Why don't people believe in extraterrestrial life?

Crazy. One would think, anyone who reads this website believes in intelligent alien life visiting Earth. But lets talk about extra terrestrial life in general.

Source from thread: Scientist Discover First Multicellular Life That Doesn't Need Oxygen

Thread

Types of Extremophiles (Wiki)

Examples of Earthly Extremophiles (NASA)

Extremophiles gives clue to alien life (Cosm)

'Boat' could explore Saturn moon (BBC)

NASA - Cassini Doubleheader: Flying By Titan and Dione

Freaky Physics Proves Parallel Universes Exist

Thread

Wormhole Technology inc. graphics (ATS)

reply to post by wartooth420


Hello,

I am new here and I wasn't really planning on becoming a member this fast, but today I found an article that made me wonder and i can not find an answer on the web.

The article is called : They walk among us: 1 in 5 believe in aliens - survey

and it was conducted by Reuters.
Link to the article

Well i was just wondering, how much could a poll counting 23 000 people in 22 countries cost and WHO actually paid for it.

I am sorry if i posted in a wrong place, but as i am new i can not create threads yet and this seemed to be the right topic where to post my question.

Thanx for answers in advance

Have a nice day

Originally posted by Viper2
snip
How about: Get a clue.

When many intelligent ET civilizations on other planets in a mathematical certainty (Drakes Equation), one cannot logically argue that none of these civilizations have ever visited earth. Especially when there have been an enormous amount of UFO sightings and alien abduction reports throughout history. So purposely ignoring evidence because it doesn't fit your ideas is not scientific or logical. Ignoring mathematical certainty and evidence is ignorant and close-minded. And no, the evidence does not have to be physical evidence to be credible.

Viper2: You need to get a clue and and education into logic, common sense and reason. Drake's Equation is a bunch of madeup numbers. Anyone can come up with their own version of Drake's Equation and it'll mean the same thing as his: nothing! You can't create something out of nothing. The fact that we have the mystery of UFOs doesn't mean that, automatically, they're from far off and carry extraterrestrials. All of that is still up in the air (appreciate that pun! :lol

What evidence do we have that you can fall back on? All we have are UFO sightings some of which have been recorded for posterity. Do we have evidence for aliens? No. So how can you express yourself with certainty when you don't have the evidence to support your "beliefs" for that's all you have. There is no mathematical certainty. Drake does not create life, he misuses numbers to fit his out-of-this-world theories (:lol.

Invisible evidence! GMAFB!

reply to post by The Shrike


Honestly there is evidence of aliens. For example how would you explain the methane plumes on Mars?

Originally posted by game over man
reply to post by The Shrike

 

Honestly there is evidence of aliens. For example how would you explain the methane plumes on Mars?

Your honor, the man says that methane plumes on Mars is evidence of aliens, how do you rule?

Honor: "Seeing as how it's evident that the claimant is not operating with all 8 cylinders, let's take it easy on him and teach him that he's confusing natural geologic processes with wishful thinking. Next case."

Originally posted by The Shrike

Originally posted by game over man
reply to post by The Shrike

 

Honestly there is evidence of aliens. For example how would you explain the methane plumes on Mars?

Your honor, the man says that methane plumes on Mars is evidence of aliens, how do you rule?

Honor: "Seeing as how it's evident that the claimant is not operating with all 8 cylinders, let's take it easy on him and teach him that he's confusing natural geologic processes with wishful thinking. Next case."

Wow didn't know that science laboratories=court rooms. Ok I'll play along.

You're honor let me rephrase what I was saying: with this evidence of methane plumes on Mars,

Is that not a an excellent indication of past or present alien life?

Such an excellent indication that NASA has built Curiosity, to search for microbes amongst many other objectives on Mars
scheduled to launch in 2011.

defense mechanisms, by product of fear and hate and their brand of "logic".

why dont people notice that on a flat world map that the entire pacific ocean costline from alaska to the southern tip of south america looks like out closest relative, a face of a primate?

the entire pacific ocean resembles the profile face of an ape/primate.

What are the odds, and what numbers does one plug into what equasion to figure out such chances???

by the way, friends, i think the last redundancy in PI is .... 8 prime numbers ... 8 primes, primates (prime8s)

Well calling people ignorant only works if something exists, most people know about it, "proven fact" and someone either doesn't know about it, or denies it and it has been proven to be fact ...

An ignorant person for instance might believe that the Space Shuttle can't really go into outer Space, or that you can't sail around the world.

You could call an omish person ignorant, for believing that doctors and modern medicine are evil, or simply doesn't work or causes more harm than good.

Calling someone closed minded because they don't believe that people see UFO's doesn't work either, because the person claiming to see what they think they see, really don't know what they are seeing... They ASSUME it is a UFO...

I really tend to think that if there were Aliens close enough to us to be travelling here, we would be flooded with Alien ships and Aliens as constantly as the World turns... I just don't think there would be sporadic visits, seeing as we would probably be in constant contact, and might even be trading resources between worlds...

Either that or we'd be at War with each other...

If there were Alien's far more advanced than us, i see no reason for them to even interact with us. If they'd mastered sciences that allowed them to travel through deep Space, i don't see any reason for them to even acknowledge us...

Originally posted by The Casual Alien
defense mechanisms, by product of fear and hate and their brand of "logic".

why dont people notice that on a flat world map that the entire pacific ocean costline from alaska to the southern tip of south america looks like out closest relative, a face of a primate?

the entire pacific ocean resembles the profile face of an ape/primate.

