NASA Scientists gather in Santa Clara to ponder life beyond Earth (SETIcon)

Mercury News ^ | 6/23/12 | Lisa M. Krieger

[NormsRevenge]

We may not be alone.

But our cosmic companions might be moist creatures in watery worlds -- lacking, of course, E.T.'s impulse, or ability, to phone home.

The growing evidence of wet planets -- and its implications in our search for extraterrestrial life -- is among the marvels shared this weekend at a Santa Clara gathering of astronomers, astronauts and science fiction fans.

The theme of the three-day SETIcon event: the exploration of universe and the quest to find life beyond Earth.

Scientists agreed that the neighborhood is looking a lot friendlier.

What began as a trickle of new planet discoveries a decade ago has turned into a torrent -- and not all places are rocky, gaseous or just plain weird.

Of the 3,000 or so candidate planets found so far by Kepler -- a NASA mission designed to find Earth-size planets around other stars -- several hundred of them share one special characteristic: a density of nearly 1 gram per cubic centimeter.

That's the density of water.

And, it could be prime real estate, said longtime planet hunter Geoff Marcy of University of California-Berkeley, speculating that these planets are composed of 30 to 70 percent water. "They're not pure rock," he said. "They're not pure gas. These are planets that are composed almost certainly of water."

[Boogieman]

If they were technologically advanced enough to get here, I doubt we would be any threat to them, no matter how violent or insane we were. The Aztecs were violent and insane, but the Spanish had no problem subduing them and putting them to work for them.

[Windflier]

If they were technologically advanced enough to get here, I doubt we would be any threat to them, no matter how violent or insane we were.

Point taken, but we're just having an intellectual exercise here.

What would be the upside in making open contact with earthlings for an advanced extraterrestrial race? I can't think of any off the top of my head.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks NormsRevenge.

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[Boogieman]

“What would be the upside in making open contact with earthlings for an advanced extraterrestrial race?”

Pets? Slaves? Inter-species concubines?

I don’t know and I don’t really care much, since I don’t think there are any alien races out there. I think we’re it.

[Windflier]

I don’t think there are any alien races out there. I think we’re it.

Not to belittle you, but do you have any inkling of the astronomical odds against that being the case?

Try to wrap your head around this....there are around 100 billion stars in the average galaxy. Scientists are now finding that nearly all stars have planets of one type or another - many with the same density as ours (which indicates the presence of water).

There are more galaxies in the known universe than all the grains of sand on every beach on earth.

I know it's an impossible task, but just try to conceptualize 100 billion stars for every last grain of sand on this planet. EACH of them with planetary systems.

Heck, just try thinking with the fact that there are 100 billion suns in our own galaxy, MOST of them with planetary systems. That's 100 billion chances for life to develop in some place other than here. Look at the sheer numbers involved with this for a while, and you'll realize why the scientific community no longer asks the question "if" there's life beyond our planet, but "where" it is.

[Boogieman]

Yet, the entire argument rests on believing that life can spontaneously arise and organize itself out of non-life. If that is not possible, then you can have 100 billion, 100 trillion, or 100 zillion chances and it doesn’t matter one bit.

[Windflier]

the entire argument rests on believing that life can spontaneously arise and organize itself out of non-life. If that is not possible, then you can have 100 billion, 100 trillion, or 100 zillion chances and it doesn’t matter one bit.

No one's ever proved that life spontaneously arose and organized itself on this planet. I'm afraid that's not the basis for the entire argument that life exists elsewhere in the universe.

In fact, the question of 'how' life arises, is completely irrelevant and non-sequitur to the conversation about life elsewhere in the universe. The sheer scale of the numbers involved with the question, argue for a 100% certainty that life exists, and is even abundant, throughout the universe.

We don't need to know how life arises to examine the question of extraterrestrial life. Our planet is proof that life can and does arise.