Do you believe that sentient life exists elsewhere in the Universe?

[Evil Inside]

I stopped watching it at "objects floating in our Universe" because that's where the science ended.

Lol why does something like that bother you so much?

[Tradewind]

I stopped watching it at "objects floating in our Universe" because that's where the science ended.

Lighten up Francis, clearly the video is geared towards like 10 year old kids and shit, not scientific paragons such as yourself.

[Gheld]

Lol why does something like that bother you so much?

Because I've only been awake for 2 hours, and everything angers me until I've been awake for at least 3.

[Masark]

Probably exists, but unless our knowledge of physics has a gaping hole labeled "practical methods of faster-than-light travel or communication", meaningful contact with them is fairly much ruled out.

[Deleted]

I don't know enough of the science of it really. The universe is vast, so surely it could have happened somewhere else is my immediate reaction.

[Kryos]

I answered b). Reasons.

4 Scenarios:

1. There are no intelligent lifeforms outside of earth and most religions are right -> we will not meet aliens
2. There is intelligent life outside earth but they are less or only a little bit more advanced than we are, so the distances are way too big to travel -> we will not meet aliens
3. There is intelligent life outside earth and they are so much more advanced (Star Trek-like), then we would be like an ant colony for them. Maybe interesting to look how primitiv life works. But nothing you want to contact, interact or even tell them who you are since they will not understand you and contact with them could lead into chaos -> we will not meet aliens
4. There is intelligent life outside earth and they are high tech but also without our ethicals standards and moral. They are like the Zerg in Starcraft or the Borg in Star Trek. They take what they need and destroy any other life form that tries to stop them. For them we are primitiv apes on a little planet with nearly no ressources to harvest. Every asteroid field has more of every material you find on earth. So they will not visit us, it's just not profitable -> we will not meet aliens

I really don't see any scenario where we would have a physical contact with intelligent aliens in then next few hundred years.

[Wikiy]

Yes, i believe sentient life exists elsewhere in the universe, but i don't believe we'll make contact with any of it in the current generation (or the next few dozen). You might say that since there's no evidence, it's wrong to "believe" in it, but when the probability of it being true is 99.x%, then why the hell not just operate as if it is true? People operate under assumptions, not facts. Even science (specifically, physics, and even more specifically, particle physics) operates under percentages. If someone asked me whether the Sun's rising tomorrow, i wouldn't say i don't have enough evidence to make a conclusion (since, technically, i wouldn't, many things could happen that could prevent the Sun from rising, the chance of any of those happening, though, is another matter). I'd say i think it's rising tomorrow. I'd say i believe it's rising tomorrow.

Definition of belief
noun

1 an acceptance that something exists or is true, especially one without proof: his belief in extraterrestrial life

There's absolutely nothing wrong with saying you believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life.

[Deleted]

to say there are not is just plain stupidity and you prob will have to get your head checked

[Deleted]

I do believe life MIGHT exist elsewhere but it isnt intelligent and if it exists, its vastly different than anything found on Earth.

Why?`Because its so unlikely. There arent even that many stars in the universe to begin with. Intelligent life on Earth is a lot like 1 person winning 3 jackpots in a row. First, life emerging at all, then it becoming multi-cellular and finally intelligence. This just does NOT happen. I think the belief in UFOs and aliens overall is just modern folklore. Before many believed in fairies living in forest and other unexplored areas abducting people and now its the aliens.

[Tradewind]

I do believe life MIGHT exist elsewhere but it isnt intelligent and if it exists, its vastly different than anything found on Earth.

Why?`Because its so unlikely. There arent even that many stars in the universe to begin with. Intelligent life on Earth is a lot like 1 person winning 3 jackpots in a row. First, life emerging at all, then it becoming multi-cellular and finally intelligence. This just does NOT happen. I think the belief in UFOs and aliens overall is just modern folklore. Before many believed in fairies living in forest and other unexplored areas abducting people and now its the aliens.

People winning the lottery multiple times is more frequent than you think :P

[wimbo125]

Thought of this image:

[Dasffion]

There arent even that many stars in the universe to begin with.

Say what? There are an estimated 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in the Observable Universe. That's just the stars and doesn't account for Planets orbiting them. Yes the chances of intelligent life happening in the universe are low but with that many stars it was bound to have happened more than just once. It being unlikely doesn't make it impossible.

[Gheld]

Say what? There are an estimated 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in the Observable Universe. That's just the stars and doesn't account for Planets orbiting them. Yes the chances of intelligent life happening in the universe are low but with that many stars it was bound to have happened more than just once. It being unlikely doesn't make it impossible.

Just to expand on what you're saying, the question is whether or not intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe, which only requires 1 other civilization to exist on another planet somewhere in the Universe.

Let's say our existence is the result of the fulfillment of the most improbable of odds, 1/x.

It would require it to only happen twice, 1/x^2, which is hardly absurd, in order for just 1 other civilization to be out there. 3 civilizations in this scenario might be a stretch, but 2 is most certainly not.
EDIT (Fixed teh maths)

[Wikiy]

I do believe life MIGHT exist elsewhere but it isnt intelligent and if it exists, its vastly different than anything found on Earth.

Why?`Because its so unlikely. There arent even that many stars in the universe to begin with.

What?! The observable universe contains 3×10^23 stars (300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000).

Intelligent life on Earth is a lot like 1 person winning 3 jackpots in a row.

And how do you know that?

[buck008]

My favorite little mind game with this question assumes an infinite universe. That is just one model of the universe that physicists and cosmologists have theorized, but the infinite model is a popular one with sound reasoning (as far as I can tell in my limited capacity) behind it.

In an infinite universe, there is an infinite amount of matter that combines in an infinite number of ways. This means that not only is there intelligent life out there somewhere, it means that humans are out there somewhere. Exactly the same as Earth. Not only that, but there are an infinite number of them.

I may or may not have posted this here before, can't really remember. Just thought it was an interesting thing to think about.

[roflpot]

"Not enough evidence either way" option is a bit strange.

It's the lack of evidence that's the key.

[Deleted]

Sentient? You mean sapient, like humans? Horses, dogs and cats are sentient, but only humans are sapient on this planet.

As to your question I would say, yes. There are, billions of civilizations.

Will we ever meet them? Perhaps, if we survive as species.

[Wikiy]

"Not enough evidence either way" option is a bit strange.

It's the lack of evidence that's the key.

Lack of evidence is not evidence of absence. The universe is huge. Not only that, the physical laws that govern it prevent travel at speeds faster than the speed of light. What we know about the universe right now (and there's no reason to be optimistic and assume there is some magic way to brake the speed of light) tells us that things are so far away from each other and that it would take so long to get from one potential hub of life to another that it simply cannot be done in time frames we can think of.

[MiseriaScH]

Relevant:

If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little. ~ George Carlin

[Marxman]

With trillions of planets, billions of which are probably earth-like, there's almost no chance that we are the only "special snowflake" in the universe.

Now, whether or not we will ever contact another sentient species is a much more interesting question, though I'd say no for the same reasons as above. The universe is a monstrously, unfathomably gigantic place. The chances that 2 different sentient species would have a chance meeting is almost nil.