What if we are really alone in the universe?

by zagor 29 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  zagor

  How would that make you feel if we were the only pleasant accident in inhospitable universe, if such 'miracle' newer happened elsewhere in our universe? If there are no other alien civilizations that could rescue us or ?show us the way? as some popular writers like to think.

  Then on the second thought, how would you react knowing that everything you are spending today would no longer be available to your kids in the future? After all if this is the only planet then there's only so much we can use of anything before we run out.
• 

  katiekitten

  I am utterly convinced we are alone. I have no particular evidence to back up my assertion, but I totally think im right!

  As for the second statement - yes well that scares the crap out of me. I try not to think about it.
• 

  fullofdoubtnow

  I'd have to see visual evidence of alien life forms before I'd believe in them.

  The thought of everything eventually running out does bother me, but I can't see it happening in my lifetime
• 

  Gill

  After leaving the dubs, for a long time, I wanted to believe that we were all alone. I wanted to believe that there was no 'God', or someone who made things. After five years of constant, day and night studying, I have to come to the conclusion, so far, that there is order so minute in detail in the universe, that someone made us. Definitely not God in the sense of how people see God in the Bible or Koran or other so called Holy books, but what made me convinced of this is Maths, and its amazing details and formulas, Physics and its laws and the other sciences.

  Religion is the problem. Whoever made us, is not.

  I think, (probably far too much according to my husband) but believe that we are on some kind of recycling path and that out there, are life forms that we just don't understand. I think we, the human race are bloody clever, and slowly we're getting to find out 'what it's all about.'

  I had wished we were all alone. Now, I really don't believe we are.

  I think, the world is slowly coming round to understanding that we can only use renewable forms of energy, so though I worry about the next generation or so, in the long run, I think we will have resources sussed.

  We, the human race, are ingenius!!!

  When push comes to shove, despite whatever trouble is going on, we sort it and kick ass! Perhaps we take after whoever designed us!
• 

  Caedes

  It's a mathematical certainty that we are not alone because not matter how small the chances of life evolving in any given solar system there are so many solar systems out there. Taking the assumption that the chances of life evolving are not zero (since we are here the chance is not zero) then no matter how low the probability of life evolving around any one star is you then have pretty good odds it will appear somewhere else in the universe.

  I would recommend the book probability by Amir Acksel (sp) which explains how cumulative probabilities work and how counter-intuitive it all is.The section regarding how many people you would have to have in a group in order for two people out of that group to share a birthday is very interesting.

  Still with the distances involved I don't think little green men are likely to be knocking on your door any time soon.
• 

  BlackSwan of Memphis

  I am really starting to think that this is it. We are the only ones here in this universe and it was a complete fluke of the universe.

  I would really like to be wrong. I would really like for there to be this Supreme Being, be it god or goddess or just Something. Maybe even a super alien, or group of aliens....

  Because the idea that at any given second life as I know it could end for me or my loved ones and that would be it, is pretty damn scary.
• 

  gaiagirl

  In the movie "Contact", Ellie is talking to her father and asking if we are alone in the Universe. He replies "If we are alone, it seems like an awful waste of space". The Universe is much larger than we can really comprehend, but consider some of the photographs from the Hubble Space Telescope...what had appeared to be a point of light seen from Earth is actually an entire galaxy, with hundreds of thousands of stars. Therefore the universe is not just full of stars, but full of galaxies. There is a process known to science as uniformitarianism, which says that physical processes we see operating today, such as chemical and nuclear reactions, gravity, heat, tectonic activities, erosion, etc, have also operated in the past, and can be observed to operate on those planets which we have studied. So it is reasonable to expect that the same processes operate throughout the Universe. i.e. the laws of Physics are the same everywhere. Astronomers have found that many of the stars near enough to study do have planets. Further, the "building blocks" of DNA are found in comets, so are likely distributed throughout the Universe. Therefore, the logical conclusion is that, at least on some of those planets, life would arise. My own take on the subject is that life is not a miracle in the sense of an unlikely occurance, but a natural consequence of the property of matter to assemble itself into more complex forms. Given the proper conditions, life will arise everywhere that conditions allow. Hence, life is not likely to be found on the Moon, as conditions were never favorable. However, life, or at least its remains, ARE likely to be found on Mars, and on some of the moons of the larger planets where liquid water exists. Humans have actually set foot on two worlds so far, and found life on 50% of them. A mission to Mars is the logical next step to determine if life exists elsewhere.
• 

  Amazing

  Zagor,

  If we are the only intelligent species in the universe, whether physical or spiritual or other dimensions, then I would consider myself damn lucky that I got to be part of a fantastic accident of nature. And, I would do all I could to help my children appreciate using this life in the best way they can and pass on this view to their children, and so on. I do this now, as I believe that we are a product of Divine creation, though God used evolution to form us, and that we are damn lucky to be alive. I currently urge my children to appreciate this life, and use it and live it in the best way possible and pass that view on to my grandchilren. So, in practice, little would change for the way I see life, except that in my current view, there is more to come after I die.

  Jim Whitney
• 

  trevor

  Zagor - Cheer up!

  As humans we are an expression of the life force that underlines all manifestations of life. This power is demonstrated throughout the universe. Many of the forces we harness and use are invisible to the human eye. How much more is there that we have yet to become aware of?

  How can we possibly be alone?
• 

  JamesThomas

  Here is a short little video which may put this question in some perspective:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcBV-cXVWFw

  The patches of sky they are referring to, are similar in size to a tennis ball at a hundred meters (328 feet). In scientific verbiage: itty bitty. What did they find in these two little patches of nothing?

  j