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Do you think there is life out there?
Apr 9, 2015 at 5:16pm
If our universe is infinite in size, then it is impossible that we are alone. However, it is still possible that other life is outside of the observable universe.
If our universe is finite, we could very likely be alone aside from some simple bacteria.
Personally, I like to believe the universe is infinite in size. I can only hope that there's some undiscovered way to get around the observable universe problem.
If our universe is finite, we could very likely be alone aside from some simple bacteria.
Personally, I like to believe the universe is infinite in size. I can only hope that there's some undiscovered way to get around the observable universe problem.
Apr 9, 2015 at 7:04pm| If our universe is infinite in size, then it is impossible that we are alone |
Eh, it is possible. Infinite does not imply all possibilities. For example, the positive integers are infinite yet they do not encompass all the numbers.
Last edited on Apr 9, 2015 at 8:55pm
Apr 9, 2015 at 7:55pm
Even a finite universe does not discount extraterrestrial life.
Apr 9, 2015 at 9:13pm
It's absurd to think we are alone in the Universe.
Borrowing from another post I made on these boards:
The universe is freaking big. It's mindblowingly big. Think of the biggest thing you can think of... multiply its size by like a million... and the universe is still way bigger.
- There are 8 planets in our Solar System
- There are ~100-400 billion solar systems in the Milky Way galaxy
- There are over 54 galaxies in our Local Group
- There are 10 Groups in the Virgo Supercluster
- There are millions (~10 million) superclusters in the observable universe.
If our solar system is typical, we can expect there to be 8 * 250billion * 54 * 10 * 10million other planets in the observable universe.
That is... 4.32e19 planets.
That is... 43,200,000,000,000,000,000 planets
And I'm being very generous and rounding down a lot. Seriously, it's huge.
Even if life on planets is extraordinarily rare, it's practically a statistical certainty that at least one other planet out there has life.
For perspective, if odds of there being life on a planet is one million-trillion to 1... then we can expect there to be life on 43 other planets.
And that's just planets. I'm ignoring the possibility of life on moons or other heavenly bodies as well -- and there are even more of those than there are planets.
And this is only the parts of the Universe we're able to see. Who knows how far it goes beyond that.
Of course... even if life exists, it's very possible (and very likely) that we will never see it, as it would simply be way too far away.
Borrowing from another post I made on these boards:
The universe is freaking big. It's mindblowingly big. Think of the biggest thing you can think of... multiply its size by like a million... and the universe is still way bigger.
- There are 8 planets in our Solar System
- There are ~100-400 billion solar systems in the Milky Way galaxy
- There are over 54 galaxies in our Local Group
- There are 10 Groups in the Virgo Supercluster
- There are millions (~10 million) superclusters in the observable universe.
If our solar system is typical, we can expect there to be 8 * 250billion * 54 * 10 * 10million other planets in the observable universe.
That is... 4.32e19 planets.
That is... 43,200,000,000,000,000,000 planets
And I'm being very generous and rounding down a lot. Seriously, it's huge.
Even if life on planets is extraordinarily rare, it's practically a statistical certainty that at least one other planet out there has life.
For perspective, if odds of there being life on a planet is one million-trillion to 1... then we can expect there to be life on 43 other planets.
And that's just planets. I'm ignoring the possibility of life on moons or other heavenly bodies as well -- and there are even more of those than there are planets.
And this is only the parts of the Universe we're able to see. Who knows how far it goes beyond that.
Of course... even if life exists, it's very possible (and very likely) that we will never see it, as it would simply be way too far away.
Apr 9, 2015 at 9:53pm
To quote my college physics professor:
"The only way someone could convince me there was a God is if they could somehow prove to me that Earth is the only place with life on the universe."
(said after giving a lecture that is well summarized by Disch's post above).
"The only way someone could convince me there was a God is if they could somehow prove to me that Earth is the only place with life on the universe."
(said after giving a lecture that is well summarized by Disch's post above).
Apr 10, 2015 at 11:28am
Fermi's paradox and the wow! signal makes me believe that something mysterious is going out there :D
Apr 10, 2015 at 2:46pm| If our universe is infinite in size, then it is impossible that we are alone. |
| Eh, it is possible. Infinite does not imply all possibilities. |
Infinite does sort of imply all possibilities because when something is infinite it means there are infinite possibilities. Yeah, i'll go back to bed...
Apr 10, 2015 at 3:23pm| Infinite does sort of imply all possibilities |
It doesn't imply all possibilities at all.
| Fermi's paradox |
An assumption about what other species should be doing, based upon what we think our species (given technologies we are not sure can yet be created) should be doing in the future, all with the assumption there is another intelligent race in our own galaxy.
Fermi's paradox, is not much of a paradox.
Apr 10, 2015 at 3:31pm
Just to make it clear: I agree that I misspoke. Infinite does not imply all possibilities. However, I like to believe that the universe does have all possibilities allowable by physics, even if there was no way to know.
Apr 10, 2015 at 3:50pm
One of my favorite answers to the fermi paradox is the notion of the great evolutionary filter.
Apr 10, 2015 at 4:07pm| It doesn't imply all possibilities at all. |
Infinite is never ending> never ending possibilities>All (and growing) possibilities.
lol
Apr 10, 2015 at 4:17pm
The set of real numbers is infinite. The set of integers is infinite. All integers are real numbers. Not all real numbers are integers.
To add to the confusion, the set of all positive integers has the same size as the set of all integers. Infinity is a broken concept.
To add to the confusion, the set of all positive integers has the same size as the set of all integers. Infinity is a broken concept.
Apr 10, 2015 at 4:29pm
Within the extended complex plane, the eqaution ∞ = 1/0 is totes legit.
Apr 11, 2015 at 6:31amclosed account (SECMoG1T)
i'd like to think that we got two possibilities only :D, it's either we are alone or not at a ratio of 50:50 but personally after watching some documentaries on youtube i have the conviction that conditions out there are way to harsh from exploding supernovas , excessive radiation emissions , massive black holes that eat up everything they come across and it would be hard to find anything that could survive that, i think there is not even a bacteria out there or some small insects like alien chameleons and lizards and if they exist they would be super mutated.
Last edited on Apr 11, 2015 at 6:44am
Apr 11, 2015 at 7:24am| i have the conviction that conditions out there |
We are also 'out there'. So far have found over 1000 exoplanets in our short-lived and narrow search for them, some of which may have Earth-like conditions (i.e. Be habitable by a type or types of life we have already observed).
I think your views of the universe outside of the solar system have been rather skewed by sci-fi and/or inaccurate or exaggerated media. Supernovas are extremely rare, massive black holes are often dormant... The by far most common types of stars live a longer, more stable life than our own sun and finish it rather meekly (as 'star deaths' go) too. The universe is in many places, a rather static place, even over rather large timescales.
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