[X] My Assistant

[Sir Xero]

Yes. There is a lot of debate on whether or not this is actually true or not. After reading this, you are going to attempt to answer the yes or no question, "Do you think that there are life on other planets/galaxies, and why?"

Mars was a good candidate. There might have been life there before, because there is evidence of water flow. Not to mention it has ice caps, aka frozen water. If it would have previously had an ozone, it most likely would have higher temperatures, so there would have been even more likability for life. Even if so that is not true, there still could have been life there that was adapted to the cold environment.
However, still, Mars is way too cold with too less oxygen and oxygen to support any kind of life that i can think of that would be like our own planet's life.

However, think about the whole universe. I find it hard to believe that in the million-billion-trillion light years + more away from our planet, there is absolutely nothing. There has to be some kind of chance for life somewhere in there.

Also, there are UFO sightings. I am not sure about that part of it, that could be a big hoax. However, there has been so much UFO sightings that it would be hard to believe every single one is a hoax. Plus, the govt. gets all crazy on subjects like this and attempts to cover it up. They could be trying to cover up new projects that they are trying, i dont know. However, i find it odd for them to act crazy every time something like this comes up.

So, like stated before, what do you think? What are your views on life on other planets? Do you believe, or not, and why?

[Miracle Eye]

i was watching a LOT of UFO shows on the history channel earlier today, and by the results, there MUST be life out there somewhere.

the stone hedges (those stones that stand and form a circle and can tell time) are said to be a portal or area for UFOs to investigate and enter our planet more easier.

[Tiamat]

While I think UFOs are complete nonsense, life on other planets is extremely likely. We are not special in terms of being life. However, intellegent life is likely to be extremely rare, and unless we develop hyperspace technology we will only find scattered ruins of where life once was. The most common would be, I think, single-celled organisms, with organisms becoming rarer the more complex they get.

I also think that, given the right conditions, we might even find silicon-based life forms, although we may not inniltally recongize them as such, due to their being basically rocks. Life is a rather hardy thing, and there has to be hundreds of thousands of life-bearing star systems.

[Flamer]

If you think about the probablities of it, with space being so huge and all that, there is almost definatly some form of life out there, be it bacteria or extremly advanced UFO flying sentient species. However, life in our own galaxy is unlikely, as our positioning in both our solar system and the galaxy itself is belived to be the only one in which life could exist. However, there are billions upon billions of galaxies, so I'm sure that there must be at least one other planet out there with suitable conditions to support life.

However, as far as stuff like stone henge and UFO's a concerned, I think that's all a bit too far. Going back to the point about the certain probablity of life being out there because of the size of space, it's that same huge size that makes it means that even if other species had developed some form of hyperspace travel, the chances of them happening upon our planet is infinitesimally small.

[Blackie]

As for life on other planets, I'm with the rest. With so many planets out there, the odds are (slightly) good for there to be some sort of single-cell organism on some backwater planet. But I do not believe we are going to find intelligent life - and that's if we ever get the technology to leave our own galaxy in the first place. I guess, unlike other people, I do think we are unique (even if I do not include my religious beliefs).

As for UFOs, well, I'm a skeptic. First of all, the term UFOs has become used way out of proportion. People seem to have forgotten what it really stands for: Unidentified Flying Object. When we follow that logic, anything can be a UFO. If you see a plane in the sky and do not know it is a plane, it is a UFO to you. If you see a bird and you can't tell for sure it's a bird, it is a UFO. People have linked the term UFO to little green men in silver suits and Area 51 when it really has no point being there. People should probably start calling it something else, like UFAO (Unidentified Flying Alien Object).

As for Stonehenge, they found a whole civilization buried beneath the earth nearby, with tools advanced enough to create Stonehenge. People made it - not aliens. Case closed. Same goes for the pyramids - they had the tools, they have the hieroglyphics showing how they made it, and reports on papyrus.

As for Aliens using these as 'guiding tools' to help them land better, I'd like to use a quote that a rather funny scientist pointed out once: "If these aliens are so advanced, wouldn't they have GPS?" He's got a point. Why would they need Stonehenge and Crop Circles if they were advanced enough to create ships that could go undetected by radar and hover over cities before disappearing without a trace?

Now, as for the mysterious balls of light, we only recently started taking seriously the idea/reports of something in nature that could do this: Ball Lightning. For some reason, I never see this talked about on any UFO show. We know little to nothing about Lightning balls. While normal lightning bolts last for a fraction of a second, ball lightning can last many seconds. There are reports of them passing through solid objects (like planes). They appear and disappear for no reason we can tell. We've tried replicating them in labs, but can't seem to do it. A lot of these reports of strange balls of light (Usually and frustratingly referred to as UFOs) are very possibly ball lightning. It would explain why it doesn't show up on radar, and yes, they can strike on cloudless days (in dry weather, lightning can strike from a clear sky).

