/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.4506167]

>Rare Earth

Do you think there's a chance that we're alone? We're it? That rather than an infinite universe housing infinite lifeforms, we're actually the proverbial Monkey With A Typewriter That Lucked Onto Hamlet?

That the vastness of time and space allowed for our one and only lucky draw?

If this is the case, do we have a responsibility to do what we can to seed life elsewhere?

[Anonymous No.4506207]

There's a full gallery of infographics based on this hypothesis.

Here, OP, take a look. One of the best resources I've found in a while.

http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/241/572/6b4.jpg

[Anonymous No.4506216]

The process of abiogenesis is a mystery, so no stats on that are available, but the properties of our Earth that make it suitable for life aren't so extraordinary that they would occur only once in the universe. A rocky planet with some water on it, a good distance from the sun for liquid, a liquid core to generate a magnetic field and hold in an atmosphere, and a big neighbor like Jupiter to prevent frequent meteor impacts.

[Anonymous No.4506246]

To say that we're alone and that we are the pinnacle of existence is a truly selfish claim to make when compared to the vast amount of life on this planet.

There MAY be, but it will be a long time before we know for sure.

[Anonymous No.4506270]

>>4506246
If by "selfish" you mean stupid, then yes.

[Anonymous No.4506271]

>Implying we weren't seeded here by extra-terrestrials

The problem of Abiogenesis has never been answered.

I'm not saying it was Aliens.

But it was Aliens.

[Anonymous No.4506278]

>>4506270

>Stupid

This would be true if you had facts rather than assumptions to back your claim.

[Anonymous No.4506282]

I can't fathom the idea that there couldn';t be another planet like ours, I mean the Universe is extremely vast, there are million stars in our galaxy alone with possible million solar systemas, with millions more in another galaxy, then more galaxies, and it goes on..

[Anonymous No.4506292]

>>4506271
You are just moving the problem up a level because then it just becomes a question of where those aliens came from or how were they created?

[Anonymous No.4506308]

>>4506292

They came from;

[spoiler]God[spoiler]

[Anonymous No.4506316]

>>4506278
Don't need facts when we have probability.
There is no reason to think we're unique.
There are more stars than we can imagine.
If the probability to harbor life is more than 0, it's pretty much guaranteed there are others.
And we exist. So the probability is not 0.
That the probability would be low enough for only us to exist, is almost an impossible coincidence.
It's like throwing a million dices and expecting all of them to fall on the edge. It's possible, but still stupid to believe that's what is going to happen.
Occam's razor.

Anyway, people who believe we're unique don't do it because of an informed opinion but because of religion or closemindedness, so it's still stupid.

[Anonymous No.4506317]

>>4506308
>getting wrong the spoiler tags

[Anonymous No.4506319]

>>4506308
see
>>4506292

replace aliens with God and you will see abiogenesis had to occur at some point

[Anonymous No.4506324]

>>4506316
>Implying that you know the probabilities of life ocurring.
We can't have any certainty if the probability is so small that it can't even happen with all the billions of billions of plaets.

[Anonymous No.4506330]

>>4506316

>Anyway, people who believe we're unique don't do it because of an informed opinion but because of religion or closemindedness

>Paleontologists
>Astrobiologists
>Astronomers
>Geologists

Irony much?

[Anonymous No.4506332]

>>4506319

>Implying God hasn't existed always

[EvolveMe No.4506336]

>>4506167
there's no evidence that we lucked out as you say. - we are the only ones we can compare it too. that whole theory is kind of like pseudoscience that uses assumptions and probability applied to an existential question with evidence on both sides. there will never be evidence for this or reason to believe it. i believe its a pipe dream - kind of like saying reality has 11 dimensions.

[Anonymous No.4506346]

>>4506330

Solution to the Fermi Paradox or Rare Earth Hypotheses is time.

We could be separated by billions of years from the brief window other extra-terrestrial life had existed in. It's like expecting to see a guy shoot an entire round of golf with holes in one multiple times in your own lifetime.

[Anonymous No.4506352]

>>4506336

But the reverse is also true.

[Anonymous No.4506373]

Perhaps sentient life is much rarer than we believe. That the odds are against it's occurrence.

Take that and combine it with the windows of time for us being able to encounter or witness evidence of it also being extremely unlikely, and I think there's a good chance we'll never, ever encounter sentient extra terrestrial life.

[Anonymous No.4506405]

>>4506324
We can't know the exact number but we can have an idea.
We have informations. The mere fact that we exist.
That life is thriving easily on Earth.
That Earth is not that special.
We know the complexity of life's building blocks.
We already know amino-acids can be created spontaneously.
It all comes down to abiogenesis.
When we know how it happens precisely, we'll be able to plug in the numbers.
And I'm pretty sure that the result is going to be high enough.

And all of that is constrained to suppose that life can only exist organically with carbon, at our temperature, ect... Which I don't believe.

Anyway I don't think it really matters.
One sentient life form is enough.

[Anonymous No.4506429]

I believe that if we are the only ones, or if it is a very special case to have life on a planet, then we should respect it for the special and rare gift that it is. Instead of, you know, creating weapons than can extinguish it in the blink of an eye. But I'm a big softie who likes puppies and bunnies and giving hugs to strangers

[Anonymous No.4506465]

>>4506405
We know that we exist just beacause we exist it doesn't mean it's an stupidly low chance, there is no indicator of in which conditions can abiogenesis ocurrs. Therefore we can't conclude if we are or aren't alone and there is actually no meaning on this discussion, why are we discussing about a knowledge with is unaviable by all means to us until we have the numbers.

[Anonymous No.4506489]

>>4506405
>to suppose that life can only exist organically with carbon

That's kind of the definition of organic, but we'll let that slide since it's pretty obvious what you actually mean.

Silicon for example has the possibility to create very similar functional molecules to organic ones, but that chemistry is faced with a very difficult problem given what silicon dioxide is.

[Anonymous No.4506498]

spiderman!