The Atlantic - How Many Astronauts Believe Aliens Exist? Answer - ALL of them.

** That's the title of the article

The Atlantic - How Many Astronauts Believe Aliens Exist?

Astronaut Chris Hadfield is a reasonable man, a former commander of the International Space Station, and a social media superstar.

He recently went on WNYC's Brian Lehrer show to discuss his life and career when a caller asked him about the existence of "alien life."

"I don't know of any astronauts who think we're alone in the universe," Hadfield replied.

Now, he's obviously not talking about the UFO-Area-51 imaginary kind of aliens. He's commenting on the possibility that somewhere out there, on some other planet, there are the bags of chemicals we call organisms reproducing themselves.

The Atlantic says that Chris Hadfield is 'obviously not talking about UFO-Area-51 imaginary kind of aliens'. HOWEVER, that's not what Chris Hadfield said. (And even if he was speaking of 'organisms that reproduce themselves', then evolution leads to more complicated creatures that eventually could enter space travel.) Seems to me that Hadfield was pretty clear ... and it he wasn't saying what The Atlantic claimed ...

Commander Chris Hadfield on Aliens, Thinking Like an Astronaut, and Sex in Space (Maybe)

reply to post by FlyersFan


Yeah, Way to go Chris Hadfield! We Canadians aren't afraid to (politely) say what everyone else is thinking.

Of course there's other life forms in the universe! Not having other life forms in the universe is a mathematical improbability!

The Drake equation suggests there should be about 12,000 civilizations in our galaxy...with a virtually certainty that life exists in the universe...

Whether it's Intelligent or not is debated but I think logic suggests that if we managed to make it to "Level: Intelligent" then someone else can - look at how inefficient we are - killing each other over dirt, food, religion, race, sex, etc...

coldkidc
The Drake equation ....

The Drake Equation - information here for those interested
As far as I'm concerned ... the Drake Equation proves with math the existence of MANY aliens.

reply to post by FlyersFan

"I don't know of any astronauts who think we're alone in the universe," Hadfield replied.

I don't know anybody that thinks Aliens don't exist out there in the great unknown but that doesn't mean they think Aliens are coming here .

Seems to me that Hadfield was pretty clear ... and it he wasn't saying what The Atlantic claimed ...

Given he's a Colonel with the RCAF and a NASA Astronaut I think he probably was saying what Atlantic claimed otherwise he would of gone all Ed Mitchell on us and start quoting his sources .

I'm an alien. The real me is trapped inside a "bag of chemicals".

intrptr
I'm an alien. The real me is trapped inside a "bag of chemicals".

All souls are aliens to this Earth.

reply to post by coldkidc


The Drake equation only takes into account a Universe, singular. Factor in the very distinct possibility that we exist in a Multiverse and we have a hell of a lot more sentient species than 12,000!

That's infinite diversity in infinite combinations for you!

reply to post by FlyersFan


That's not surprising at all.

I would say most people with a moderate education believe that there is life elsewhere in the universe, especially if they know about he size and scale of the universe, and how many other stars and planets are out there. Virtually all scientists feel that alien life almost surely exists.

If the question was "do you believe aliens are visiting Earth in spaceships", then I would think the number of people who feel this is necessarily true would go down. That is a totally separate question altogether.

For example, I personally believe there existence of intelligent ET life is a virtual certainty, based on the evidence at hand (the sheer size of the universe and what we know about life on Earth being tenacious). However, while I feel that it is not outside the realm of possibility that those ET's could visit Earth, I don't think there is any solid evidence that they are.

The universe is massive beyond comprehension, to think that in all of those star systems on all of those planets, this was the only one.

The tragedy in all this, is that due to the size of the universe, even if two advanced civilizations did exist in the same time frame, the chances of them meeting does get slim. Remember you have to not only detect the aliens but get there before they die out. When you are talking in terms of millions of light years distance and billions of years of time the harsh odds of space mean its unlikely for all but a tiny handful - i do hope thats us though, chances of it being in my life time? Even slimmer yet

reply to post by Biigs


And then, you still have the problem of perception in the alien contact. Communications with aliens would be very long to figure out if the contacted aliens communicated via gravitons waves only.

reply to post by FlyersFan


good for The Atlantic. But he was just saying all 'nauts believe there is life somewhere else outside Earth. At a minimum the odds are that somewhere something like a virus or bacteria has come together in an ocean of some off-Broadway world, and that seems to be what he's talking about. Tiniest of aliens in the bare-minimum scenario.