As for the military being jumpy, well, what if they are making secret aircraft? I mean, isn't that what we pay them to do? Keep us safe? And if they're to keep these aircraft safe from some government that hates us and would love to know every move and development we make, the government can't just say 'Aw, shucks, you caught us. We were making a top-secret aircraft that isn't detectable by radar, makes no noise, and can appear and disappear with some sort of shielding effect. By the way, shh! Don't tell our enemies." I mean, come on. XD Sure, they could come up with a more believable explanation when they are testing said top-secret objects, but do they have to? It is also of my dad's opinion that Area 51 is nothing more than a decoy. Think about it, people spend all their times trying to get in there, figure out what's going on. Every once in a while, someone takes a plane and flies it about to satisfy the conspiracy theorists that there is something there (though they don't know what) and meanwhile, Area 52 is sitting meek and quiet somewhere because everyone's focused on Area 51.

[Kitsune1494]

I believe there is somewhere in the universe...i mean come on...we can't be other only ones when there are so many other galaxies out there...there has to be another that is able to support life...mars did at one point, they've found fossilized bacterial and other single celled organisms...

[Sadina Saphrite]

I support Blackie here. I believe life on other planets is highly probable...if not definite, but I'm not so certain that they've come here. I don't doubt that it is possible, but I won't fully believe it until I see some hard proof from a reliable source.

And I know a lot of it is experimental government aircraft, too. When my Dad was in the Marine Corps, he caught a glimpse of a stealth plane that "didn't exist" while it was still in the hangar, and had the FBI tailing him for a few weeks to make sure he didn't tell anyone. I don't remember what the plane was, but it isn't secret anymore, and hasn't been for years.

As for stone henge, the pyramids, and every other ancient landmark supposedly made by "aliens..." It's all geometry!

[TristaK]

While it's possible that life on planets do exist, there's still a slim chance that none exist at all. It's high imporbable, yes, but there is a chance at it. It's very interesting, however, to read through the thoughts of others...
My thoughts on other life coming here:
SOME secret Government Projects are seen, not a lot of them are ever heard of until years and years later. :/ The problem is, the secrecy makes people suspicious and we're less likely to support the government. However, I've noticed that those people who are tailed never do tell, unless it's through their children and after it's been released.

Also, geometry for the mounds found by explorers and created by what we would call 'primitive' Indians represent shapes from up in the sky. How in the WORLD would they be able to co-ordinate them to look like the patterns? I mean, the possibility of you making a sacred mound that when put together with other mounds looking like a snake without being in the air or near a very tall cliff and able to pass word along is... well, remarkable. And if I can ever see the program that talked about it or read a book about it, someone send me the name of it.

Ball lightning, as Blackie mentioned, doesn't fit some descriptions I've found in Paranormal lore. Orbs that float while completely controlled in maneuvering, and by orbs I mean orbs of a color, that have the ability to turn 90 degree angles or swerve around, not unlike a car would. I've read about an interesting phenomena where an orb was taunting three large attack dogs as they tried to get at it. It was lower itself just above where their jaws would get it, then zoom towards the brush, until the dogs were completely inside said brush. The dogs were never found, there were just three burnt grass spots where they had been in the brush (Referenced from 'Hunt for the Skinwalker,' George Knapp and Colm A. Kelleher).

[KingTheory]

I think they are out there. Intelligent? Maybe. But why spend so much money looking for them when if they want to know who we are, they can come here instead.

[TristaK]

I think they are out there. Intelligent? Maybe. But why spend so much money looking for them when if they want to know who we are, they can come here instead.

This is very true. Hmm.. Perhaps because they want to make us look for them? Kind of like children who play hide and go seek?

[DresdenComplex]

In my opinion there has to life other than us out there somewhere. When one considers that the universe is infinetly vast and continuing to expand then that brings to mind the trillions of stars, and billions of galaxies and planets then it's not unconceivable to think that there has to be life somewhere. Whether that life has visited us or not is another story, but life's out there.

[TMG]

As for the military being jumpy, well, what if they are making secret aircraft? I mean, isn't that what we pay them to do? Keep us safe? And if they're to keep these aircraft safe from some government that hates us and would love to know every move and development we make, the government can't just say 'Aw, shucks, you caught us. We were making a top-secret aircraft that isn't detectable by radar, makes no noise, and can appear and disappear with some sort of shielding effect. By the way, shh! Don't tell our enemies." I mean, come on. XD Sure, they could come up with a more believable explanation when they are testing said top-secret objects, but do they have to? It is also of my dad's opinion that Area 51 is nothing more than a decoy. Think about it, people spend all their times trying to get in there, figure out what's going on. Every once in a while, someone takes a plane and flies it about to satisfy the conspiracy theorists that there is something there (though they don't know what) and meanwhile, Area 52 is sitting meek and quiet somewhere because everyone's focused on Area 51.

You summed up my feelings on it. I've thought for quite a while now that it would make sense for the government to keep us suspicious about aliens so we ignore their top-secret projects.

[Desirai]

I think the stereotypical UFO and little green alien with big bulging eyes are nonsense and fake. But I do, and have always, thoroughly believed that there is life elsewhere, even if it may just be a collection of single-celled organisms.

