NationStates Jolt Archive

Alright, sick of the abortion threads and political threads dominating the gerneral forums so hard. So I thought I'd start a thread about something that intrigues me but please, be civil about it, it's all in good fun.

So, right to it, do you believe in aliens? Are you Pro-ETs or Pro-Humans Only? Discuss :)

I believe it's very possible that there are other intelligences out there.

Oh definitely. The probability that we're the only intelligent beings in the entire universe is teensy.

I believe it's possible that there is other intelligent life out there. Very far out there.
I,however, do not believe they have visited us, and alan-probed our fellow humans. I find that absurd.

Extraterrestrial life: a statistical likelyhood approaching 100%
Intelligent Extraterrestrial life: good chance
Extraterrestrial life a la Fox Mulder: a statistical likelyhood approaching 0%

Yes, I believe there is life out there.

I'm not sure if it's intelligent - it may just be single-celled "amoeba" somewhere in the deepest ocean of Barnard's Star second planet, but it's there.

Possibly.. why not.

Probably their here already.. But except their so fundamentally different.. like they traverse in 6 dimensions.. So we can't mentally perceive them.

Though I believe the alien would be so fundamentally different, like their organs are made out of chocolate, or they immolate when they make contact with earth's air.

How come the aliens only pick up dumbass rednecks from the middle of nowhere? No wonder they don't visit openly, if that's they're idea of what humans are like. :p

Oh definitely. The probability that we're the only intelligent beings in the entire universe is teensy.
Us? Intelligent life? ROFL! :D

Seriously, yes, we are not alone.

Yes, I believe there is life out there.

I'm not sure if it's intelligent - it may just be single-celled "amoeba" somewhere in the deepest ocean of Barnard's Star second planet, but it's there.
Extraterrestrial life has already been dicovered. Sentient extraterrestrial life has not. (I think).

I believe they are out there, i'm just sceptical that they've visited us (yet?!).

ET life may very well exist, but I feel it is wrong to say I BELEIVE it exists if I am not basing it on anything.

Just happens to relate to religion.

Extraterrestrial life has already been dicovered. Sentient extraterrestrial life has not. (I think).

While there were some bacteria found on a meteorite, I think that was due to contamination.

There has to be some sort of sentient life out there because it is so easy to evolve sentient life. Aliens have almost certainly never visited the Earth, though, and they probably aren't much more advanced or evil than us. I think aliens might look bery different than humans but could easily have societies like ours. When contact occurrs it will almost certainly be approached carefully and intelligently, as the modern world knows full well the problems of cultural conflict.

ET life may very well exist, but I feel it is wrong to say I BELEIVE it exists if I am not basing it on anything.

Just happens to relate to religion.
I couldn't have said it any better myself. :)

I just can't get that line from "Contact" (shitty movie, by the way) out of my head: "If not, it seems an awful waste of space."

Is there intelligent life out there? Absolutely!
Why? They aren't here, and are avoiding earth like the plague.
Can't say I blame them...

Alien life? Most certainly.

Alien intelligent life (as in, homo sapiens or higher)? Maybe. BIG maybe.

Alien intelligent life with a technological civilisation? Well, one per galaxy maybe. Which would make us very, very alone indeed.

So, right to it, do you believe in aliens? Are you Pro-ETs or Pro-Humans Only?
I believe in the possibility of extraterrestrial organisms. Not as Hollywood portrays them, however. Though I must admit it's possible. Everyone should read The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins if they're interested in this. He discusses the likelihood of extraterrestrial life in an extremely objective manner when talking about abiogenesis.

There has got to be something out there somewhere. Space is so big that we could never find it, but with all that space...

I definatly believe there are "aliens" out there but I think they never visit here because most of the time, people only love it here in times of insanity (which I happen to be very partial to but I won't go into that now...) and who would want to visit that kind of planet? ;)

"I think the surest sign that there's intelligent life out there is that none of it has tried to contact us." - Calvin

Yes I belive there is more out there. A lot more.

How come the aliens only pick up dumbass rednecks from the middle of nowhere? No wonder they don't visit openly, if that's they're idea of what humans are like. :pBest theory I heard is that it's just teenage intergalactic delinquents stealing spaceships and playing tricks on the monkeys of an insignificant planet.

Would expand on this conjecture, but I need to check whether or not my internal organs are made of chocolate.

