The case for intelligent life on other planets ...

[Foggy]

... is stronger than the case for a creator who wants to be worshipped by Earthlings and insists upon having "holy days" IMHO.

There are between 50 and 100 billion stars just in our Milky Way galaxy. If only one in ten million have developed intelligent life, there are at least 5,000 sentient races in our galaxy alone. And there are between 50 and 100 billion other galaxies.

With our paltry telescopes, and being 27,000 light years from the galactic center, we have already found more than 5,000 planets, and 55 of those have been classified as potentially suitable for living creatures.

The same rules of physics, chemistry, and biology apply throughout the Universe. The chance that our planet is the only one that has developed intelligent life (spotty as it is here) is far beyond (I hate to say it) astronomical. All you need is a planet with water ... or maybe just sand and giant worms.

I firmly believe in space aliens, especially if one eventually comes here and eats me. But I despair of ever traveling to another civilized planet.

[Suranis]

Its hardly controversial to believe that Extraterrestrial life exists somewhere. Nor does it go against the notion of a Creator. The Vatican has been dealing with the question for a few Decades now, and helping with the search for it.

https://www.ufodigest.com/article/will- ... rial-life/

WILL THE VATICAN ANNOUNCE BELIEF IN EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE?
by Dirk Vander Ploeg

Published: August 24, 2014 23:30 EDT
vatican-aliens.jpg

Editor’s Note: The Vatican is ready to make a statement on extraterrestrial life. The article was written by Rosana Ubanell and published online here: http://voxxi.com/2014/07/23/vatican-prepares-aliens/. Robert

For decades the Vatican has convened some of the brightest minds in the scientific community around the world to ponder the possibility of extraterrestrial life, and to prepare a public disclosure on behalf of the Catholic Church in case the existence of aliens is confirmed.

Many scientists affirm we’re not far from establishing the “First Contact,” given the advances made is astronomy. Because of this, the Vatican wishes to be ready with a statement. It might not be a easy task for the church to interpret holy scripture—if not analyzed properly—if life is found on other planets and man is not the only creature made in the image of God.

This past March the Vatican Observatory and the University of Arizona organized a conference held in Tucson to discuss the advances made in the search for extraterrestrial life. The conference was inspired by the rapid discovery of planets, new findings on the thresholds of extreme conditions at which life on Planet Earth can survive, and new technology designed for the search of life on exoplanets.

Experts on the study of exoplanets, biologists, companies specializing in biosciences and atmospheric science also participated.

About 200 scientists from around the world attended the event “Search for life beyond the solar system.” They’re challenged with facing the possibility of finding alien life using an interdisciplinary approach.

The AAS announced the award for Brother Consolmagno in honor of his “distinguished communications on behalf of a scientist to the general public”.This July another advancement made by Jesuit priest Guy Consolmagno, a doctor in astronomy for the Vatican Observatory, was given the Carl Sagan science medal from the American Astronomical Society (AAS). Counting with scientists such as Brother Consolmagno, the Vatican’s scientific endeavors have gained prestige.

Brother Consolmagno has appeared in major news outlets, including the BBC, where he has served as an expert on topics of science and religion relating to science.

Astronomy research in the Vatican

The Vatican Observatory is one of the oldest astronomical institutions in the world, located in Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer home outside Rome. Its research team also operates the Vatican Advanced Telescope in the Mt. Graham International Observatory in Arizona.

[MsDaisy]

My dad spent 32 years on active duty in first the Army Air Corp and then the Air Force. He would be the first to tell you UFO’s were bullshit and that he didn’t believe in aliens. But he also admitted to a close encounter he had over Germany WW2. They were flying a B-17 somewhere over Europe when they saw something on the radar. And sure enough got an eyeball on a “disc shaped object” that he said followed them and mirrored every move they made for like 20 minutes and then shot off at warp speed. He didn’t know what it was but he was sure it was NOT from outer space.

