Logic dictates that if there is one life sustaining habitable planet in a solar system in our galaxy, then there must be countless many others. Our galaxy alone has billions of stars (suns), multitudes having orbiting planets. Hence, logic would dictate the existence of many other habitable planets, some perhaps similar to Earth, orbiting these billions of suns.

[Religious content removed. Please see rule 12.]

There are hundreds of millions/billions of stars in our Galaxy alone. How many have solar systems & orbiting planets with life on them? Can we come up with a ratio guess of possible habitable planets per 1 million suns? And what of the incredible, massive M31/Andromeda galaxy? It is thought that Andromeda is nearly twice the span/size of our galaxy, the Milky Way, with multiple hundreds of billions of stars. Can we even begin to contemplate the vast numbers of stars (“suns”) having orbital planets as solar systems? How many life-habitable planets are there in each one of those solar systems? How many life forms are there per system? How many are there, and what are the various stages of development that these life forms are at?

Hubble is said to estimate that there are as many as 50 billion galaxies in the Universe! Keep in mind that each galaxy has anywhere from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions to even multiple billions of stars. We like to think that we, the human race is so special and so smart – very easy to do when you’re not aware of the smarter kids that live around the corner or on the other side of town!
Currently, we are still child-like, narrow minded, paranoid and needlessly arrogant, unable to comprehend and accept the idea life forms on other habitable planets in and/or out of our galaxy, without fear and paranoia.
We are not yet mature enough to treat them with honor, respect, tolerance and acceptance. Are we now able to digest and comprehend knowledge of the unknown multitudes that make up ALL life in the Universe? Nope.

Since we cannot even get along with each other on THIS planet, not to mention obey simple laws of life, how can we logically and rationally absorb the knowledge of other galactic planetary life and treat them with respect?

Just as adults limit the exposure of children to the complexities, demands and vicissitudes of the rest of the world, likewise have we seemingly been time-paced in our awareness and knowledge of this vast and nearly incomprehensible Universe. Besides, why should we have just have all the answers simply given to us at once anyway!? Is it not far better for us to evolve and grow, as any normal plant, tree, animal, or child should does? Besides, it’s more fun this way.

Logic would dictate that there is more life in the vast Universe other than here on Earth. Time will tell all - it always does.

Thanks - "Gumby"

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Brett
Peters Creek, Alaska
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who know's if there is other life out there.
but your assumption is just that,maybe there were certain circumstance's as to why we human's have gotten here that do not exist elsewhere.

as far as logic goes,sometimes it ain't cracked up to what it use to be,with all these unfounded theories running around.

and those smarter kid's you mentioned,maybe don't really live around the corner because maybe they don't exist,but your right about 1 thing and that is time will tell.

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it shows you how much i know....not much i guess----"sohhfly"

Someone else could probably find a more appropriate logical fallacy, but I'd suggest you read this : http://www.nizkor.org/features/falla...ed-sample.html

Essentially - on what basis do you prove there is life elsewhere just because there is life here?

The ONLY correct answer to 'is there life elsewhere' is 'Don't know'.

No.

The universe might be teeming with life, with living creatures on several worlds orbiting each viable star. Or it might be that the odds of life arising are so remote that it's surprising it happened even once. And while the truth is probably closer to the former than the latter, we simply don't know.

Where do you get this from?

The truth is, many of us are fine with the idea of life on other worlds, and have been for many years.

Be careful with that "we" - it sounds as if you're appointing yourself spokesman for humanity.

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Cricket is boring. IMHO, of course.

Paul B:
Don't you mean that it sound's like he's appointing himself spokesman for the other race.....No I mean other race.

Nanu Nanu

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it shows you how much i know....not much i guess----"sohhfly"

I find it humorous that the OP should appeal to 'logic' while being warned for advocating religious dogma.

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Conscious reasoning is an attempt to justify the choice after it has been made.

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Brett
Peters Creek, Alaska
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I think it's safe to say that, based on sheer numbers of stars available, the formation of life would be statistically unlikely to occur just once.

But we just cannot say more than that with certainty. We just dont know if there is life out there, nor can we make inferences on how we as humans are emotionally or morally comparable to such life. If there are other civilizations, we may be the oldest, or the youngest.

As you say, it is probably a fairly safe assumption, but with only one known sample planet with life (i.e. Earth!) - and as you also state - we just don't know.

Should we find life on Europa, or possibly the latest candidate of Enceladus, then perhaps (but only just perhaps) we can begin to work some math to determine the likely hood of finding further life in our galaxy, or even further afield, should we ever develop the means to explore that far. Even this will still be speculation based on a 'best guess'.

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The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not Eureka! (I found it!) but rather, 'hmm.... that's funny...'
- Isaac Asimov

Are we alone in the Universe? Are we the only intelligent life? Who knows? But the universe is so BIG, it somehow seems such a waste of space if we are ....

I am excited about The Kepler Mission!! I think in about 5 years we will literally know of 100s of New Earths - rocky planets near the Cinderella Zone with the potential for liquid water and therefore, LAWKI.

Aftwerwards, anaylsis of their atmospheres may be able to identify further evidence : Water Vapor, Methane, Oxygen, Nitrogen.

