Alien Life May Be Rare Across the Universe

When it comes to life across the cosmos, the universe might just be an "awful waste of space" after all. A new theory presented at a conference this week would confirm the worry of Ellie Arroway, Jodie Foster's character in the film "Contact," that life might not exist on other worlds. Some scientists think that just because exoplanets could have habitable environments, that does not mean that life evolved there. "The pervasive nature of life on Earth is leading us to make this assumption," Charles Cockell, the director of the U.K. Center for Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh, said in a statement."On our planet, carbon leaches into most habitat space and provides energy for microorganisms to live. There are only a few vacant habitats that may persist for any length of time on Earth, but we cannot assume that this is the case on other planets." Cockell's hypothesis states that, although habitable alien planets might abound in solar systems around the universe, it does not mean these locales harbor extraterrestrial life. "It is dangerous to assume life is common across the universe. It encourages people to think that not finding signs of life is a 'failure,' when in fact it would tell us a lot about the origins of life," added Cockell. It is also possible that scientists will not be able to detect alien signs of life, even if it exists, Cockell said. Life might be markedly dissimilar from planet to planet, making it unlikely that astronomers on Earth will see recognizable signatures of life. But not all hope is lost. "Professor Cockell explains that in coming decades, increasingly powerful telescopes and developments in spectroscopy may allow us to look for the signals of life on planets beyond our solar system," officials from the Royal Society, the United Kingdom's national academy of science, said in a statement."However, regardless of this, our view is still going to be heavily influenced by our knowledge of life on Earth." Cockell presented his theory at a conference sponsored by the Royal Society.

news.yahoo.com...
If the above is true then maybe we are the ones to seed life through out the cosmos,it makes it even more important not extingush life here.

reply to post by Spider879


You do realize that by posting this in the Alien and UFO forum there is a very high probability you will be lynched and run out of town.

A very brave soul you are.

I also agree with the article, and will add in one Fermi Paradox.

Originally posted by Druid42
You do realize that by posting this in the Alien and UFO forum there is a very high probability you will be lynched and run out of town.

A very brave soul you are.

I also agree with the article, and will add in one Fermi Paradox.

He's not going to get lynched by me. Carl Sagan made two guesstimates using the Drake equation and came up with drastically different results of the frequency of ET life based on different assumptions. So all that showed is we don't have a clue how likely or unlikely it is, because some important variables are complete guesses, like the portion of planets where life originates from non-life.

We have a sample size of 1 planet with Earth. Now, if we found evidence life had arisen independently on Mars, suddenly the sample size would be 2, and then we would have good reason increase our estimated rates of abiogenesis.

But from a sample size of just one planet, I don't think we should make too many assumptions. That sample size is exceedingly small.

The Fermi paradox is indeed a valid point in the context of the OP story.

Well I hope they won't be too rough,after all the article didn't say there was no life,just that it was probably scarce.

reply to post by Spider879

When it comes to life across the cosmos, the universe might just be an "awful waste of space" after all. A new theory presented at a conference this week would confirm the worry of Ellie Arroway, Jodie Foster's character in the film "Contact," that life might not exist on other worlds. Some scientists think that just because exoplanets could have habitable environments, that does not mean that life evolved there.

I love these threads... scientists say the funniest things some times. Of course "life is rare" and there's a lot of "wasted space", this is stating the obvious. Out of all the countless planets we've looked at through our telescopes, a very small number of them come close to having conditions which might be capable of supporting life. Nor have we ever detected any radio signals from any nearby star systems, indicating that we are probably a very long distance from the nearest intelligent life forms. There may be a few intelligent species within our own galaxy, but the number would be a few dozen or at most a few hundred imo. Think about the absurdly unlikely situation which spawned the first self-replicating cells on Earth, if you try to calculate the probability of such a thing it's always ridiculously small. I wouldn't even be surprised if we were the only intelligent life within this galaxy. But I certainly don't believe we are the only intelligent life forms in the observable Universe, that's extremely unlikely despite the unlikeliness of life spontaneously arising from nothing.

double post

Originally posted by Druid42
reply to post by Spider879

 

You do realize that by posting this in the Alien and UFO forum there is a very high probability you will be lynched and run out of town.

A very brave soul you are.

I also agree with the article, and will add in one Fermi Paradox.

I don't think he should be in fear of any challenging lynch here.

Of the billions of life forms on Earth, in the billions of years Earth has existed, only 1 life form has been intelligent.

Odds are in favor of many life forms out there, not so much of intelligent life, less of superior intelligent life. But, the possibility does exist.

reply to post by Spider879


Well there is certainly a veritable plethora of it here on earth.
As of yet, diminishing in species.
It is really reckless of us.

