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> all available evidence suggests Earth has the only life Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence

by lanna 3y ago

postingawayonhn 3y ago
There is evidence though. We've been using telescopes and listening to radio waves for decades but are yet to find anything substantial. We can at least conclude complex life is exceedingly rare.
- ethanbond 3y ago
  No, you can conclude that there aren’t any immediately discernible radio signals pointed our way in our rather extremely small space-time vicinity.
- O1111OOO 3y ago
  > We've been using telescopes and listening to radio waves for decades but are yet to find anything substantial. To add to what @ethanbond said about space-time vicinity: --------------- Article, subTitle: We have been broadcasting for over 100 years. Now a new 3D map of the galaxy reveals the stars these signals have reached that can also see Earth: https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/our-radio-signals-have-now-reached-75-star-systems-that-can-see-us-too https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/our-radio-sign... “1,715 stars within 326 light-years are in the right position to have spotted life on a transiting Earth since early human civilization, with an additional 319 stars entering this special vantage point in the next 5,000 years,” they say. ----------------------- A microscopically small amount given the total number of stars in our own galaxy, the total number of galaxies in the Universe.
  - Buttons840 3y ago
    Space is big and there are a lot of planets, I get it. The odds of life are 1/N. We don't know how big N is, but it might be much larger than the number of sub-atomic particles in the universe. Perhaps N is (10^100000)^10000000000. I'm, of course, not arguing we should stop searching or having philosophical arguments. (Although, to whomever it may apply, we could stop down voting comments that make objectively true philosophical arguments like postingawayonhns.)
    - O1111OOO 3y ago
      > we could stop down voting comments that make objectively true philosophical arguments like postingawayonhns (postingawayonhns: "We can at least conclude complex life is exceedingly rare.") I wouldn't have downvoted a comment like that (or the comment you made). In fact, there's a large part of me that grudgingly agrees with you both. It's sad to think about and worthy of discussion. I did a quick search because the other part of me - the one that doesn't want to believe we are alone in the Universe - had to find... hope. The article I linked wasn't just a reply to OP but it's something I, myself, found eye-opening. I wasn't aware about the 3D map and the limited number of stars we've reached at this point. Especially the expected number of star systems we're expected to reach in the next 5,000 years (it's quite low a figure). It was disheartening but helped hammer home just how vast the Universe is. It also leaves the door open for the hopeful... My reply was meant to help drive discussion forward. (Downvotes suck and can change the way a message is received).
- ianburrell 3y ago
  There is a huge difference between life and advanced civilization. For most of its existence, Earth had life but not intelligent life. Telescopes only recently have been able to detect signatures of life relatively close to Earth. There have been very recent possible discoveries. But may not be able to confirm without going there. There is no systematic search for radio waves. We would only be able to hear anyone for short distance. Advanced civilizations would be rare so not hearing doesn’t say anything about life. The one thing we haven’t seen are megastructures like Dyson Spheres. Those would be visible for long distances and we haven’t seen any in our galaxy.

> all available evidence suggests Earth has the only life Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence

by lanna 3y ago

> all available evidence suggests Earth has the only life Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence

There is evidence though. We've been using telescopes and listening to radio waves for decades but are yet to find anything substantial. We can at least conclude complex life is exceedingly rare.

ethanbond 3y ago
No, you can conclude that there aren’t any immediately discernible radio signals pointed our way in our rather extremely small space-time vicinity.
O1111OOO 3y ago
> We've been using telescopes and listening to radio waves for decades but are yet to find anything substantial. To add to what @ethanbond said about space-time vicinity: --------------- Article, subTitle: We have been broadcasting for over 100 years. Now a new 3D map of the galaxy reveals the stars these signals have reached that can also see Earth: https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/our-radio-signals-have-now-reached-75-star-systems-that-can-see-us-too https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/our-radio-sign... “1,715 stars within 326 light-years are in the right position to have spotted life on a transiting Earth since early human civilization, with an additional 319 stars entering this special vantage point in the next 5,000 years,” they say. ----------------------- A microscopically small amount given the total number of stars in our own galaxy, the total number of galaxies in the Universe.
- Buttons840 3y ago
  Space is big and there are a lot of planets, I get it. The odds of life are 1/N. We don't know how big N is, but it might be much larger than the number of sub-atomic particles in the universe. Perhaps N is (10^100000)^10000000000. I'm, of course, not arguing we should stop searching or having philosophical arguments. (Although, to whomever it may apply, we could stop down voting comments that make objectively true philosophical arguments like postingawayonhns.)
  - O1111OOO 3y ago
    > we could stop down voting comments that make objectively true philosophical arguments like postingawayonhns (postingawayonhns: "We can at least conclude complex life is exceedingly rare.") I wouldn't have downvoted a comment like that (or the comment you made). In fact, there's a large part of me that grudgingly agrees with you both. It's sad to think about and worthy of discussion. I did a quick search because the other part of me - the one that doesn't want to believe we are alone in the Universe - had to find... hope. The article I linked wasn't just a reply to OP but it's something I, myself, found eye-opening. I wasn't aware about the 3D map and the limited number of stars we've reached at this point. Especially the expected number of star systems we're expected to reach in the next 5,000 years (it's quite low a figure). It was disheartening but helped hammer home just how vast the Universe is. It also leaves the door open for the hopeful... My reply was meant to help drive discussion forward. (Downvotes suck and can change the way a message is received).
ianburrell 3y ago
There is a huge difference between life and advanced civilization. For most of its existence, Earth had life but not intelligent life. Telescopes only recently have been able to detect signatures of life relatively close to Earth. There have been very recent possible discoveries. But may not be able to confirm without going there. There is no systematic search for radio waves. We would only be able to hear anyone for short distance. Advanced civilizations would be rare so not hearing doesn’t say anything about life. The one thing we haven’t seen are megastructures like Dyson Spheres. Those would be visible for long distances and we haven’t seen any in our galaxy.