What a thrill it will be to identify some earth like planets with these signatures in their atmospheres. Then, I am afraid, we will not be able to do much else until we could get a probe there. I am afraid there will be a long gap.

I think that should be that we MIGHT know of more earth like planets, or at least that there are some other planets in our near region of the galaxy.

It MAY identify some signs, and depending on how many there are, could lead to speculation about life being present. Other than that, I don't think it will be able to be classed much beyond educated guess work.

A thrill, yes, but then a rather long wait before we can even consider gaining any physical evidence of life, should our research show there are at least some signs of life.

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The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not Eureka! (I found it!) but rather, 'hmm.... that's funny...'
- Isaac Asimov

Are we alone in the Universe? Are we the only intelligent life? Who knows? But the universe is so BIG, it somehow seems such a waste of space if we are ....

FYI, just recently the mass of the Milky Way was recalculated and is now thought to be approximately the same size as Andromeda.

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Source? I'd like to read more about this.

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"Science is physics and astronomy." -Me
"There is absolutely no law in physics that prevents time travel." -Dr. Michio Kaku

I read the article wrong apparently, the recent estimate actually shows The Milky Way having less mass - 1 trillion solar masses, versus 2 trillion in the previous estimate.

Still, according to the current numbers The Milky Way has more mass than Andromeda, which has approximately 700 billion solar masses per the most recent measurement.

Whether these numbers are correct is anyone's guess though, as measuring our own galaxy is difficult to accomplish successfully without the "bird's eye" view we get for Andromeda and all others.

Milky Way vs. Andromeda.

Andromeda is still the largest galaxy in the Local Group according to diameter - it's 220,000 light-years across, versus about half that for the Milky Way.

Here's a link to the study itself:

http://www.sdss.org/news/releases/20080527.mwmass.html

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I thought I remember reading that the extent of the Milky Way is a fair bit larger than previously thought due to discovery of lower luminosity stars at its outskirts... Sorry, don't have a reference at hand.

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Conscious reasoning is an attempt to justify the choice after it has been made.

I agree with this, if there is so many problems between humans, due to skin colour or background or certain beliefs, how are we meant to get along with living beings that could be totally different to us in every single way.

Simple - education broadens the mind.

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Conscious reasoning is an attempt to justify the choice after it has been made.

Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.

What's your point?

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Conscious reasoning is an attempt to justify the choice after it has been made.

This is one of those witty, catchy observations that would have amused Oscar Wilde.

But it isn't true.

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Cricket is boring. IMHO, of course.

I suppose self-education might be a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.

I have little confidence that the discovery of complex organic chemical phenomena on Europa would be conveyed generally in a way that would be educational.

Is it? One objections to the Copernican theory was that it predicted stellar parallax, and none was visible with instruments of that time. Once we did, the universe bloomed, as it was obvious it had to be much bigger then we thought, had ever even imagined.
Then, years later, red shift was discovered, and what were once thought of as spiral nebula, were not nebula at all, but galaxies. Some like, some unlike, our own.
And the petals opened yet further.
Going the other way, atoms were once their namesake, indivisible, the ultimate building blocks of this world we love and see. Then electrons and neutrons, and protons, were discovered. Atoms could now be sliced, smashed together, and blown apart. But then we found still more, what these protons and neutrons were made from, the quarks in their several odd and peculiar flavours. And to go still further, there are those who propose a model based on a vibrating string.
Another way to put it may be that the more we know, the more we know there is to know.

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I wholly agree with the statement that "the more we know, the more we know there is to know." But I disagree that that's another way of saying, "Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance."

Education is the process whereby someone travels from the position of not knowing something (or not being able to do something) to the position of knowing something (or being able to do something).

Making discoveries about the universe is something else.

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Cricket is boring. IMHO, of course.

Yes, education teaches you about known discoveries and gives you the foundations to make new ones (though it's much more than just that).

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Conscious reasoning is an attempt to justify the choice after it has been made.

And science is one of the ways we educate ourselves on the nature of the universe. And with this knowledge, we can learn to do things. Science is the education of humanity.

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I seem to have started some kind of a debate.
When you think about it, it's true.. Like how we were ignorant enough to believe the earth was the center of the universe.. But as we educated ourselves we came to find this to be false..
Etc.

If the universe is truly infinite, is there any hope of ever doing more than scratching the surface (so to speak)? It certainly does seem that the more we learn, the more we learn we don't know everything. Which is great! As a musician, I am always trying to learn more about what I do...if I ever feel I've actually arrived, I'll probably quit (which ain't gonna happen!).

Who says that life on other planets has to be smarter and more advanced than we are? I believe that there are most definitely basic forms of life on other planets, even if it can't get to ours. There are life forms that live in the most inhospitable places of our planet (places humans can't live in or get to without machines.) Creatures we never would have imagined, have been discovered in the last 50+ years. Imagine what we'll know 50 years from now.

Cheers,
Frank
Without imagination there would be no science.

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refrigerator magnets

I could say something, but I'd get in trouble. One word anyway: Anunnaki.

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There in the valley of Scorpio, beneath the Cross of jade
Smoking on the seashell pipe the gypsies had made
We sat and we dreamed a while...in that crystal thought time in Mexico. ~Donovan