[LibWhacker]

Actually, our sample of 500 planets is a very good one, IF

• Our sampling procedure is random and isn't biased toward, oh, I don't know, say, gas giants that orbit in close to their parent star, AND IF

• The prevalence of planets with life on them isn't one in a million, or something like that, AND IF

• We can actually tell with any degree of certainty, here in the year 2011, whether or not a speck of light that's trillions and trillions and trillions of miles away, so far away, in fact, that we can't actually see the speck, really does have life on it.

Two of those conditions are false and one is very possibly false.

Note the title says life is impossible, but Smith didn't say that, only that conditions on Earth might be unique (which we knew all along).

[cripplecreek]

conditions on Earth might be unique

True enough. Conditions on earth are unique....to earth and conditions on Venus are unique to Venus. Its one of those things I tend to think about when thinking about the problem of habitability.

Even a planet 99% earthlike may not be habitable to us without genetic modifications. Humans are specifically made for earth. However, we're the single most adaptable species ever to live.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Yes. There is nothing “settled” about this or about “global warming.” The notion that one side declares 100 percent belief in finding life elsewhere is as stupid as the headline writer’s use of the word “impossible.”

But I do find it fascinating that scientists who announce that “global warming” is settled science say the purpose for (our now “green”) NASA is to find life (100% belief in it’s existence despite no evidence beyond a notion of statistics) beyond Earth.

Researchers are using “settled science” as a club to remove opposing ideas from debate while advancing their agenda and keeping the money stream of funding for those spearheading that agenda flowing. Their handmaidens in the MSM are, in large part, eager to promote this alarmist position, as it will allow governments to take control and restrict our freedoms.