6 ms·

There is absolutely no possible way we are alone in the universe.

by AbraKdabra 6y ago

Razengan 6y ago
Sorry, our science dictates that we are.
- Sohcahtoa82 6y ago
  You're allowing a lack of evidence to be evidence of the negative. The incredible vastness of the universe means it's incredibly unlikely we're the only intelligent civilization in existence. But the incredible size of the universe also means that any radio signals being emitted by said civilizations haven't reached us, and even if they did, they'd be so weak they'd just be background noise. A picture with 1 billion galaxies...each with millions of stars...each potentially with any number of planets...it just seems really unlikely that we're the only ones out there. But even if we somehow proved another civilization exists, outside of the knowledge that we're not alone, it'd be meaningless. They're way too far away to observe, let alone communicate with.
  - Koshkin 6y ago
    > each with millions of stars Almost half a trillion in the case of Milky Way.
- tcldr 6y ago
  Source?
- NeutronStar 6y ago
  Based on human science and based on the fact that normal matter only represent 4% of all matter.
- AbraKdabra 6y ago
  That's not called science.
lm28469 6y ago
It depends on how you look at it, we could very well be alone right now. Humanity is fairly recent and modern human history fairly short. There could have been dozen of other advanced civilizations on other planets just 1 million years ago and we most likely will never know about them. Or dozen advanced civilizations in 1 million years in the future long after we have collapsed. When you add time to the equation everything is possible, a few million years is a lot for us but nothing for the universe
- tcldr 6y ago
  So, when you see that picture of 1 Billion galaxies, each with a few billion solar systems, you think it’s more likely than not we’re alone?
  - onion2k 6y ago
    That ignores how likely intelligent life is to arise, which is something we don't know.
  - lm28469 6y ago
    Nobody knows. If only carbon based life is possible and it needs liquid water then, afaik, most of these stars don't have a planet susceptible of hosting life as we know it, and even for the ones with the right conditions we might be a bit early or a bit late. It's hard to quantify the chances of life existing anywhere else at the same time as us when we don't have any idea of how it came to exist in the first place. We might be the exception, we might not. You can't just make the connection: "billion of stars" = "we're not alone". I don't pretend to know what's "likely" on a universal scale and I don't think anyone should
    - tcldr 6y ago
      We’re literally looking for evidence that there was carbon life on the planet next door. When you consider that, just in the image provided, there are at least 1B x 1B solar systems. 1e18. Or about as many solar systems as there are grains of sand on the planet earth. Considering that the building blocks of life have been detected on random asteroids arriving on planet earth (https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/goddard/2019/sugars-in-meteorites https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/goddard/2019/sugars-in-me...), and the capacity for intelligence to evolve in distinct branches of our own DNA (https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14668 https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14668), I personally think it’s hard to say that in all likelihood we’re alone.
onion2k 6y ago
I like to imagine we are the only intelligent life in the whole universe sometimes. It's highly unlikely, but it isn't impossible. Given that possibility, we certainly aren't great at looking after what might be the most significant species on that entire map.
Shorel 6y ago
We are alone. The aliens, they are extremely far away. Probably not even their light can ever reach our "known universe". They also are alone.
- Koshkin 6y ago
  They do not have to be “extremely far away” to be alone. There may even be quite a few of them in Milky Way, in our neighborhood even... The thing is, space is big!
  - count 6y ago
    I think most rational people categorize 'somewhere else in the Milky Way' as 'extremely far away' :)
  - Shorel 6y ago
    Yes. I remember Star Trek Voyager. Just being in a different quadrant of this same galaxy meant they were stranded and unable to reach Earth, even with warp drives. Space is big.
dougmwne 6y ago
I like the exercise of extrapolating from the history of life on Earth to get an idea of how likely life is to develop elsewhere. Life on Earth likely appeared very soon after the surface cooled enough for liquid water. It was so soon that it seems like single cell life might be downright common in any place with stable liquid water. On the other hand, it took billions of years for complex multi-cellular life to evolve. The Cambrian explosion was just 541 million years ago and quickly resulted in intelligence on branches as disparate as mammals and cephalopods. I think it's quite possible that the Cambrian is the rare and special thing and that the universe may be teaming with microbes but not fish.
pndy 6y ago
We might be alone but destined to escape Earth and reach, spread among stars as species and be the way of the universe to express, experience itself or, we might exterminate ourselves somewhere on the way in the stupidest or terrifying way. That's what I suppose is most probable - until of course we get the pronounced proof that we indeed are not alone here.
jacquesm 6y ago
In time or in space? Even 'at the same time' has a pretty strange meaning when looked at at these distances.
mensetmanusman 6y ago
According to the known laws of physics, there is a possibility that we are not alone, _and_ that we may never possibly know. It takes so long to move, that civilizations may go extinct with no evidence of their existence if we left today to visit.