My mom thought “Aliens” were BS too. After my dad died and I’d gotten grown I debated the subject with her one day making the point that as vast as the universe is there could be all sorts of life out there. She basically called me FOS and that was the end of it. Later that night she was watching the TV when a big noise came up that raddled the whole house and suddenly the entire yard lit up with bright lights and it scared the shit out of her. Then she ran to look out the front window and saw cop cars and a helicopter. It turned out that a police officer that lived on the other end of her road had been shot through the front window of his house and they were looking for the shooter. The officer survived but my mom nearly had a heart attack

[Suranis]

Interestingly, the pilot on the first sighting just said the things he saw "shimmered like saucers." But the word "Saucer" got to the press and suddenly the phrase "Flying Saucer" was born.

My dad spent 32 years on active duty in first the Army Air Corp and then the Air Force. He would be the first to tell you UFO’s were bullshit and that he didn’t believe in aliens. But he also admitted to a close encounter he had over Germany WW2. They were flying a B-17 somewhere over Europe when they saw something on the radar. And sure enough got an eyeball on a “disc shaped object” that he said followed them and mirrored every move they made for like 20 minutes and then shot off at warp speed. He didn’t know what it was but he was sure it was NOT from outer space.

He probably saw a "thermal Inversion" basically an upside down Mirage of a light somewhere due to warm air laying on top of cold air.

I'm not convinced that Aliens are here keeping an eye on us. Considering the massive effort it would take to get here, they would be doing a lot more than appearing to people in out of the way places.

[pjhimself]

“The case for intelligent life on other planets” .. is stronger than the case for a creator who wants to be worshipped by Earthlings and insists upon having "holy days" IMHO.

Perhaps, but something like 7 billion earthlings believe in some sort of deity.
Not sure the number of earthlings believing in life on other planets is that high.
Neither number proves anything.

There is (and becoming more so) lots of evidence that we can’t explain which points toward life on other planets.
No proof (that’s been publicized).

This should prove to be an interesting thread (or not).

(Edited this reference in later : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_r ... opulations)

[raison de arizona]

Still waiting for someone to make the case for intelligent life on this planet...

[qbawl]

“The case for intelligent life on other planets” .. is stronger than the case for a creator who wants to be worshipped by Earthlings and insists upon having "holy days" IMHO.

Perhaps, but something like 7 billion earthlings believe in some sort of deity.
Not sure the number of earthlings believing in life on other planets is that high.
Neither number proves anything.

There is (and becoming more so) lots of evidence that we can’t explain which points toward life on other planets.
No proof (that’s been publicized).

This should prove to be an interesting thread (or not).

"7 billion earthlings believe in some sort of deity." Citation?

[jez]

Still waiting for someone to make the case for intelligent life on this planet...

[MsDaisy]

Still waiting for someone to make the case for intelligent life on this planet...

I believe just as life evolved on this planet there is no reason that it couldn't exist or evolve elsewhere. Wherever possible I think "life" of all sorts just finds a way.

[pjhimself]

Sorry to have left this out:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_r ... opulations

(My assumption is that if you belong to a religion, you believe in some sort of deity.)

[RTH10260]

Still waiting for someone to make the case for intelligent life on this planet...

BUT... But... but.... TFB has whole library on them: just check the FL man / woman threads

[RTH10260]

“The case for intelligent life on other planets” .. is stronger than the case for a creator who wants to be worshipped by Earthlings and insists upon having "holy days" IMHO.

Perhaps, but something like 7 billion earthlings believe in some sort of deity.
Not sure the number of earthlings believing in life on other planets is that high.
Neither number proves anything.

There is (and becoming more so) lots of evidence that we can’t explain which points toward life on other planets.
No proof (that’s been publicized).

This should prove to be an interesting thread (or not).

The whole idea is based in statistics that suggest we humins may not be alone.

The main error in making the case is that such other life ought to be carbon based as on Earth.

It sounds of course like Science Fiction, but "life" could take a very different expression in nature at other locations in the universe. Humans just may be ill equipped to recognize them. And they may be realy far away.

"life" --- a concept of replication with the intent that replication never ends.