Shameful Really. To put nothing back except garbage, waste, and more consumers.(Imbalanced as of today).
Unsustainable Mismanagement of The Planet.

en.wikipedia.org...

en.wikipedia.org...

www.petermaas.nl...

The List goes on, but I don't want to be a Buzz Kill.

Koyaaniqatsi : www.youtube.com... Apologies for the "Consumer Ad".

You will have to take that up with YouTube.

If the Glory of Creation is within its Infinite Diversity,

I am afraid I have bad news for you all. Best Wishes, Wildmanimal

reply to post by Ectoplasm8


Arrogance claims intelligence.
I believe your concept of intelligence highly suspect.

For instance, plants create their own food from the Sun and with
symbiotic relationships with Fungi, Bacteria,Minerals, and the Earth.

This is an indefinite system of longevity and sustainability.

From a scientific point of view, this is a much more intelligent system than mammals.
I would rather not go into the fact that these life forms can communicate with each other.
As their form of communication is so completely different than that of mammals.
It would most likely appear completely "Alien" to you.

Please excuse me if I come across as rude.
P.S. Great Avatar, I am an old fan of Richard Feynman myself.

Originally posted by Ectoplasm8

Originally posted by Druid42
reply to post by Spider879

 

You do realize that by posting this in the Alien and UFO forum there is a very high probability you will be lynched and run out of town.

A very brave soul you are.

I also agree with the article, and will add in one Fermi Paradox.

I don't think he should be in fear of any challenging lynch here.

Of the billions of life forms on Earth, in the billions of years Earth has existed, only 1 life form has been intelligent.

Odds are in favor of many life forms out there, not so much of intelligent life, less of superior intelligent life. But, the possibility does exist.

Many life forms on Earth display intelligence. Humans just prefer to eat them, is all.

Given life on this planet arises in the most extreme of situations, I think we can extrapolate to some degree that it can occur in similar environments - out of nothing. Which I don't think gives the way life would arise, the credit it deserves. There is a lot going on to create life. Not simply nothing to something.

But we've observed it in hostile and completely otherwise barren places.

I don't think it is fair to assume then, that this is 1 example. It's a massive complex combination of various examples of life appearing from places it, to our mind, shouldn't.

That sort of thinking is star trek thinking. where everything is uniform. All the aliens on that class M planet wear green one piece outfits and have the exact same ridges over their nose. Ooh. sci fi.

Life is as diverse on this planet as there are observable planets with potential life sustaining environments. We can't assume that life on any of those planets has grown legs and arms and tapped out messages to the cosmos, it may be quite content being a single celled beastie living in a sulphur vent at the bottom of the deepest ocean, there.

The Universe being as enormously vast as it is, there's room for hundreds of billions of intelligent technological civilizations, plus untold hundreds of trillions examples of non-sentient life.
The universe is vast enough for all that such that any one of the possible hundreds of billions of intelligent technological civilizations could go from start to finish, rise to fall to exinction without ever detecting or bumping into any other, even if they were actively looking.

This brings up the Druscilla's "So What?" principal, in stating; Invisible undetectable aliens on the other side of the universe, or even right next door are worthless until such point we can detect/observe them.

Thus, so what if there's alien life somewhere else. It doesn't matter how rarefied or saturated the greater Universe is with life until we can detect it.

Any habitable land will be covered with weeds crawling with bugs carrying countless germs.
The Yahoo article is lifeless.

reply to post by Spider879


"When it comes to life across the cosmos, the universe might just be an "awful waste of space" after all."

"Some scientists think that just because exoplanets could have habitable environments, that does not mean that life evolved there."

NO SH*T? I thought that there is life on every habitable planet.

Charles Cockell

"."On our planet, carbon leaches into most habitat space and provides energy for microorganisms to live. There are only a few vacant habitats that may persist for any length of time on Earth, but we cannot assume that this is the case on other planets.""

Cool story brah, so carbon is the only factor for life? From your perspective. Ever considered of other forms of life? Ever considered things you may not even imagine can exist? How can you CONCLUDE when you don't know so much about life and what may exist out there?

Tell me how do such morons become scientists nd have the impudence to call themselves scientists. How much money did he pay to buy his diplom and get to the position of a director?

And OP:

How can you just post some stupid article on stupid YAHOO NEWS here? THis is just one troll article, another arrogant person who cannot say 'I DONT KNOW" if life exists, he just says 'cannot... afterall.

Some people have no place in science, if they don't follow the 'Expect the unexpected' . Then again scientist community is full of such pumpkin heads, which is why I started seeing this on my own from other possibilities, beyond their short sight.

