disproved, but thre is still som disagreement in the field). So while the possibility for past or present life on Mars is certainly there, we still haven't found traces of it.

 

As for the contamination of other bodies I am not sure what your point is. AFAIK, we have no evidence of growing communities of bacteria on the moon or on Mars that stem from the Earth.

[Tormod]

I hope that we can pay another visit to Mars to try and find out more. Some people balk at spending the money to do things like that though. :)

There are plenty of Mars missions coming up - including a planned sample return mission.

 

Here are some:

 

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/

 

Phoenix Mars Scout

http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/future/phoenix.html

 

Mars Science Laboratory

http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/future/msl.html

 

And even further...

http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/future/futureMissions.html

[pmaust]

There are plenty of Mars missions coming up - including a planned sample return mission.

 

Here are some:

 

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/

 

Phoenix Mars Scout

http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/future/phoenix.html

 

Mars Science Laboratory

http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/future/msl.html

 

And even further...

http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/future/futureMissions.html

 

Cool! Thanks.

[Tormod]

You're welcome!

 

I should perhaps point out that the sample return mission isn't "planned" (which I wrote)...maybe "on the drawing board" is more correct. :)

[Freethinker]

as a human, a life form, and a dynamic system in this universe, you are not alone. :)

Good, it would make discussions very difficult otherwise!

[IrishEyes]

Good, it would make discussions very difficult otherwise!

Sorry, pal. Razeroth is wrong on this one. YOU and You alone are ALONE. And - thank You very much, there is only one of YOU.

:)

 

(ok, maybe this is just a shameless attempt to get those last few posts before I hit the big 000. But I'll not feel guilty about it, no I won't. Especially when I recall the endless games of Ping-pomg played in these very forums while you were on your way there. And to not only let T catch up, but PASS you??? Oh the shame of it all! ;) )

[Tormod]

And to not only let T catch up, but PASS you???

Wot? :)

[IrishEyes]

Sorry, T...you know it's YOU that I love... but it really was quite shocking for me to see your count higher than Freethinker's. I almost suspected 'fowl' play, until I realized who I was thinking of. Since you're the most ethical person I know of (besides my dear hubby), I quickly realized that you must have just been making good use of all of those weekends when Freethinker's kids were visiting...

 

And besides, who'd have tought that my birthday thread would still be going strong so many months later? How cool is that??!??

[Tormod]

Sorry, T...you know it's YOU that I love... but it really was quite shocking for me to see your count higher than Freethinker's. I almost suspected 'fowl' play, until I realized who I was thinking of. Since you're the most ethical person I know of (besides my dear hubby), I quickly realized that you must have just been making good use of all of those weekends when Freethinker's kids were visiting...

Hm...this post reeks of...hm...can't quite put my finger on it...er...the color "brown" and the word "nose" come to mind... :)

 

I can't be blamed for Freethinker spending time at his HA (Hypographers Anonymous) meetings and thus loosing out on the race towards 3K.

[Tormod]

And I don't do post count padding. Isn't that against the FAQ or something?

[IrishEyes]

And I don't do post count padding. Isn't that against the FAQ or something?

 

FAQ - schmak!

I'm on a mission here...

Today, 05:04 PM #111

IrishEyes

Administrator

Join Date: Apr 2004

Location: Virginia, USA

Posts: 998

 

 

After this one, I'll only have one more to go... then I HAVE to log off and cook dinner!

[philosophy]

it is impossible for there not to be life in the universe.

 

we Are life... Actually... i was just discussing this with my little brother earlier today (hes 3)

 

he asked me if there were aliens in outer space.... i smiled at him and replied "we are aliens in outer space!"

 

Look around you on this earth... i was looking out my window and saw my neighbors dog, Kelsey... i brought my lil bro over to the window and told him.. see Kelsey!? shes an alien.

Im an Alien.. See the trees? those are aliens too. Life forms in outerspace... This world is a life form in outerspace.

 

Just my opinion....

 

 

 

But Chances of there Being more life out there is greater than the chance that we are the only ones in this very very big world. :) :) :Alien: :Alien:

[pgrmdave]

http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/SETI/drake_equation.html

 

An interesting site about the Drake Equation.

 

The Drake equation has interested me for a while, as I think that it is a logical way of trying to understand how difficult or easy it would be to find intelligent extraterrestrials.

[maddog]

All this rhetoric about life, even intelligent life in the universe. So what about intelligent

life on Earth. Can this be substantiated ? With where this thread has gone (where no

one has gone before), I wonder.

 

But your logic is flawed. You are looking at only HALF of the picture: simply put, you are considering only how many "shots" there have been at life arising. You are leaving out of the calculation how improbable life arising is. For example, what if the probability of life arising is 1 in 10^120 in a single "shot"*?...

 

Sorry, If I missed the science show where the probability of "1 in 10^120 in single shot"

was ever considered as a probability for arising life. Where is your evidence of that... :Alien:

There was a book about 30 years ago called "Intelligent life in the universe" by both

Carl Sagan and some russian astrophysicist. Kinda dated now, but still valid. Just the

numbers have changed with more upto date info. This is all based on the Drake equation.

 

Probability for stars forming *

prob of planets around stars *

prob of planets in habitable life zones *

prob of life developing * ...

 

till you get mulitply by the lifetime of an average civilization.

Now this is the great unkown (we don't now how long we got)... :Alien:

 

New data: we now know that planets forming are better than thought then -- maybe

better than 80% (we found 3 planets around a binary that would cause orbit that are

truely chaotic to model.

 

We know that other stars than just G type stars could have sufficient habitable life zones.

 

Given the right environment life type do form. Evidence is as far as I know not totally

conclusive either way about paspermia (life from elsewhere or not) <-- jury still out.

 

Oh yeah, I couldn't find where you flipantly mentioned Titan could be habitable. It turns

out there was conjecture about 13 years ago about that very subject. An SF novel by who

I consider to be quite good on this subject (and is a physicsist) called "Code of the lifemaker",

by David Brin. Earlier mentioned that Silicon since is like Carbon could produce life. Well

actually Silicon doesn't make double and triple bonds like Carbon. However, Brin proposed

a plausible theory at the right temperature and pressure to produce natural semiconducter

type constructs (all microsized). Totally speculative (and imagninative), not out of the

question either. We will know a lot more after Huygens touches down and does some

sampling.

 

I like Tormod find the body of evidence for life produced in the universe to be prolific and

diverse. I do not expect to find humans everywhere. I have considered possibilities as

did Carl Sagan about Amonia (NH3) using polar bonds for the backbone of life in the

oceans of Europa. We won't know until we go there.

 

Maddog

 

ps: I've got to go to work tomorrow.... zzzzzzzzzz

[lindagarrette]

The probability of life existing in the universe is 1. Here we are. Drake's equation is about elsewhere in the universe.

 

http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/SETI/drake_equation.html

 

An interesting site about the Drake Equation.

 

The Drake equation has interested me for a while, as I think that it is a logical way of trying to understand how difficult or easy it would be to find intelligent extraterrestrials.

[infamous]

Lindagarrette; Seriously, I'm not trying to get smart with you here, but are you suggesting that elsewhere should be considered irrelevant. It's just that I don't understand why you needed to make this a point of discussion even though it is absolutely your right to do so.