One more peg in the proof of Alien Life?

[darkkazier]

http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn7754

 

I thought it was interesting to think life could have begun so long ago. I wonder how advanced a alien lifeform that started forming that long ago would be by now?

[Ophiolite]

Proof? No. Interesting evidence for the precursors of prebiotic chemistry? Yes. That's ten billion light years away from proof.

[Newtonian]

I find it fascinating when people harp on about possibilities of alien life,without fully understanding the glory and uniqueness of our own .We are here so its happened, but when one considers factually how a whole series of fortunate events have came about.....its very profound.IMO im quite content with the fact we are completely alone,God does indeed play dice with the universe.......he threw 2 billion of them and hit all 6's....

[Daecon]

Of course God plays dice with the Universe. But you're forgetting - He's omnipotent, he can make then land however he wants them to.

[darkkazier]

alright, i should have stated it differently, what i meant was that it just makes it a bit more liekly.

[Sayonara]

No it doesn't.

[Ophiolite]

darkazier, I didn't intend to infer that this was not a noteworthy piece. We know that the elements essential for life will spontaneously form simple to moderately complex compounds in interstellar space. (Sedna and some of the other KBOs are probably ankle deep in such molecules.) We also know that by ten billion years ago a sufficient number of stars had gone supernova to provide those elements in abundance. Therefore we could fully expect that they were there, ready to be detected as soon as we turned a suitably sensitive instrument in their direction.

The significance of this discovery is that the expectation is confirmed. That's neat, but I don't think it alters the odds on alien life.

[ed84c]

Im with Sayo on this one. God was just being economical.

[Sayonara]

I meant it "doesn't make it more likely" in the sense that the probability has not changed. Rather, we are more confident in the likelihood.

[CPL.Luke]

you know considering that it is entirely possible that the universe is infinite, it is 100% likely that not only is there alien life somewhere in the universe but that there is a planet in a solar system exactly like earth with all of the same species as earth and the exact same history.

[Newtonian]

no it isnt

[ecoli]

you know considering that it is entirely possible that the universe is infinite, it is 100% likely that not only is there alien life somewhere in the universe but that there is a planet in a solar system exactly like earth with all of the same species as earth and the exact same history.

 

not true. Given an infinite universe, it it infinitely probable, but not completely so. Of course, to be the exactly the same as the earth, is infinitely improbable, even with an infinate universe, n'est pas?

[Mart]

Originally Posted by CPL.Luke

you know considering that it is entirely possible that the universe is infinite, it is 100% likely that not only is there alien life somewhere in the universe but that there is a planet in a solar system exactly like earth with all of the same species as earth and the exact same history.

 

Why be so cautious? On your logic there could (would?) be an infinite number of identical Earths.

[ed84c]

it also means that the number of habitable worlds (not 100% of infinity) divided by the size of "your" crazy universe gives us a density of 0 habitable worlds in our universe.

 

Thought you might find that interesting.

 

Also you prosume that there is a finite number of possible earth configurations (e.g. hitler won, metoer didnt strike dianosaurs etc) in which to arise infinite wolrds exactly the same but tahts not necisarily the case. If there are infinite configs, then you could have inifinite numbers of worlds, that are different.

 

woot; chaos.

[darkkazier]

Well he is probably basing thaton the noton that a lot of theoretical physicists(most notably Michio Kaku) believe that for every possible action their is a new universe in which that action happened.

[Sayonara]

you know considering that it is entirely possible that the universe is infinite, it is 100% likely that not only is there alien life somewhere in the universe but that there is a planet in a solar system exactly like earth with all of the same species as earth and the exact same history.

You still have to accept "Earth is the only life-bearing planet" as being a possible overall outcome.

[Daecon]

Possible yes, but surely it can't be on the "most likely" side of probable...?

[Sayonara]

Based on what?

[Royston]

Based on what?

 

Isn't it obvious...skepticism.

[CPL.Luke]

read up on inflation and the big bang theory, the universe didn't start as a point, our light cone steadily increases in size and we are able to see more of the universe every day, however we will never be able to see it in its entirity

[Nisou]

if the universe IS infinite, then it is possible for an infinite number of identical earths with idental history..

 

but hey.. im pretty sure by the time one earth shows up with the same history along with a second earth.. the first earth would be gobbled up by a supernova or something .. unless all earths started at the SAME time .. and everything happened exactly the SAME.. omg, im scared by that thought..

 

!___________!

[CPL.Luke]

hey check out the new scientific special edition an identical earth is only 10^10^128 meters away. by the way I actually mean a planet with an identical looking universe, with every atom in exactly the same place in the hubble volume

[Iceberg_Blow]

i am of the opinion that the universe is always expanding and therefore not infinite. if this is true, the odds are way lower because there are not infinite situations.

[CPL.Luke]

the universe is constantly expanding. However this does not rule out an infinite universe, in fact the idea that the universe is finite because its expanding is a long way off from what inflation really says.

 

Furthermore it has been proven through the microwave background radiation that the universe is flat (or at the very least flat enough to contain several hubble volumes). The expanding universe just means we are able to see more every day than we were able to see yesterday.

[us.2u]

If Aliens really do exist can they possibly visit Earth, & come through our Atmosphere without burning up? do they have heat-shields? In all honesty I can only see Aliens visiting Earth as a sci-fi story; If so many stories of aliens have been reported why is there so little proof that they've arrived here?...us.2u