What are the odds, and what numbers does one plug into what equasion to figure out such chances???

by the way, friends, i think the last redundancy in PI is .... 8 prime numbers ... 8 primes, primates (prime8s)

they don't notice it because it is merely a visual pattern you are constructing.
look up pareidolia, it explains what you see.

the one thing I always found humorous is that when some hears "extraterrestrial life," they automatically assume "aliens!" That is not always the case. Extraterrestrial life can be something as simple as microbial life. Simple, single celled organisms.

reply to post by wartooth420


1. No hard evidence. Everything can be explained by an equally unlikely top secret government program.

2. What you call aliens, a lot of people call satan/demons/etc

3. No one has proposed any solutions to the problem

While I think everyone has a right to their own opinion, I do agree that it's so annoying to come across people who say it's impossible that aliens exist. What scientific proof do you have that they don't exist? Nothing.

You may ask me how I believe that aliens exist. Well there isn't official scientific clues, but there are so many signs, that I'm willing to put my faith into it. I'm also willing to keep my mind open to the possibility that aliens don't exist.

All in all, no one can truly be positive about anything so it actually is ignorant to be dead set on any one thing.

[edit on 13-4-2010 by LaurenVirgo]

reply to post by LaurenVirgo


How do you know a lot of these "signs" aren't:

1. Unexplained atmosphere anomalies interpreted in our minds as UFOs/Aliens (remember when people didn't understand lightning, they thought it was God showing his anger)

2. Top secret government programs. There is more evidence of this than of aliens

3. Angels/demons/etc

Originally posted by SirPsychoSexy
reply to post by LaurenVirgo

 

How do you know a lot of these "signs" aren't:

1. Unexplained atmosphere anomalies interpreted in our minds as UFOs/Aliens (remember when people didn't understand lightning, they thought it was God showing his anger)

2. Top secret government programs. There is more evidence of this than of aliens

3. Angels/demons/etc

1. Well, it's hard for me to acept them as being "atmosphere anomalies" when I see things Like this.

2. I've seen many many paintings, hieroglyphics, ancient descriptions pointing towards other intelligent life forms. Old, Old paintings that show flying orbs and saucers casually in the background. How would they come up with something like that?

Hieroglyphics showing cone headed, skinny beings. They just decided one day to make humans looks messed up? And Mayans referring to beings who helped them. Things that they referred to as "star gods" arriving in their "light boats." You think our government conspiracy goes all the way back to the Mayan times? I don't really think so. Possible, but...not really.

3. Well, I suppose you could be right. Angels, demons, whatever they may be. They still aren't from here and are "alien" to me .

SIMPLY PUT.... PEOPLE ARE AFRAID!!

you know this to be true. people dont want to beleive in aliens because there terrified. people want to believe that people are the supreme. if aliens were real then we would seem small, unintelligent, meeger,etc.

i personally believe and welcome the fact of aliens. i hate to think that out of hundreds of BILLIONS of planets we are the only #ing ones out here. that seems so depressing.

please people, read this small book called:
CHARIOT OF THE GODS

that book is amazing. it talks about history and science and ancient religions and beliefs.
it shows cave paintings dated 20,000bc of aircraft flying above the people.
i dont think the wright brothers were alive 22,000 years ago.
send me a message with your personal thoughts if you agree

Originally posted by whiteboynolan
SIMPLY PUT.... PEOPLE ARE AFRAID!!

you know this to be true. people dont want to beleive in aliens because there terrified. people want to believe that people are the supreme. if aliens were real then we would seem small, unintelligent, meeger,etc.

i personally believe and welcome the fact of aliens. i hate to think that out of hundreds of BILLIONS of planets we are the only #ing ones out here. that seems so depressing.

please people, read this small book called:
CHARIOT OF THE GODS

that book is amazing. it talks about history and science and ancient religions and beliefs.
it shows cave paintings dated 20,000bc of aircraft flying above the people.
i dont think the wright brothers were alive 22,000 years ago.
send me a message with your personal thoughts if you agree

Well said. Couldn't agree more.

reply to post by whiteboynolan


The problem is books like Chariot of the Gods, The 12th Planet, and Fingerprints of the Gods have been shown to have numerous mistakes, mistranslations, and misinterpretations. So, they can't really be held up as proof of anything.

reply to post by Xcalibur254


unfortunately i've read all the above mentioned books and i do agree they are not "proof of anything" but they offer us much much more insights and logical explanations than any of the so called "textbooks" laid to us.

Originally posted by whiteboynolan
SIMPLY PUT.... PEOPLE ARE AFRAID!!

you know this to be true. people dont want to beleive in aliens because there terrified. people want to believe that people are the supreme. if aliens were real then we would seem small, unintelligent, meeger,etc.

That may be true for some people, but not any rational person I've ever met. The plain fact is this: we have no evidence of alien lifeforms of any kind. Not space-travelling humanoids nor even single cell microbes. Nothing.

And Chariots Of The Gods may be a fun book but quite simply, someone's interpretation of ancient rock paintings falls short of actual evidence of anything. Z. Sitchin also makes similarly huge assumptions in all of his books.

I'm not saying there is no life elsewhere. I am saying that to date there remains no evidence of it.

I think your thread title is inaccurate...

...there have been polls done that show that most people DO in fact believe that there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. However, fewer people believe in alien visitation of Earth in spaceships.

Those are two separate issues; they should not be combined into the same issue.

I personally think life *most likely* exists out there somewhere, based on the shear size of the universe and the seeming tenacity of life on Earth existing in extreme conditions. Conversely, I don't think the evidence for alien visitation is enough for me to *believe* it is actually happening.

Of course, as 'traditionaldrummer' pointed out above, there is no direct evidence of ET life anywhere else in the universe, so that's why I added the caveat that I think life *most likely* exists. I can't be positive.

So, I suppose your thread title could be "Why do *some* people not believe in extraterrestrial life"


[edit on 4/16/2010 by Soylent Green Is People]