[oddkitty]

I remember a show on the Discovery Channel, years ago, about the possibility of life. It brought up some interesting points that I think make a lot of sense.

Our galaxy is a primarily carbon-based galaxy. The bulk of the stars in it are carbon-based stars, like our own Sol. There are dozens upon dozens of solar systems in our galaxy alone that have the right positioning for life as we know it, and let's not forget the ice moon Europa in our own solar system. Who knows what lies beneath those miles of ice?

But gas planets and such, they could have life, too. And as someone pointed out earlier, there's also the possibility of silicone-based life forms, but we really wouldn't know it. They'd be slow to move, slow to grow, they'd live a long time, and we would just see them as... well... rock. In fact, two sci-fi books I can think of explore life forms like this: Timothy Zahn's Manta's Gift, and Anne McCaffrey's The Death of Sleep. The former has beings that live on gas giants, the latter has silicone-based life forms.

Now, what are the chances of life being as intelligent as we are, in a range in our own galaxy that we can reach them? Slim to none. Chances are, life would be either too primitive, or there would have already been more advanced life, and they could have died out. But we would be stupid to think we were the only life in the entire universe. There are so many galaxies with so many planets in the right areas that life could easily form, with the right nudging. All it takes is a single cell.

Personally, I'm rooting for some kind of bacterium or even plant life in the trenches of Europa. The likelihood of life existing elsewhere in our own solar system is raised on a moon made primarily of water, which is our solar system's source of life.

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As for the military thing... y'know that stealth bomber they created a while back? The black plane that looks kinda weird and stuff? People used to think that was a UFO. And technically speaking, it was. Let's not forget that UFO is an acronym for Unidentified Flying Objects, and it doesn't necessarily mean alien life. It also goes for military aircraft, ball lightning, and stuff like that.

[maiwolf]

I think that... like Race to Witch Mountain... there are people elsewhere that look like us (though maybe not with the same languages and stuff). Yay for opinions!

[Nivbird]

I don't know much about UFOs and am slightly skeptic.
As for Mars, although anaerobic organisms grow in the absence of oxygen, you'd need aerobic organisms, who could produce organic compounds from inorganic onces as substrate for the anaerobic bacteria. So, if there's life on other planets, then it's probably not in the Solar system.

[nebz5]

There probably is life somewhere out there. I do doubt that there has been any other intelligent life to visit our planet though. And there's probably no life in our solar system besides us though the only ones that could would be Venus and Mars and mars is to small to hold an ozone capable of holding life while Venus is to close to the sun and all of its oxygen escaped its atmosphere a long time ago

[Melciiee]

I have different 'theories' (Allright, Fantasies then) about this;

1. There must be life in the universe. Not that we see something from that, but maybe within the other solarsystems who are way too far away for us to investigate. Imagine that there is life, like us, and that they are in the same 'behind the world science' as us, that they want to know if there is more life then only them. But what if they, just like us, can't get as far in the universe as they like? I think there will be sometime that we'll see eachother.
2. I think there was life at mars, now on earth, and in the future, as our planet 'dies', on Venus. If you look at venus, you'll see a very rough climate, but who sais that earth wasn't like that in earlier times? Maybe (okay, this is really a wierd thingy from my brains xD) we started on a planet in the planetoïd-ring thing, (between the solid planets and the gas planets), but we exploded it because we didn't knew how to handle it. Then we moved to Mars, but we also made some mistakes over there. Now we're on earth, but also here it's not going so well. And then we move to venus!
xD
3. I think there are life forms in the universe. Not human beings, but bacteries and stuff like that. And that's life too.
4. Or that we're part of a bigger thing, let's say part of a human. That we're like cells, to keep te human thing alive, but that we are so small in comparision to that human being, that we think we are big, but that we're part of a bigger thing, and that we have smaller things within us xD Understand something from it? xD

But the point from this whole life thing is very hard, because we'll never know if there's life, because it's just too far to investigate!
My friend and I had an Idea to make a very very very big Spacethingie, something like a space-city, with, let's say, 15 couples, who have different carreers (Doctor, technician, nurse, farmer, teacher, etc), who can make baby's with eachother, and let them ride through the universe, out of our solar-system and much further. So in final, the 7th generation or something, is in another solar-system, and can send pictures and such of that.

Hehe, almost all of my fantasies and brain-twirls about the universe! :P

Edit: Typos *sigh*

This post has been edited by Melciiee: Apr 13 2009, 03:15 PM

[Melciiee]

I think they are out there. Intelligent? Maybe. But why spend so much money looking for them when if they want to know who we are, they can come here instead.

This is very true. Hmm.. Perhaps because they want to make us look for them? Kind of like children who play hide and go seek?

With the hide and seek thing; if you wait long enough you will see someone move...

So why wouldn't we be alert for signs to see someone move, but let thém made 'the mistake' to move and come visit us ?


Edit: Typos

This post has been edited by Melciiee: Apr 13 2009, 03:14 PM

[Kaname Madoka]

I'm with the OP on this topic. Space is absolutely enormous - you can't tell me there isn't going to be life on at least one of the planets somewhere out there.