There is absolutely no possible way we are alone in the universe.

Razengan 6y ago

Sorry, our science dictates that we are.

Sohcahtoa82 6y ago
You're allowing a lack of evidence to be evidence of the negative. The incredible vastness of the universe means it's incredibly unlikely we're the only intelligent civilization in existence. But the incredible size of the universe also means that any radio signals being emitted by said civilizations haven't reached us, and even if they did, they'd be so weak they'd just be background noise. A picture with 1 billion galaxies...each with millions of stars...each potentially with any number of planets...it just seems really unlikely that we're the only ones out there. But even if we somehow proved another civilization exists, outside of the knowledge that we're not alone, it'd be meaningless. They're way too far away to observe, let alone communicate with.
- Koshkin 6y ago
  > each with millions of stars Almost half a trillion in the case of Milky Way.
tcldr 6y ago
Source?
NeutronStar 6y ago
Based on human science and based on the fact that normal matter only represent 4% of all matter.
AbraKdabra 6y ago
That's not called science.

lm28469 6y ago

It depends on how you look at it, we could very well be alone right now. Humanity is fairly recent and modern human history fairly short. There could have been dozen of other advanced civilizations on other planets just 1 million years ago and we most likely will never know about them. Or dozen advanced civilizations in 1 million years in the future long after we have collapsed. When you add time to the equation everything is possible, a few million years is a lot for us but nothing for the universe

tcldr 6y ago
So, when you see that picture of 1 Billion galaxies, each with a few billion solar systems, you think it’s more likely than not we’re alone?
- onion2k 6y ago
  That ignores how likely intelligent life is to arise, which is something we don't know.
- lm28469 6y ago
  Nobody knows. If only carbon based life is possible and it needs liquid water then, afaik, most of these stars don't have a planet susceptible of hosting life as we know it, and even for the ones with the right conditions we might be a bit early or a bit late. It's hard to quantify the chances of life existing anywhere else at the same time as us when we don't have any idea of how it came to exist in the first place. We might be the exception, we might not. You can't just make the connection: "billion of stars" = "we're not alone". I don't pretend to know what's "likely" on a universal scale and I don't think anyone should
  - tcldr 6y ago
    We’re literally looking for evidence that there was carbon life on the planet next door. When you consider that, just in the image provided, there are at least 1B x 1B solar systems. 1e18. Or about as many solar systems as there are grains of sand on the planet earth. Considering that the building blocks of life have been detected on random asteroids arriving on planet earth (https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/goddard/2019/sugars-in-meteorites https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/goddard/2019/sugars-in-me...), and the capacity for intelligence to evolve in distinct branches of our own DNA (https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14668 https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14668), I personally think it’s hard to say that in all likelihood we’re alone.

onion2k 6y ago

I like to imagine we are the only intelligent life in the whole universe sometimes. It's highly unlikely, but it isn't impossible. Given that possibility, we certainly aren't great at looking after what might be the most significant species on that entire map.

Shorel 6y ago

We are alone. The aliens, they are extremely far away. Probably not even their light can ever reach our "known universe". They also are alone.

Koshkin 6y ago
They do not have to be “extremely far away” to be alone. There may even be quite a few of them in Milky Way, in our neighborhood even... The thing is, space is big!
- count 6y ago
  I think most rational people categorize 'somewhere else in the Milky Way' as 'extremely far away' :)
- Shorel 6y ago
  Yes. I remember Star Trek Voyager. Just being in a different quadrant of this same galaxy meant they were stranded and unable to reach Earth, even with warp drives. Space is big.

dougmwne 6y ago

I like the exercise of extrapolating from the history of life on Earth to get an idea of how likely life is to develop elsewhere. Life on Earth likely appeared very soon after the surface cooled enough for liquid water. It was so soon that it seems like single cell life might be downright common in any place with stable liquid water. On the other hand, it took billions of years for complex multi-cellular life to evolve. The Cambrian explosion was just 541 million years ago and quickly resulted in intelligence on branches as disparate as mammals and cephalopods. I think it's quite possible that the Cambrian is the rare and special thing and that the universe may be teaming with microbes but not fish.

pndy 6y ago

We might be alone but destined to escape Earth and reach, spread among stars as species and be the way of the universe to express, experience itself or, we might exterminate ourselves somewhere on the way in the stupidest or terrifying way. That's what I suppose is most probable - until of course we get the pronounced proof that we indeed are not alone here.

jacquesm 6y ago

In time or in space? Even 'at the same time' has a pretty strange meaning when looked at at these distances.

mensetmanusman 6y ago

According to the known laws of physics, there is a possibility that we are not alone, _and_ that we may never possibly know. It takes so long to move, that civilizations may go extinct with no evidence of their existence if we left today to visit.