Is There Life, Jim, But... (Mature Discussion)

I'm quite anxious to see how everyone answers this, but I'm especially anxious to here from those who consider themselves religious. Is our little rocky orb truly the centre of the world from God's viewpoint, or have there been many Jesus equivalents all round the uni/multiverse? (Obviously, that one only applies to Christians.)

Mature discussion, please. If you want to make up and talk about alien life-forms, please do so, but not here. Over to you...

( Edited on 23.04.2007 13:43 by Balladeer )

a million worlds multiplied by a million galaxies... hmm thats a lot of possibilities. ...there is that Trek episode where they were slighly amused by one little backwater planet where folk thought they were the only intelligent life in the galaxy. sorry to go slighly off-topic but it seemed relevant(ish)

First - did you have a go at me for bringing up an old religious thread in the atheist one?

To the question, you know that I am an atheist so I won't answer the question. What I will add to it is from an episode of Babylon 5 - yes, I know how much of a nerd that makes me.

In this episode, the commander of the station is falling to his death from a tranport unit that has had a terrorist attack. Naturally, the station has many aliens. One of these lives in a suit and nobody sees it. This alien leaves the suit to save the commander and does.

The really intersting part of the storyline for me, was that each race saw something completely different. For the humans it was a Jesus like image. For the rest, it was their equivalent of a Jesus. This of course was meant to represent that Jesus has appeared to all races, but in a form that is the same as themselves.

One race (the bad guys of the series), saw nothing - they were a godless race.

I found it to be extremely profound and intensely clever writing.

( Edited on 23.04.2007 13:55 by oldschool )

oldschool said:
First - did you have a go at me for bringing up an old religious thread in the atheist one?

Nah - I love your writing to much to complain about any deviations you may bring into the topic. And don't feel that because you are an atheist I'd prefer you not to answer. Spit it out.

I used to watch B5. Many, many aeons ago...

direct quote here; 'Babylon 5 is a big pile o' shit'. yep. lol bruce boxlietner and tracy scoggins, b-grade actors FTW!

Maquis said:
direct quote here; Babylon 5 is a big pile o shit. yep. lol bruce boxlietner and tracy scoggins, b-grade actors FTW!

Perhaps you can reply again with something worthwhile for others to read?

( Edited on 23.04.2007 14:28 by oldschool )

sorry, the B5 quote is from 'Spaced' and i cant help but quote it when i hear of B5. as you said though, it brings nothing new or worthwhile to the table. just like B5, really.

btw that episode certainly sounds an inversion of the season 1 or 2 Next Generation episode 'the devils due' where everyone saw an alien appear as their cultures devil. that was shot in the 80's.

( Edited on 23.04.2007 14:46 by Maquis )

Maquis said:
sorry, the B5 quote is from Spaced and i cant help but quote it when i hear of B5. as you said though, it brings nothing new or worthwhile to the table. just like B5, really.

i addressed the topic already, see post 2.

i addressed the topic already, see post 2.

Well, consider myself wowed:cooldude:

thats it? nice retort. your knowledge of bad tv is WOWsome too! :-p

( Edited on 23.04.2007 14:57 by Maquis )

All you need is a suitable atmosphere an a supply of water for a human-like civilisation to grow, and out of the millions of planets, i'm sure at least one other meets the standard condition and does indeed have life upon it.

i believe that somewhere out here there is life of some form, be it primitive or advanced, it could be out there.
I'm sure i read somewhere there could be life on/in one of the moons of Jupiter.

In answer to the question, there may well be.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galxy said:
'Space is Big. Really, Really Big'

basically what im saying is: i belive there could be life out there, but i don't think we'll be meeting it any time soon

I hope we do find life soon, because that would surely go against some of the bible.

I don't think life on other planets exists.

e: knighty, your shoelaces are untied.

( Edited on 23.04.2007 17:37 by dojo )

I don't see how anyone can think that. Right here in our own system, we have Mars which may well have had life, and some of Saturns and Jupiters moons are very hospitable. Now multiply those chances by BILLIONS.

Of course there is. The universe is essentially infinite, theories of an infinite number of universes. Plus, scientists are always underestimating the durability and adaptability of life. It's doubtful that you'd even need similar conditions to earth.

It's a certainty. Whether we'll ever see any is the real question.

Er... no it isn't. The universe is finite and expanding. Einstein proved that by accident (neglecting a possible division by zero, if anyone's interested. No-one? Oh well).

However, with the uni/multiverse being as huge as it is, it is highly unlikely that we are alone. It is also highly unlikely that we will come across any other lifeforms before our star goes bust, but never mind.

dojo said:
I don't think life on other planets exists.

Any reason for this? Or do you have faith that your point of view is correct?

Lrrr said:
i belive there could be life out there, but i dont think well be meeting it any time soon

Balladeer said:
Er... no it isnt. The universe is finite and expanding. Einstein proved that by accident (neglecting a possible division by zero, if anyones interested. No-one? Oh well).However, with the uni/multiverse being as huge as it is, it is highly unlikely that we are alone. It is also highly unlikely that we will come across any other lifeforms before our star goes bust, but never mind.

Put emphasis on the word "essentially", bright spark.

Im not sure... i dont know how to answer this question... there is a possibility... but how do we know that the Universe is infinte... how do we know that what we call life its just someones dream... or we are just an experiment in some laboratory (Dexters Laboratory)... how can we be sure that earth was created 5 billion years ago...... it would be cool and weird if aliens existed.... maybe they are living amogst us and have been for thousends of years...
I get really confused when i start to think about the Universe.... my brain hurts!! (not really)

( Edited on 23.04.2007 18:52 by HYPNOTOAD! )

How arrogant of man to even contemplate that no life exists in a universe so vast that our feeble brains cannot comprehend it's scope..

There is life everywhere, the darkness of space is in fact a womb, many attribute darkness to a exclusiion of life and that light is the life giver of all things- wrong (example in cave systems in south america defeat such a notion).

Astronmers have isolated planet systems that resemble our own which they predict contain and sustain life as we know it, but even then they are only using the framework of our galaxy that they also hardly know.

If the human race discovers the potential energy sources in harnessing Dark Matter in Serne or in some other place in the future we will be on the right path to finding such life first hand.

The example of deep sea plumes is a perfect one, if you asked a scientist 20 years ago if life could sustain itself in temperatures of 700+ celcius they would not have believed you, today we can all see with our own eyes that it does indeed exist.

To coin a phrase in a great film lol,- "life finds a way" because that is natures role, but for what reason and purpose remains another question.

Also our understanding of physics has been off the mark up until recently, scientists now have greater belief in not only life elsewhere, but also the physical laws that sustain such life being dramatically different from our own. LS

( Edited on 23.04.2007 18:54 by Linkyshinks )

HYPNOTOAD! said:
but how do we know that the Universe is infinte

Also, note although dojo dont believe, no ones voted No on the poll yet

Lrrr said:

HYPNOTOAD! said:but how do we know that the Universe is infinte

its not. it used to be small, but its expanding constantly. there is an edge of the universe, but its juust getting further away.Also, note although dojo dont believe, no ones voted No on the poll yet

That's because I haven't clicked the poll.