It seems arrogant to me to assume that humans are the only intelligent life in the universe, and it seems just as arrogant to assume that their "intelligence" would be similar to ours. Certain types of whale are arguably more "intelligent" than humans, but their intelligence is nothing at all like ours and thus cannot warrent them being considered the social "equals" of humans (thus I've thrown a large chainsaw into both the "whales are inferior" group and the "whales are people" group. I wonder what porpoise tastes like...). If the short distance between humans and toothed whales makes us completely alien to one another in all important ways, how complicated do you think things would become between two randomly selected space-faring races whose brains are structured in completely different ways? I doubt we'd know our evolutionary peers if we met them.

Extraterrestrial life: a statistical likelyhood approaching 100%
Intelligent Extraterrestrial life: good chance
Extraterrestrial life a la Fox Mulder: a statistical likelyhood approaching 0%
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What he said.

The universe is so freaking huge that alien life is definitely a 100 percent yes. And intelligent life is quite likely too. However, the chances that we'll interact with these lifeforms within the next 10,000 years is slim to nil. Hell, for all we know, the closest intelligent alien life form may still be in the Paleolithic age of their own.

I believe there are XTs out there. The further questions should be: "Are they intelligent?", "Can they use/develop technology?" and "Can/Will they contact us?"

Assuming the answer to the first and second questions are "Yes", there are nine possibilities. Also assuming they would need technology to contact us in the second question, otherwise the point would be irrelevant.

The possibilities come from two sets of options. Set one is their starting point. Set two is their ability to develop technology.

Set one has three possibilities. They start before us, they start at the same time as us, and they start after us.

Set two also has three possibilities. Their technological advancement is slower than ours, at the same rate as ours, or faster than ours.

Combining the two we get:
1-They start before us, and advance slower than us
2-They start before us, and advance at the same rate as us
3-They start before us, and advance faster than us.
4-They start at the same time as us, and advance slower than us
5-They start at the same time as us, and advance at the same rate as us
6-They start at the same time as us, and advance faster than us.
7-They start after us, and advance slower than us
8-They start after us, and advance at the same rate as us
9-They start after us, and advance faster than us.

Depending on how far before or ahead of us they start, and their advancement rate, sometimes we will have the same technology as them, but it is more likely that they will be much further ahead or behind us. So, it is highly unlikely that we will come across a species with the same technology as ours.

This makes a Star Trek type universe (where most species have roughly the same level of technology) highly unlikely. It is far more likely that any species we come across will be much further ahead, or much further behind our own technology.

It is also far more likely that any XT life we come across will be unintelligent, using Earth as a guideline. Strictly by the numbers, again using Earth as a guideline, unintelligent life is rare, and the odds of a species having both intelligence and the capability/desire to use/develop technology is even rarer.

The third question entirely depends on what the hypothetical XT species does. If they want to contact us and have the means to (again, this is a highly unlikely possibility by the odds), then odds are good they will. If they don't want to or don't have the capability, then it'll be up to us to contact them.

Assuming we do make contact, one way or another, the further question is: "Are they friendly?" This depends on the human species' and their history, amiability, and depends on xeno-relations of both species, and thus I cannot say one way or another.

However, since they will have not wiped themselves out, it is likely that they will possess compassion, and thus, if they or we are not xenophobic, relations may be good.

This leads to yet another question. Will they be unified? Using humans as a guideline (yes, I know it's skewed, but I've got nothing else universally accepted to go on), they will not. Ambition, which they would need to develop technology (again, using humans as a guidline) leads to the forming of countries and empires. Or maybe they will have developed past the need for separate nations, or have a strong sense of species pride which unites them. The latter may make them xenophobic, and if we anger them somehow, the odds are good that they or we will be annihilated by war.

Best theory I heard is that it's just teenage intergalactic delinquents stealing spaceships and playing tricks on the monkeys of an insignificant planet.I have read that book.

Would expand on this conjecture, but I need to check whether or not my internal organs are made of chocolate.Have fun fnord.

Of course there is intelligent life. Read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Great book and it shows that there is definitely alien life, and some of them are roughly humanoide, almost all of them are smarter than us. They are most merciful, excluding the Vogons, if i lived on another planet i would destroy earth in a minute.

There's almost certainly life out there. More than just a little too.

But I don't believe they're orbiting the planet hunting trailers for Nascar fans to probe.