It would be interesting to see if there was a viable alternative to proteins and DNA/RNA to build that life on. I could imagine that alien life forms might be based on a similar biochemistry to ours - different in the details, but based on the same types of molecules, playing similar roles to what ours do. Is that something that “astrobiologists” have speculated on much?
1 Like
we’ve found significant evidence suggesting there could be life, and in my opinion some of them point to life being the more likely explanation than abiotic forces. We just can’t prove it. The bar for life detection off-earth is incredibly high to scientists who study this. So i think if anything, what we have seen in the solar system, plus limited data from exoplanets and a comet that passed through our solar system from outside, suggests life is likely abundant elsewhere.
In fact, i would say the only way life is unique to Earth is if we are in some sort of simulation or creationism scenario that actively suppresses life from forming elsewhere. Otherwise, the odds are just so vastly low that it’s naturally only here.
2 Likes
Yes. I think one of the most satisfying thing about finding any kind of non-earth life, even bacteria-like life, would be finding out some answers to these questions.
3 Likes
The argument that life probably exists elsewhere simply because of the size of the universe is not a very good one in my opinion. It assumes that life arises naturally and implies that it will evolve wherever life can survive.
1 Like
Actually, there ism in my opinion, good reason to think that carbon-based life (bacterial grade life) can arise naturally, even inevitably, and does so on every rocky planet with liquid water and a stable history. See Nick Lane’s book The Vital Question for some of the biochemistry behind evolution of life on earth. This does not mean that multicellular life is common and certainly does not mean that intelligent life is common. I don’t doubt that it has evolved elsewhere. I’m also certain we’ll never meet it – unfortunately.
4 Likes
to me the idea of the earth being magical and unique despite literally trillions of similar planets seems a lot more sketchy than the idea that conditions suitable to life on one planet are on elsewhere too. I mean, there is SO MUCH we don’t know and maybe we really do live in a simulation where life is only allowed to arise once and then the aliens or God or whoever just watch to see if we can spread across the universe or not. But if so it seems irrational to create all those stars if we can’t get to them. And if it’s all just formed by chance, it would be very low chance for life to form on one of trillions of planets but not others.
But yeah, unless someone figures out warp drives/wormholes (i don’t agree with the idea that it’s fully impossible at any technology level, but certainly it’s not accessible to us right now. and maybe it truly is impossible) we are very unlikely to meet aliens from other star systems.
3 Likes
Given time, I think it is safe to assume it will. The „raw ingredients“ will be present anywhere where the conditions allow it. These chemicals will behave the same way everywhere with the same conditions, so some sort of „proto-cell“ will probably be a relatively frequent thing to form.
The biggest hurdle is the mechanisms that need to exist for the (proto-)cell to be able to sustain itself and multiply. IMO it is possible that these mechanisms have come from outside the cell initially.
Given no competition with other living things, the first cell can be incredibly inefficient. Any degree of self-sustainability and multiplication will give it an advantage over dead matter, allowing the cell to persist.
Or fortunately. After reading „The Dark Forest“, I‘m not so sure we want to meet it. (Even though TDF is fiction). Though I‘d definitely be immensely curious. Haha
2 Likes
one thing i will say is i don’t think aliens are flying drones over New Jersey in the USA. No offense to New Jersey.
5 Likes
As a creationist, this is my personal view. I believe that God created Earth specifically for life, and I don’t believe that it evolved. There could be life elsewhere, but I tend to think that the Earth was made as a unique place.
The Bible (which I believe to be true) says that the sun, moon, stars, and planets were created for signs and seasons, and days and years (Genesis 1.14).
2 Likes
Aliens?
I never give them even a moment’s thought.
My personal opinion is that alien life is extremely unlikely. I am a Creationist Christian, and believe aliens are basically a fantasy of evolutionary thinking. Sure, it’s possible, but the Bible and aliens don’t line up. And, if aliens are real, we should a) expect to find them at some point in the future because why would God make them just for them to unknown to people and b) there would absolutely not be sentient aliens as humans are completely unique in the physical universe
https://answersingenesis.org/astronomy/alien-life/is-anyone-out-there/
2 Likes
I don’t see anything in that sentence that implies aliens don’t exist.
1 Like
No, it doesn’t say that aliens don’t exist. I was just giving a reason why God would create stars and planets.
None of the Bible says anything about aliens, but I agree with what @reclassifier said.
1 Like
Has anyone mentioned the late Dr. William Romoser yet? He felt confident enough there are bugs and reptilioid creatures on Mars to present it at an Ent Soc conference: https://www.sci.news/space/insect-reptile-like-life-forms-mars-07830.html
1 Like
Well, i guess i mostly just sidestepped most of the metaphysical views, because they are belief based and can’t generally be proven or disproven by science and so aren’t really a good thing to debate. Personally i have no idea what’s going on with this big weird universe :D Though i do think a total absence of aliens does imply some form of creationism, but only if we are confident there are no aliens which isn’t at all the case
2 Likes
interesting idea, i don’t think it’s true, but would be interested to see if an AI trained on fossils, or even the iNat AI , thought anything of it, to remove the human bias for seeing living things when they aren’t three.
Unfortunately, it is very not true, as far as his research demonstrates (and beyond). I only shared it for the levity I find in the images! Convinces me even trained biologists that write our textbooks can see anything, anywhere, if they convince themselves hard enough :)
1 Like
I think there is far more we do not know if infinite space contains than we can rule out definitively, and I am very OK with that. I feel similarly about the depths of the ocean and several other places, and I think it is exciting to think what might yet be discovered and learned.
Also, weirdly related: my brain pings to this comic sometimes when I see the word evidence bandied about:
8 Likes
Interesting that it takes a topic like this to get participants to say that. One thing that I find very curious is those “ancient aliens” proponents who basically want to explain ancient accounts of encounters with divine and angelic beings as encounters with extraterrestrials. As if they think that is somehow more plausible. We have no more hard evidence of extraterrestrials than we do of deities and angels; at this point, neither is inherently more plausible than the other.
2 Likes