The "never ending" part is recognized on Earth as Evolution. Humans are only an intermediate stage on Earth.

[pjhimself]

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

How shall we define "intelligent"?

[Suranis]

How shall we define "intelligent"?

Clever enough to stay the hell away from us?

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

How shall we define "intelligent"?

Clever enough to stay the hell away from us?

[pjhimself]

How shall we define "intelligent"?

Be able to define “woman”.

[Suranis]

How shall we define "intelligent"?

Be able to define “woman”.

[pjhimself]

An intelligent trap ?!?!?!

Or, perhaps, there is no intelligent life ………..

[MsDaisy]

Crop Circles Were Made by Supernatural Forces. Named Doug and Dave.
Intricate patterns carved in fields across England in the 1980s were a viral phenomenon long before the internet fed us such prankster curiosities daily.

CONHOLT, England — Standing hip-high in a large wheat field in southern England, one can make out an odd series of depressions in the swaying green crop, where some of the wheat has been pushed down lower than the rest.

It is only by looking at the field from high above that the real picture is revealed: The whirls and sharp angles that have been pressed into the wheat form an intricate pattern including a series of four circles orbiting a larger circle, all within a bigger jagged-edged disk that looks like a huge bicycle gear.

These strange markings in a farm district called Conholt, near the border of Hampshire and Wiltshire counties, are a crop circle, a rare current example of the mysterious patterns that regularly intrigued people around the world in the 1980s and ’90s, prompting speculation about alien visitors, ancient spiritual forces, weather anomalies, secret weapons tests and other theories.

The once-rapid flow of circles that sprouted in this part of England and spread to fields from California to Australia has now slowed to a trickle. When this particular example appeared overnight on May 22, it was the only known example in England.

Three decades after the height of the crop circle craze, the phenomenon has taken on a new significance as a reminder that even before the era of social media and the internet, hoaxes were able to spread virally around the world and true believers could cling stubbornly to conspiracy theories despite a lack of evidence — or even the existence of evidence to the contrary.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/12/styl ... rcles.html

[keith]

The whole idea is based in statistics that suggest we humins may not be alone.

The main error in making the case is that such other life ought to be carbon based as on Earth.

The 'error', if it is made, is an error on the conservative side - if non-carbon life exists in the universe it vastly increases the likely hood that there is non-human intelligent life as well.

For that reason, that 'error' is not in fact an error, it is a simplification. We don't know the likelihood of non-carbon life forms, so there is no way to figure it into the Drake equation.

In fact, the possibility of non-carbon life is widely asserted by SETI investigators, but we just don't know how to calculate a statistic for it.

In particular, many of the chemical pathways for silicon based life have been hypothesised and support the possibility. Most other systems have been eliminated from serious consideration, but silicon is a strong possibility.

[Slim Cognito]

The case for intelligent life on other planets ...

Relative to this planet? I'd put money on it.

[neeneko]

Still waiting for someone to make the case for intelligent life on this planet...

Heh. This type of question always makes me think back the old AI line 'you don't appreciate how smart a moron is until you try to build a robot'.

Something that is god awful depressing about working in the intersection between AI and political modeling is, well, realizing just how smart people are and how bad they are at understanding motivations. It is not hard to see humans as intelligent when you accept they are also jerks.

[Jim]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but our solar system is on the very outer edge of the Milky Way and would be one of the oldest systems in the galaxy, wouldn't it?

So even if their are other planets with intelligent life, they probably aren't as advanced as we are I'd think.

[northland10]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but our solar system is on the very outer edge of the Milky Way and would be one of the oldest systems in the galaxy, wouldn't it?

So even if their are other planets with intelligent life, they probably aren't as advanced as we are I'd think.

Point 1. Intelligent life does not create a language that has the same sounding word with different spellings and then creates something called auto-correct.

Point 2. Well, besides the simple fact that space is rather big, actually rather damn big, we also have to consider that we may be a bit slow and stunted in our development. This would leave us with:

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.

This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the
whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.

And so the problem remained; lots of the people were mean, and most of them were miserable, even the ones with digital watches.