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You and I are evidence. We are part of an advanced (or at least, spacefaring) technological civilization, and we are alien to everything else in the universe. T
by jointpdf 6y ago
You and I are evidence. We are part of an advanced (or at least, spacefaring) technological civilization, and we are alien to everything else in the universe. Therefore, we know other alien civilizations are possible. One is much greater than zero in this case.
- ryder9 6y agothis is a dumb argument, you know exactly what someone means when they say "alien life", you're just twisting a definition to eek out a weird feeling of victory
- andrewflnr 6y agoCute, but don't equivocate. There's enough nonsense flying around already.
- jointpdf 6y agoIt’s a simple probabilistic argument: P(other alien civilizations exist | we exist) > P(other alien civilizations exist | we do not exist). Our existence is statistical evidence in favor of other civilizations existing elsewhere. Similarly, the fact that we observed planets in our solar system should have increased our belief that other planets exist elsewhere. Then again, Giordano Bruno (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno) was burned at the stake for pointing this out. To be honest, the dominant source of nonsense around here is sneering comments that contribute absolutely nothing to thoughtful conversation.
- andrewflnr 6y agoThe question is not about whether alien civilizations exist (very likely yes) but whether they can meet. Other civilizations existing is necessary but not remotely sufficient to prove that meetings are possible, let alone probable. That's where you equivocated, and I believe that calling out and naming fallacies is a worthwhile contribution. Ed: but I guess you weren't doing it on purpose. I retract the "cute".
- peter_retief 6y agoI need more drugs!