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Are we are assuming too much about life on other planets?

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posted on Aug, 19 2011 @ 09:23 PM
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I hate reading articles about how many earth like planets there are in the galaxy. I hate when people assume that earth like planets are the only ones we should look for life on.

Who says that aliens in a completely different environment would need water?

The aliens aren't even neccesarilly carbon based.

The scientists seem to assume that the aliens would need water to survive. What is this based off of? Just because we need water doesn't mean that every one else in the universe needs it too. And just because we live on an earth like planet doesn't mean that every single other life-form in the universe needs these same conditions.

Or does it?

I think we are jumping to conclusions. But thats just me of course. What does ATS think?



posted on Aug, 19 2011 @ 09:30 PM
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It's based on studying, learning and living in our own petri dish. Therefore rationalizing anything and everything with what you've experienced in your own environment.

It's all they know, even as scientists..



posted on Aug, 19 2011 @ 09:35 PM
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reply to post by iamhobo
 


Ok, so life started with water, and an earth like planet in our case.

How does realizing this fact justify assuming that every other planet with life on it must be exactly the same?

Your avatar is very disturbing by the way.
edit on 19-8-2011 by thesearchfortruth because: (no reason given)



posted on Aug, 19 2011 @ 09:37 PM
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Man, are you guys even aware how limited the scientific paradigm on this planet is?

Of course Earth-like planets harbor life, and there are plenty of those in the galaxy too...

Take a look at any Hubble telescope picture and begin to really get a grasp on the size of this universe. This universe is absolutely full of life, in all colors-shapes-and-sizes. I could care less what a would be team of scientists has to offer, the intelligent ones have all been taken to Mars.



posted on Aug, 19 2011 @ 09:38 PM
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reply to post by thesearchfortruth
 


You're right. They could be adapted to their environment in ways that scientists have not suspected. I also think they could live underground.



posted on Aug, 19 2011 @ 09:41 PM
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we just have to get there.

who knows what life looks like there.

just look at life we got here?



posted on Aug, 19 2011 @ 09:46 PM
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I don't care what anyone says, nomatter what in order to solve most of.our issues, we have to explore and colonize space. We just have to.
It doesn't matter what it takes to get there we just have to start trying.

Humans, above anything else are really good at doing two things, making war and exploring. Our constant need for resources and territory demand that we do either two, or both. We have wars already.. just sayin.



posted on Aug, 19 2011 @ 09:46 PM
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Yes life elsewhere can follow different rules although we are extremely limited when it comes to personal observation in order to jump to any other conclusions. What we know is that Earth sustains life, and many many forms of life, so at the moment concentrating on Earth like planets makes perfect sense.

We have many environments on Earth yet requirements for life in general are pretty much a constant here. I don't believe most Scientists automatically discount possabilities of life on other types on planets but from our own experience Earth like planets are most likely to harbor life.

Unfortunately until we discovert some other type of life our search will likely be limited to concentrating on looking for Earth like planets. At the moment that is where we should concentrate because we know how many types of life can form on planets like ours.

We will find absolute proof of life elsewhere eventually, the sheer vastness of the universe garrauntee that. I just hope to be around when that happens.



posted on Aug, 19 2011 @ 09:50 PM
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i agree

we are putting the carriage in front of the horses.

wich in layman's terms means

what the *snip can we possibily know about other rocks in space, when we havent quite figured out our own rock.

when life on earth ceases to surprise me, maybe then i might care more about the issue of life elsewhere.

last time i checked, i exist and live in this planet.

the issue here, is that we spend way too much time(and money) contemplating the neighbour's backyard and how great it must be, while forgetting our own unattended backyard.

i mean, if what the next man has always looks better than we have, why bother to improve our own things.

im not saying its right, im just saying, that is the mentality.


 
Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com
 



posted on Aug, 19 2011 @ 10:03 PM
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reply to post by AnotherYOU
 


Countries are like backyards. Some are nice, some aren't. Some are maintained by nice equipment and some aren't. One has a pool and the other weeds. Eventually someone moves in who neglects the nice yards. Some ugly yards get a makeover.

