Australian Politics Forum - Are we alone in the Universe?

Prime Minister for Canyons

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Re: Are we alone in the Universe?
Reply #15 - Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:34am

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:25am:

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 10:30am:

The probability of intelligent life being out there in the universe is extremely close to 1.

Why do you say that?

I'd suggest that it's more likely to be 0.5

Why do you say 0.5?

I'm saying near to 1, because even though the probability of life on any one planet is very low, the number of galaxies with the number of stars and number of planets etc means that I think its close to 1.

Can we contact them though? I put that close to 0 because of the sheer distances involved.

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greggerypeccary

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Re: Are we alone in the Universe?
Reply #16 - Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:47am

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:34am:

Why do you say 0.5?

"Are we alone in the universe"?

There are only two possible answers:

1) yes

2) no

Thus, the probability is 0.5

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:34am:

I'm saying near to 1, because even though the probability of life on any one planet is very low, the number of galaxies with the number of stars and number of planets etc means that I think its close to 1.

I'm sorry, but that argument just doesn't sit well with me.

"There are so many planets out there, that there must be life on one of them".

Why? Why must there?

It's nothing more than a gut feeling.

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Re: Are we alone in the Universe?
Reply #17 - Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:49am

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:47am:

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:34am:

Why do you say 0.5?

"Are we alone in the universe"?

There are only two possible answers:

1) yes

2) no

Thus, the probability is 0.5

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:34am:

I'm saying near to 1, because even though the probability of life on any one planet is very low, the number of galaxies with the number of stars and number of planets etc means that I think its close to 1.

I'm sorry, but that argument just doesn't sit well with me.

"There are so many planets out there, that there must be life on one of them".

Why? Why must there?

It's nothing more than a gut feeling.

Not really. We know the types of conditions which are needed to have life (at least on this planet, there may be different conditions). We have a very good idea about how many galaxies there are etc.

Its more than a gut feeling.

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Prime Minister for Canyons Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 26906 Canberra Gender:	Re: Are we alone in the Universe? Reply #18 - Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:51am PLus it can't be 0.5. Even if there are two different answers, they aren't even in terms of possibility like a coin toss.
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greggerypeccary Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 150998 Gender:	Re: Are we alone in the Universe? Reply #19 - Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:52am Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:49am: Its more than a gut feeling. Yes. It's also wishful thinking.
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Prime Minister for Canyons Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 26906 Canberra Gender:	Re: Are we alone in the Universe? Reply #20 - Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:54am greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:52am: Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:49am: Its more than a gut feeling. Yes. It's also wishful thinking. Explain how so?
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greggerypeccary

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Re: Are we alone in the Universe?
Reply #21 - Jan 27^th, 2016 at 12:01pm

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:54am:

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:52am:

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:49am:

Its more than a gut feeling.

Yes.

It's also wishful thinking.

Explain how so?

Gut feeling, wishful thinking, whatever.

I don't know what's going on in their minds.

Too much TV? Probably.

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Re: Are we alone in the Universe?
Reply #22 - Jan 27^th, 2016 at 12:01pm

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 12:01pm:

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:54am:

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:52am:

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:49am:

Its more than a gut feeling.

Yes.

It's also wishful thinking.

Explain how so?

Gut feeling, wishful thinking, whatever.

I don't know what's going on in their minds.

Too much TV? Probably.

So no smacking idea, glad we got that out of the way.

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greggerypeccary

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Re: Are we alone in the Universe?
Reply #23 - Jan 27^th, 2016 at 12:06pm

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 12:01pm:

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 12:01pm:

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:54am:

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:52am:

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:49am:

Its more than a gut feeling.

Yes.

It's also wishful thinking.

Explain how so?

Gut feeling, wishful thinking, whatever.

I don't know what's going on in their minds.

Too much TV? Probably.

So no smacking idea, glad we got that out of the way.

That's correct.

I'm merely taking a guess.

It's all I can do, as those who believe we are not alone only ever have one "argument":

"There are so many planets, that there must be life on one of them".

Why?

Can you answer that?

Apart from "there just must be", can you offer a plausible explanation?

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Prime Minister for Canyons

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Re: Are we alone in the Universe?
Reply #24 - Jan 27^th, 2016 at 12:07pm

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 12:06pm:

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 12:01pm:

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 12:01pm:

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:54am:

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:52am:

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 11:49am:

Its more than a gut feeling.

Yes.

It's also wishful thinking.

Explain how so?

Gut feeling, wishful thinking, whatever.

I don't know what's going on in their minds.

Too much TV? Probably.

So no smacking idea, glad we got that out of the way.

That's correct.

I'm merely taking a guess.

It's all I can do, as those who believe we are not alone only ever have one "argument":

"There are so many planets, that there must be life on one of them".

Why?

Can you answer that?

Apart from "there just must be", can you offer a plausible explanation?

I can do better, I can direct you to some reading

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrobiology

Its quite a big field.

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greggerypeccary Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 150998 Gender:	Re: Are we alone in the Universe? Reply #25 - Jan 27^th, 2016 at 12:10pm Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 27^th, 2016 at 12:07pm: Its quite a big field. It certainly is, and nobody can come up with anything much better than "there are lots of planets out there, so there must be life on one of them". Why?
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Prime Minister for Canyons Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 26906 Canberra Gender:	Re: Are we alone in the Universe? Reply #26 - Jan 27^th, 2016 at 12:11pm Direct observation is difficult.
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... Gold Member Offline Posts: 23673 WA Gender:	Re: Are we alone in the Universe? Reply #27 - Jan 27^th, 2016 at 12:12pm IF the universe is infinite, it holds that there must also be infinite instances of all known phenomenon, including life. Not just 1 other instance of life a million years away - infinite instances.
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issuevoter Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 9200 The Great State of Mind Gender:	Re: Are we alone in the Universe? Reply #28 - Jan 27^th, 2016 at 7:14pm Are we alone? If you are going to use statistics to figure out the answer, you will come up with NO, and you will be right. If you use the human quality of irony, it will be Yes, and you will be right.
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President Elect, The Mechanic Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 17501 Gender:	Re: Are we alone in the Universe? Reply #29 - Jan 27^th, 2016 at 8:05pm there may be something else out there.. maybe Dinosaurs .. who knows.. Hawkins says that for our species to continue to exist we need to colonise other planets... why? what right do we have to stuff up another planet after we have stuffed this one up??
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