Biigs
The universe is massive beyond comprehension, to think that in all of those star systems on all of those planets, this was the only one.

The tragedy in all this, is that due to the size of the universe, even if two advanced civilizations did exist in the same time frame, the chances of them meeting does get slim. Remember you have to not only detect the aliens but get there before they die out. When you are talking in terms of millions of light years distance and billions of years of time the harsh odds of space mean its unlikely for all but a tiny handful - i do hope thats us though, chances of it being in my life time? Even slimmer yet

Yes. They would have to find us, which may not be that easy.

Our solar system is smaller than a speck of dust in the vastness of the known universe. Even if we take into account our radio transmissions, the distance those transmissions have traveled in 100 years of broadcasting creates a bubble of only 200 light-years in diameter (the tiny blue dot in the image below) -- and almost non-existent size of space compared to the universe.


Image Source and Article "The Extent of Human Radio Broadcasts in the Milky Way"

My thoughts on alien life...

I do not understand how people can think so self centered to think we are the only supposed intelligent life in the whole universe.. How does one even think that? There are what 10 billion planets out there similar to how ours is.. and the intelligent part.. I beg to differ when people still cant get past the whole "Oh god hes black, white, yellow" or whatever. Oh well if I were to bet on this I would win the bet cause statistically it is improbable that we are the only supposed life in this whole universe.

And no, I don't follow the whole Alien thing..

ThichHeaded
My thoughts on alien life...

I do not understand how people can think so self centered to think we are the only supposed intelligent life in the whole universe.. How does one even think that?...

But really -- how many people think that? Like I said in a post above, just about all people with a basic understanding of the size of the universe feel there probably is other intelligent life out there, somewhere.

I think you would be hard-pressed to find people who feel that we are alone in the vast universe. I'm sure a few people like that exist, but they would be aberrations, not the norm.

Soylent Green Is People
Like I said in a post above, just about all people with a basic understanding of the size of the universe feel there probably is other intelligent life out there, somewhere.

I think you would be hard-pressed to find people who feel that we are alone in the vast universe. I'm sure a few people like that exist, but they would be aberrations, not the norm.

The usually-forgotten angle on this is that centuries ago, educated people shared the view that the other worlds around the Sun also had inhabitants, likely civilizations too.

That view only receded as observational data in the last 200 years measured the surface conditions on other worlds and found how hostile they would be to 'life as we know it'. so the retreat from the 'inhabited universe' notion was not the result of dogmatic closed-mindedness or petty geocentric Earth-chauvinism, as some imagine, but based on interpretation and extrapolation of genuine observations and experiments.

The reversal in recent decades, including the question of current life on other biomes in the solar system [mostly underground liquid water on a dozen worlds, some with MORE liquid water than Earth itself] and the hitherto unrecognized range of environments even here on Earth, has been one of the most exciting fruits of space exploration in our lifetimes.

People are still puzzled why we don't seem to notice -- or recognize -- manifestly non-natural energy flows out in the galaxy and beyond. A wide range of civilizations with a wide range of motivations ought to include at least a small few conducting engineering, gardening, aesthetic remodeling, or wars that really ought to be producing detectable signals. Fermi's Paradox lives.

As to why putative visitors hereabouts aren't unambiguously present, that depends entirely on their motives for such visits, and is beyond the control or understanding of the visitees.

It's the apparent silence OUT THERE that remains the challenge to explain, but there are suggestions. The question fascinates.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


You would be surprised how many people think like the above..

Just look around you.. Its not like people are civilized in anyway.. and some people even get boo'd for saying the moon gets its light from the sun and not god...

We're all aliens, we're alien to aliens..

Many regular pilots too.

Just saying.

JimOberg
The usually-forgotten angle on this is that centuries ago, educated people shared the view that the other worlds around the Sun also had inhabitants, likely civilizations too...

You're absolutely right, Jim.

Just 100 or 200 years ago, it was widely believed by many people (including the well-educated) that Mars, Venus, and even the Moon harbored lush forests and civilizations. The idea that other peoples existed "out there" was practically the default way of thinking among the educated.