Replies

I am going to risk the lable of practicing tautology again, by saying, yes, it is possible that no other life exists outside of the microscopic, tiny object we call Earth, but I would seriously doubt it.

And again, I'd ask why you doubt it. What is that doubt based upon? Again, I'd point to the *fact* that the vastness of the universe says absolutely nothing about the probability of life existing elsewhere but on Earth.

IF we were to demonstrate that abiogenesis is possible, which we have not (in fact every attempt has failed miserably), then we would have the first bit of evidence. We would still need to then determine what precursors are necessary for said abiogenesis, and then after that we would need to determine the ratio of planets with these precursors to planets without these precursors based on a sample of known planets, and then after that we would need to determine the probability of abiogenesis occuring once the needed precursors were in place. None of these things has been done, and many people, such as myself, suspect they never will be done. I for one, do not believe abiogenesis can occur. Life from non-living matter is, in my humble opinion, not possible. When and if it is shown otherwise, I will update my belief. Until then, we can make no assertions one way or the other about life existing anywhere else in the universe.

On the other hand, you can make the assumption of scientific naturalism and base your conclusions off of this assumption, but as I mentioned, naturalism is a scientific philosophy, not empirically verified by science with respect to biology.

I'd point to the *fact* that the vastness of the universe says absolutely nothing about the probability of life existing elsewhere but on Earth.

Of course it does. If there were only two other planets in the Universe you may have a point, but there are millions, possible billions of planets. This makes the odds of life elsewhere great. Think about it.

but as I mentioned, naturalism is a scientific philosophy, not empirically verified by science with respect to biology.

Lot of things have not been proven or verified by science yet. Sometimes the more we discover or prove, the more questions it creates.