Everything we do individually we also do in larger scales, like with culture and society. The universe is similar, just on a larger scale.



posted on Aug, 19 2011 @ 10:49 PM
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reply to post by metaldemon2000
 


right, i agree.
there are even some countries wich are like giant backyards, because the people havent even got homes, or there is no people.

but the issue remains, what do we really know about elsewhere if we never been there.

nothing

and even if we been, will anyone else consciously believe weve been there? much less what we tell about what being there is like..

obviously not

so why really bother, whats with this egotistical society thats makes answers like "i do not know" and "im wrong" seem as if they are wrong.

wich is probably the safest assumption we can take on what we assume to know.

and then since we dont know, but need to appear like we do.
we just make stuff up.

of course if it was any other way than what it is, im afraid there would be no excitment to life.

i cannot imagine a world without assumptions.

but what most are doing is just daydreaming

they dislike who where and what they are, obviously whatever we can concieve that isnt here and now will seem more exciting.

for example, why do we assume we will find an advanced or primitive civilization? why wont we find someone like ourselves?

are we really advanced are we?

i dont really know



posted on Aug, 19 2011 @ 11:02 PM
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reply to post by thesearchfortruth
 



Are we are assuming too much about life on other planets?


Yes, we are.

Mainly because (and I don't fault scientists about this at all) we have absolutely no convention about life other than the earth based Carbon/Hydrogen/Oxygen system.

We HAVE to make assumptions in our estimates for the frequency of life on other planets, because we don't have any data at *ALL* except for the life native to earth, and it's ecosystem.

And we have to use what we know about the only form of life that we are aware of, because we don't know any of the qualities about any other possible forms of life in the universe.

Things like the Drake Equation are basically just Assumption based Extrapolation.... they aren't really "Scientific" in any way, because we have absolutely no knowledge about the things we are trying to predict.



posted on Aug, 19 2011 @ 11:16 PM
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I wouldn't say people are assuming too much, but people should definitely keep more of an open mind about what other life forms would require to live, the environments they could survive and thrive in. It is always annoying when people assume or write that life elsewhere in the universe or our galaxy alone must have the same requirements and needs as we do.



posted on Aug, 19 2011 @ 11:28 PM
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Originally posted by thesearchfortruth
reply to post by iamhobo
 


Ok, so life started with water, and an earth like planet in our case.

How does realizing this fact justify assuming that every other planet with life on it must be exactly the same?

Your avatar is very disturbing by the way.
edit on 19-8-2011 by thesearchfortruth because: (no reason given)


That's the question I pose as well. It's not my fault scientists are closed minded in that category, lol. That's just how it is unfortunately.

I guess you could compare it to how we Americans think everyone in the world should speak English. It's closed minded and it shows the lack of attention to the bigger picture, which in this example are other cultures/languages.

If all you know is planet earth, but you see other world's...it's hard to grasp the concept of something different. Savvy?

**Edit** That example is a generalization, not all Americans think that way. Don't get pissy haha.
edit on 19-8-2011 by iamhobo because: (no reason given)



posted on Aug, 22 2011 @ 10:17 PM
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Well the scientific community may have reason to expand their thinking much further now. With the discovery of the fossils believed to be from a time period for Earth where oxygen was non-existant. The assumption is that these organism were sulpher based.

www.msnbc.msn.com...

There is another thread on this but it fits within this one. If this truly pans out then the current search for life on other planets would have to expand greatly. Not to mention maybe a much larger push for more missions to Mars to discover if life truly exists there as many scientists keep speculating as being possible with the more we discover.

edit on 22-8-2011 by seeker1977 because: typo



posted on Aug, 22 2011 @ 10:27 PM
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No, we aren't assuming too much. It makes total sense at this point in time to be focusing on Earth like planets, because for now that's the only type of planet we KNOW can sustain life. Looking for life on other types of planets would be ASSUMING that they can sustain life. I doubt many scientists would say they are sure that life only exists on Earth like planets, but for now that is the only clue we have to go on. There are so many planets, we can't just focus on them all willy nilly hoping that life can thrive on different types of planets, we have to narrow the search into something manageable, and looking for Earth like planets is the best way to go about it.



posted on Aug, 22 2011 @ 10:34 PM
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It's like the guy looking for his keys under the streetlight. A cop stops to help and after a while asks him if he's sure that's where he lost the keys. The guy says, "No. I dropped them in the park."

"Then why are you looking here?"

"No lights in the park!"

When it comes to looking for life on our neighboring planets, the only "light" we have is the lifeforms we know. We have no idea what signatures to look for in more exotic forms of life.

When it comes to looking for life in other star systems. Well, we don't really have the tools to do that.




edit on 8/22/2011 by Phage because: (no reason given)




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