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Original poster

To think we can't be alone in the universe

78 replies

Ang69 · 27/02/2018 20:06

Are we alone? Is life only to be found on our little planet earth? I've been thinking more and more on this recently after being bombarded by my DS who is 12 and has Asperger's. I initially said that yes I believe we are alone which he found incredulous. With 100 billion planets in our galaxy and at least 200 billion other galaxies with their own planets what do you think?

OP posts:
AnotherRoadsideAttraction · 28/02/2018 21:38

I really love this thread. This is what I would consider MN at its best. Thank you, OP!

Re. my personal thoughts, I really resonate with this quote from Carl Sagan:

'I'm frequently asked, "Do you believe there's extraterrestrial intelligence?" I give the standard arguments- there are a lot of places out there, the molecules of life are everywhere, I use the word billions, and so on. Then I say it would be astonishing to me if there weren't extraterrestrial intelligence, but of course there is as yet no compelling evidence for it.
Often, I'm asked next, "What do you really think?"
I say, "I just told you what I really think."
"Yes, but what's your gut feeling?"
But I try not to think with my gut. If I'm serious about understanding the world, thinking with anything besides my brain, as tempting as that might be, is likely to get me into trouble. Really, it's okay to reserve judgment until the evidence is in.'

That said, personally, I want to believe!

ButchyRestingFace · 28/02/2018 21:40

If we are alone in the universe, it would make me more likely to believe in the existence of the flying spaghetti monster.

If we aren't alone, less.

FrannyAndZooeyGlass · 28/02/2018 22:06

Imagine if the aliens were sending us a message (prime numbers, for ex) but that they only sent one digit every million years. We would never pick it up.

We are so human-centric! We expect messages to appear in a form we recognise and in a timeframe we can manage.

I rather like to think aliens are sending us messages but on their own, unfathomable time scale.

KC225 · 28/02/2018 22:09

I bloody hope so, I've just watched the last episode of Strange Things. I can't cope with all that business - not with my bladder.

lljkk · 28/02/2018 22:12

I don't care. Scientifically it will be interesting but odds are we'll never know. We'll destroy our own lovely planet before we ever find out.

AnotherRoadsideAttraction · 28/02/2018 22:20

Sadly, you're probably right.
Depressing thought.

Smeaton · 28/02/2018 22:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Sassenach85 · 28/02/2018 23:04

😂😂 smeaton I think you have got it in one!

Perendinate · 28/02/2018 23:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DalekDalekDalek · 28/02/2018 23:14

Definitely but they would be so far away that I don't think they will ever come here or we will ever go to them.

Original poster
Ang69 · 28/02/2018 23:23

Why can't it be like, like, human beings are a planetary disease? Like the Earth's got German measles or facial herpes, right? And that's why all of the other planets give us such a wide berth. It's like, "Oh, don't go near Earth! It's got human beings on it, they're contagious!"

DS will LOVE this, right up his alleyGrin

AnotherRoadside Glad you like the thread, the Carl Sagen quote resonates with me too.

RubbishRobot - thanks for that. I'll have a read as it would be good to give him some perspective as to why we are here although I don't know if I'll be able to keep my brain going long enough with his multitude of questions!!

OP posts:
Vitalogy · 01/03/2018 05:33

But I try not to think with my gut. If I'm serious about understanding the world, thinking with anything besides my brain, as tempting as that might be, is likely to get me into trouble. Really, it's okay to reserve judgment until the evidence is in.' This is why the world is in such a mess, forgetting our innate ability to know that there's more than this so called material world.

IAmNotAWitch · 01/03/2018 05:37

Seems very unlikely we are alone.

If there are any others out there, if they have any sense they will stay the fuck away from us.

Humans are dangerous.

GladAllOver · 01/03/2018 10:40

It must be time to play this. The last line is particularly appropriate.

DianaPrincessOfThemyscira · 01/03/2018 10:43

I don’t think we’re alone in the universe, but I don’t believe in The Greys or anything like that.

JoyTheUnicorn · 01/03/2018 11:54

I've ended up down a rabbit hole of out of place artefacts (ooparts) after reading this thread, it's all very interesting!

devilinme · 01/03/2018 12:06

At the speed we can travel in space now it would take us approximately 82000 years to reach the nearest star outside our solar system - alpha centuri.

Alpha Centuri is 4 light years away, the Milky Way is 100,000 light years in diameter.

The next nearest galaxy is approx 2 million light years away.

There are estimated 2 trillion galaxies.

We are not alone

Gromance02 · 01/03/2018 12:15

We can't possibly imagine what is out there. We can only wrap our brains around the dimensions that we know. I don't care whether you are as bright as Steven Hawking, you cannot comprehend what is out there. Even the use of the word 'what' is daft as it a construct that is limited to our little brains.

Vitalogy · 01/03/2018 12:16

Rumour has it there's a stargate at Cern Shock

7even · 01/03/2018 13:33

I remember writing an essay on the Fermi Paradox at University. My lecturer had worked with him for years.

So, there are 700,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in the observable universe and lots of planets orbiting them. The chance of more than one being able to sustain (and having) intelligent life is very, very high yet we have no firm evidence of any extra-terrestrial life forms ever visiting Earth.

The obvious explanations are that either they aren't smart enough to travel here or they're smart enough to stay the fuck away.

lubeybooby · 01/03/2018 13:48

I think we are most definitely not alone - however, it's ridiculously unlikely we'll ever contact or receive contact from anyone or thing. Other life could be anything from bacteria to dinosaurs to massively civilised but we'll likely never know.

Look how long it's taken voyager 1 to leave JUST our solar system - nearly 40 years.

CadyHeron · 01/03/2018 13:49

I like the Dave Lister theory. In an early episode of Red Dwarf he said:
Why can't it be like, like, human beings are a planetary disease? Like the Earth's got German measles or facial herpes, right? And that's why all of the other planets give us such a wide berth. It's like, "Oh, don't go near Earth! It's got human beings on it, they're contagious!"

That's exactly what I was thinking too (huge Red Dwarf fan!)
This and the Men In Black theory.

  • Agent J (Will Smith) on the little world inside the locker. "I feel sorry for them,they have no idea about the bigger world.."
  • Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) - "Always the rookie...."

then goes to a "Do Not Enter" door and sees that we are in our own little locker to an even bigger world as well.....

BrendasUmbrella · 01/03/2018 15:21

I think one day it will be announced that life has been found on another planet - and it will be bacteria, or algae, or moss. And no-one will be very interested outside of the scientific community. It will take a lot more than simple celled organisms to impress us!

MissingInActionInVietnam · 01/03/2018 17:47

So in billions of years When the earth explodes and humankind ends there will be no life anywhere??

Spangles1963 · 01/03/2018 18:47

I've thought this for some time now. It seems incredible to me that we are the only planet in the universe with a thriving life form on it.