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Humanity May Be Alone In The Universe
Forbes ^ | June 21, 2016 | Ethan Siegel

Posted on 06/22/2016 12:51:26 PM PDT by Heartlander

There may never have been another intelligent, technologically advanced alien species in the entire history of the Universe. Last week, in the New York Times, scientist Adam Frank emphatically wrote that Yes, There Have Been Aliens, concluding that given all the potentially habitable worlds we know must be out there from our astrophysical discoveries, intelligent life must have arisen. What he fails to account for, however, is the magnitude of the unknowns that abiogenesis, evolution, long-term habitability and other factors bring into the equation. Although it’s true that there are an astronomical number of possibilities for intelligent, technologically advanced lifeforms, the huge uncertainties make it a very real possibility that humans are the only spacefaring aliens our Universe has ever known.

[SNIP]...But that’s where our optimism, if we’re being scientifically honest and scrupulous, ought to end. Because there are three big steps out there, in order to get a human-like civilization, that need to happen:

[SNIP]...And even if life does occur, how fortunate do you need to be to have it survive and thrive for billions of years? Would a catastrophic warming scenario, like Venus, be the norm? Or a catastrophic freezing scenario ...

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Education; Science
KEYWORDS: creation; ufo
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To: AFreeBird

Who says it was for us? We might just be the shavings on the shop floor.


61 posted on 06/22/2016 2:20:59 PM PDT by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason and rule of law. Prepare!)
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To: DesertRhino

Marconi’s first wireless signal left the planet less than 120 years ago. Traveling the speed of light, the distance of that signal becomes the radius of the Universe that would be able to determine we are living on anything other than a “dumb” rock.


62 posted on 06/22/2016 2:23:18 PM PDT by affan76
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To: Heartlander

If there is life elsewhere in the universe, but they are too far away from us in space or in time to communicate with us or they never develop modern means of telecommunication, then we’re alone.


63 posted on 06/22/2016 2:26:44 PM PDT by x
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To: DesertRhino

“I said if life evolved from nothing...”

Only in your reply to me. In your original post you did not make that distinction at all, you wrote it as if that idea was an established part of evolution, and I had to point out to you that it isn’t.

Sorry, but you can’t retroactively change your argument to correct a flaw I pointed out and then pretend that the flaw didn’t exist in the first place!


64 posted on 06/22/2016 2:26:58 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: DesertRhino

“And I didn’t say you did mention God....moron. I said there are only two explanations.”

No, but my point was that I just refuted your argument without resorting to even mentioning God. Therefore the idea that one must invoke God to argue against your point is ludicrous.

“If you know a third theory, id love to hear it.”

One doesn’t need to introduce an alternative theory to refute a bad theory. It can buttress your argument if you do, but it isn’t necessary.


65 posted on 06/22/2016 2:29:38 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: x
they never develop modern means of telecommunication

No alien Major Ed Dames.

66 posted on 06/22/2016 2:29:56 PM PDT by MUDDOG
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To: DesertRhino

You state conjecture as fact.


67 posted on 06/22/2016 2:32:24 PM PDT by Heartlander (Prediction: Increasingly, logic will be seen as a covert form of theism. - Denyse O'Leary)
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To: clamper1797

What a huge waste of space it would be if it were so

doesn’t appear very intelligent, does it...?


68 posted on 06/22/2016 2:40:47 PM PDT by IrishBrigade
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To: DesertRhino

“There is also no science supporting a creator snapping life into existence with magic, OR an abiogenic start.”

Indeed, which is why your argument is flawed from the get-go. You’ve made an assumption on faith and then you propose that you can make logical inferences based on that assumption. Yet, inferences based on unestablished assumptions are no more reliable than the assumptions they are based on.


69 posted on 06/22/2016 2:41:41 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: TigersEye

My point. The way I figure it; Our Father probably planted many gardens. He certainly had the space for it.


70 posted on 06/22/2016 2:45:45 PM PDT by AFreeBird (BEST. ELECTION. EVER!)
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To: Heartlander

Then who/what has been abducting people for centuries, taking them to the big one in the sky, probing, tickling, inpregnating them, etc.?


71 posted on 06/22/2016 2:46:16 PM PDT by TomGuy
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To: Heartlander

'Evolution', if it exists, seems to adapt/evolve from a lower state to a higher state.

So, then, why/how would mankind have 'evolved' a brain that they only use 20% or less of?


72 posted on 06/22/2016 2:50:28 PM PDT by TomGuy
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To: TomGuy

Leprechauns.


73 posted on 06/22/2016 2:50:28 PM PDT by MUDDOG
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To: DesertRhino

There is simply no proof of that. All you can offer is quantity. The huge number of stars and planets. Yet there is no proof that conditions such as ours exist elsewhere. As for non-carbon based life forms, there’s no evidence for that either.


74 posted on 06/22/2016 3:08:25 PM PDT by SoCal Pubbie
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To: Boogieman

“It just takes great writing and directing to make them interesting, but any idiot can make an alien invasion spectacle at least halfway entertaining.”

You need talent to make a good alien invasion spectacle ... however, I agree ... the invasion plot is an easier one to manufacture for a 2 hour movie. While it could be good, it won’t be innovative.

While I can’t stand the writers/directors/producers behind Independence Day, I did get the biggest kick out of that movie ... it was akin to a campy 50s SciFi flick with great special effects (for the time ... it’s looking dated these days). I refuse to pay to see their new one after that “The Day After Tomorrow” propaganda film they made.

I often feel like I’m the only one out there that equally enjoys both kinds of ‘alien invasion’ films. Sometimes I want something cerebral ... other times I simply want to suspend disbelief for a while :-). To each their own :-).


75 posted on 06/22/2016 3:10:54 PM PDT by edh (I need a better tagline)
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To: DesertRhino

“If you know a third theory, id love to hear it.”

Phasing into this universe from another universe? Technically that is not natural nor does it involve God per-say :-P :-).


76 posted on 06/22/2016 3:13:55 PM PDT by edh (I need a better tagline)
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To: TomGuy

“Then who/what has been abducting people for centuries ... probing, tickling, inpregnating them, etc.?”

That’s easy. William Jefferson Clinton.

Next question!


77 posted on 06/22/2016 3:16:06 PM PDT by edh (I need a better tagline)
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To: econjack

It depends on how teeny tiny the probability of life developing is. And we have no handle on that. So how could there be any certainty? Carl Sagan saying “billions and billions” doesn’t prove anything.


78 posted on 06/22/2016 3:20:08 PM PDT by maro (what did the President know and when did he know it?)
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To: IrishBrigade

Isn’t that what Comrade Kaprugina told Dr Zhivago when the Reds took over his house?


79 posted on 06/22/2016 3:24:05 PM PDT by SoCal Pubbie
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To: AFreeBird

All of creation just for us? I don’t buy it.


All of creation just for God, not just for us.


80 posted on 06/22/2016 3:27:12 PM PDT by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - JRRT)
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