Originally posted by Wildmanimal
reply to post by Ectoplasm8

 

Arrogance claims intelligence.
I believe your concept of intelligence highly suspect.

For instance, plants create their own food from the Sun and with
symbiotic relationships with Fungi, Bacteria,Minerals, and the Earth.

This is an indefinite system of longevity and sustainability.

From a scientific point of view, this is a much more intelligent system than mammals.
I would rather not go into the fact that these life forms can communicate with each other.
As their form of communication is so completely different than that of mammals.
It would most likely appear completely "Alien" to you.

Please excuse me if I come across as rude.

edit on 12-3-2013 by Wildmanimal because: edit content

P.S. Great Avatar, I am an old fan of Richard Feynman myself.

edit on 12-3-2013 by Wildmanimal because: Add Goodie

When you're speaking on the level of intelligence with success of survival, I agree. Many life forms have sustained millions of years this way and will continue to do so. If you use Earth as your example, most, if not all livable planets will have this type of life for that exact reason. But, I'm specifically speaking in terms of the tiny fraction of life forms that would have intelligence beyond the need to survive and procreate. To alien life that would have the curiosity and ability to travel throughout their galaxy or into our universe. Which is ultimately what this thread will turn into.

Many people here speak about the universe flourishing with life. I agree, but life and intelligent life(relative to human beings) are two different things.

reply to post by Druscilla

Interesting principle.
I guess that works for God or Satan as well for that matter?
So What?

Brave Woman?

Life happens to be one of the most tenacious things there is on earth, it can be found in the most extreme conditions here on Earth...in the deepest vents in the ocean, under polar ice caps, it is even found right up to the very edge of space.

It is an interesting theory, but clouds of simple sugars have been spotted as well as all the other precursors to life in space that when they get together can boogie down for however long and form basic life evolving into more complex life over time...

Sure I get it; what if this happening here was some how a freak occurrence under ripe conditions. If you can comprehend the sheer number of possible planets; the hole in one shot is even more remote a possibility than billions upon billions of other planets harboring life.

The possibility of one planet in the whole universe occurring with life is even more remote a chance than winning the lottery a billion times in a row at a very conservative guestimate.

To me this theory; comes from someone that still has a creationist complex.

reply to post by ImpactoR

And OP: How can you just post some stupid article on stupid YAHOO NEWS here? THis is just one troll article, another arrogant person who cannot say 'I DONT KNOW" if life exists, he just says 'cannot... afterall.

Well the article is linked to www.space.com...
and science.nbcnews.com...

" Cockell's hypothesis states that, although habitable alien planets might abound in solar systems around the universe, it does not mean these locales harbor extraterrestrial life. "It is dangerous to assume life is common across the universe. It encourages people to think that not finding signs of life is a 'failure,' when in fact it would tell us a lot about the origins of life,"

I think that's the most pragmatic way to go better to be surprised than be disappointed.

its ludicrous to assume anything, especially since life has been known to exist in the deepest depths in the most hostile of environments, where no light exists.....Seriously

don't assume

reply to post by Ectoplasm8


Who is to say that certain Plants and Fungi do not have the curiosity and ability to
travel "throughout our own solar system, galaxy,and potentially beyond"?

A Fungal Spore can survive in space, indefinitely. Algae and Bacteria show promise as well.
As far as to live and procreate, this "intelligence" is rather more of a form of awareness.
This form of awareness is so "alien" to you, that you do not even consider it intelligence at all.

I suspect the "rift" between us emerges from the concept of "self importance" being
confused with intelligence.

I know that is a hard pill to down. A real horse choker.
I will own this again, Arrogance claims intelligence.

Just remember, you heard it here first. Welcome to Tuva.

Originally posted by Spider879
I think that's the most pragmatic way to go better to be surprised than be disappointed.

edit on 12-3-2013 by Spider879 because: (no reason given)

Of course one person should be open minded that the only life existing is that on Earth (sarcasm, I can't believe I just said that) to not suffer disappointment, the problem is, his certainty "afterall". Open mindness is a very good thing - for both possibilities, yes even being the only planet with life but you cannot just go public and say bull# abotu something you don't know, until you reach everycorner/

With such technology no one is going anywhere and one can only guess what may or not be out there, makaing clains what may be and may not be afterall, is way wrong, you cannot make conclusions, you can only guess. As some there posted on this yahoo link, this is as much theory as life existing

And what is the point that you psot it, to say that life may not be out there? Well DUH? We discovered America here? Of course, this is the other possibility, one should embrace along with the possibility of life existing..

So the purpose of posting this? None