UFO's. Do you believe in extraterrestrial life?

[JJ Husker]

Don't want to change the subject at all but, I find it sort of amusing that so many who claim there is no God (because of lack of scientific proof) have a much different outlook about the existence of intelligent life elsewhere (with the same lack of scientific proof)). Just an observation.

[NUance]

Don't want to change the subject at all but, I find it sort of amusing that so many who claim there is no God (because of lack of scientific proof) have a much different outlook about the existence of intelligent life elsewhere (with the same lack of scientific proof)). Just an observation.

Ha ha! That's true. I guess you can't prove there aren't UFOs just like you can't prove God exists.

[Comish]

I wrote a fairly hefty piece on this as an undergrad a number of years ago. (Unfortunately, it was loaned out and never returned.) But the gist of it was that we have been kept in the dark about a lot of things going on in this arena all the way back to Project Bluebook. However, given the fact that we can’t even keep “worm” secrets, it strains credulity to believe all those administrations throughout the years could maintain a solidarity of silence.

 

Like others, I have witnessed some phenomena that seemingly had no logical explanation. Of course, just because I couldn’t explain it doesn’t mean there isn’t one.

But I know what I saw was not a weather balloon, a flock of geese, or a temperature inversion. Doesn’t rule anything out, but doesn’t rule anything in either. Guess I’m open on the question and willing to see what develops

[sd'sker]

Don't want to change the subject at all but, I find it sort of amusing that so many who claim there is no God (because of lack of scientific proof) have a much different outlook about the existence of intelligent life elsewhere (with the same lack of scientific proof)). Just an observation.

Ha ha! That's true. I guess you can't prove there aren't UFOs just like you can't prove God exists.

it is a funny observation at first approximation (and made me think a bit), but to me they are pretty different. an atheist believes he/she exists without a god, so in an infinite (or nearly infinite, or however large) universe it would stand to reason that creatures somewhere else developed and evolved similarly as we did; it is hard to imagine such a vast universe with only one planet that can sustain life. the two beliefs are very different. there is scientific proof regarding how we evolved and from what we developed, there is reason to believe it could happen elsewhere.

[strigori]

Also bear in mind that when many people say they believe in alien life, they may not necessarily mean intelligent life. You could have more of an argument against intelligent life, than any form of life. As bacteria or an amoeba would meet the threshold for 'life' and I honestly believe only a fool could hold that something that simple would not exist somewhere in this massive universe.

[bennychico11]

Don't want to change the subject at all but, I find it sort of amusing that so many who claim there is no God (because of lack of scientific proof) have a much different outlook about the existence of intelligent life elsewhere (with the same lack of scientific proof)). Just an observation.

 

like the above statements, I have to say that there IS a difference between the two. One is based on supernatural explanations...the other on natural. And neither are gnostic explanations. I personally (as an atheist) think it's possible...but currently can't accept it since there is no evidence of life on other planets nor evidence of UFO's. Of course, let me clarify, no evidence of UFO's containing intelligent life from other planets. The acronym of UFO only pertains itself to unidentified flying objects...not objects that contain foreign life or intelligent foreign life.

Scientific explanations don't discount the possibility of life on other planets. In fact, abiogenesis would totally be possible elsewhere in the galaxy. And a totally NATURAL explanation for it. As opposed to an Abrahamic god that created this one planet, the firmament and all its inhabitants as his only "life" creations by supernatural explanations

[tschu]

Oh look, someone brought religion into this.

 

[HUSKER 37]

I believe God exists (retroactively, perhaps)

I also believe it probable that we were the result of aliens on shore leave and only finding monkees.

[The Dude]

so many who claim there is no God

lol who did that?

[zoogs]

Eh, it's not really a matter of belief with extraterrestrial life. Whether I entertain the possibility seriously or not, I recognize that it is pure idle speculation with no foundation in reality, knowledge, or truth. I'd say it's possible. Maybe probable. I'd also say it is extremely likely that humanity in general has a limited capacity for imagining such things or placing realistic probabilities on it.

 

It's possible we are the only intelligent life in the universe, but it is a very big place. It's possible also that there are hundreds, even thousands of civilizations as advanced, less advanced, and more advanced than we -- but that, no matter how advanced, they are on isolated, very rare, far-off worlds with no ability to come into contact with one another outside of infinitesimal chance.

[JJ Husker]

Oh look, someone brought religion into this.

 

You're welcome??

 

Actually I really didn't want to change it to that subject but it seemed relevant enough to mention it. Personally I think there is simple life elsewhere. However, I have my doubts about intelligent life existing elsewhere in the universe. If a persons rationale is that the universe is so large that it is virtually inevitable that intelligent life must exist out there then that same rationale should also tell them that there are probably unicorns and sky fairies and maybe an all powerful being out there somewhere too. It's kind of like the old story that an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters would eventually re-create all the great literary works type of reasoning.

[sd'sker]

Solving the Shakespeare Million Monkeys Problem in Real-time with Parallelism and SignalR

 

i didn't read it, too technical.

[The Dude]

If a persons rationale is that the universe is so large that it is virtually inevitable that intelligent life must exist out there then that same rationale should also tell them that there are probably unicorns and sky fairies and maybe an all powerful being out there somewhere too.

Not really. Unicorns and sky fairies and such are man made concepts; figments of our imagination. "Intelligent" life is a result of complex chemistry which we know occurs in the universe.

[Excel]

I didn't but today I stopped by Target on my way home from work and saw a very hairy entity wearing a wig and women's clothing so I think it's a possibility.

[The Dude]

Just finished watching S1 E01 of ALF. Turns out his name is really Gordon.