Extraterresterial Life Exists, Scientist Claims

[mrchetsteadman]

Evolution doesn't address the origon of life.

I know but I was making a small point in a much larger one.

[TPreston]

And there isn't evolution or id , in short don't overreach

[mrchetsteadman]

Hurr durr the bible doesn't mention extraterrestrial life. Why would there be such life, when earth is the center of the universe?

I don't like those bible thumping ignorant folks. If they believed God created this Earth, then why all the extra space? For nothing? I believe in God too but come on.

And there isn't evolution or id , in short don't overreach

Okay what? But you still haven't addressed any point besides that one. Are you just disagreeing to do it? Or are you interested in a real conversation?

[@Leo]

I don't like those bible thumping ignorant folks. If they believed God created this Earth, then why all the extra space? For nothing?

Let me give you a hint: when the bible was written, men didn't know about stars, galaxies and universe; they saw light turn to dark and had to explain it somehow.

I believe in God too

[TPreston]

Okay what? But you still haven't addressed any point besides that one. Are you just disagreeing to do it? Or are you interested in a real conversation?

If you wish I didn't want to beat a dead horse.

If one other planet has intelligent life then "look at the stars" isn't so useless

Assuming it wasn't killed off

Every other thing in nature that happens naturally or by accident happens more than once. Anything that happens only once was intentional.

Great so the origin of the universe was intentional, Craig would be impressed by these apologetics. Making sweeping statements about the entire universe based on what little we know is arrogant and bound to fail.

These are stone cold scientific facts. How is it over reaching?

No they are not.

[@Leo]

Also, what should constitute a "proof"? In the infinite space, there are many clusters of galaxies. Let's assume in distant galaxies there are life forms, even advanced life forms. We will never contact them and they will never contact us due to the immense distances. Do we sink our head in the sand and say no extraterrestrial life exists because we haven't seen proof of it? Sounds as ignorant and retarded as "since we are on earth and we see everything change around us, we are in the center of the world". :rolleyes:

[mrchetsteadman]

Let me give you a hint: when the bible was written, men didn't know about stars, galaxies and universe; they saw light turn to dark and had to explain it somehow.

Not everyone that believes in God is a nutcase. I'm pro choice, support gay marriage and have a big ass gun. I believe from what I have experienced, not because my parents told me stories when I was young. In a nutshell, I went from a blood gang member, having my brother murdered on Christmas Eve to moving to Florida making well into the six figures at 27 years old. All after dropping out of high school. Is this common, yes it may be. But when I ran out of options and had nowhere to turn but crime, I asked God for answers and he literally showed me. I can't make it any clearer than that. But you are free to believe what you want. I can't hate you for that. It's just my choice.

If you wish I didn't want to beat a dead horse.

Assuming it wasn't killed off

Great so the origin of the universe was intentional, Craig would be impressed by these apologetics. Making sweeping statements about the entire universe based on what little we know is arrogant and bound to fail.

No they are not.

You haven't answered one single point but I bet you think you did. Take a step back, look at this for what it is and if you were someone else observing this conversation you would agree that what you just did is some ballroom dancing. You are right, we don't know much. But using that fact and saying we are alone is foolish. Just like if I were to say that people don't exist in Arkansas because I've never been there is ignorant and foolish.

Look, it's a game of numbers. With the vastness of the universe it's mathematically impossible for us to be alone. How is it possible to be so near sighted?

But nevermind, you are right. No need to beat a dead horse, we can agree to disagree or you can say you were right. It's fine with me.

[mzta cody]

Belief in a concept so pointless as life on other planets (which I would lay money does not exist) without a shred of any conclusive proof whatsoever is something we thinkers who think outside of the herd prefer to call by an accurate term. Namely: "faith". Be intellectually honest with yourselves. That's what it is.

I will leave it to psychologists to ponder why this concept has so much unwarranted support among ostensibly "scientific" thinkers as some here imagine themselves to be.

[angel1610]

Do you think that if an advance planet would surely take our sytems down or whatever cause where too stupid, yes that's what it is.

Open your eyes and smell the coffe, lots of worlds out there more advance than us the stupid with just the a-bomb, think about it, what else do we have besides being slaves of gouverment ****.

Maybe that happened before..................never know.

Cheers.

Sorry but if they wanted to destroyed us, they would have, np.

[@Leo]

Not everyone that believes in God is a nutcase. I'm pro choice, support gay marriage and have a big ass gun. I believe from what I have experienced, not because my parents told me stories when I was young. In a nutshell, I went from a blood gang member, having my brother murdered on Christmas Eve to moving to Florida making well into the six figures at 27 years old. All after dropping out of high school. Is this common, yes it may be. But when I ran out of options and had nowhere to turn but crime, I asked God for answers and he literally showed me. I can't make it any clearer than that. But you are free to believe what you want. I can't hate you for that. It's just my choice.

People are so self centered, they actually can't take a coincidental sequence of events - they have convinced themselves that when they speak, someone listens. And since he has "showed" them but for example, won't "show" the millions of Africa starving, it probably makes them feel superior. :laugh:

Belief in a concept so pointless as life on other planets (which I would lay money does not exist) without a shred of any conclusive proof whatsoever is something we thinkers who think outside of the herd prefer to call by an accurate term. Namely: "faith". Be intellectually honest with yourselves. That's what it is.

I will leave it to psychologists to ponder why this concept has so much unwarranted support among ostensibly "scientific" thinkers as some here imagine themselves to be.

Conclusive proof is right here on this piece of rock we call Earth.

[mrchetsteadman]

Belief in a concept so pointless as life on other planets (which I would lay money does not exist) without a shred of any conclusive proof whatsoever is something we thinkers who think outside of the herd prefer to call by an accurate term. Namely: "faith". Be intellectually honest with yourselves. That's what it is.

I will leave it to psychologists to ponder why this concept has so much unwarranted support among ostensibly "scientific" thinkers as some here imagine themselves to be.

And why is it pointless? What if I can offer proof? Do you realize that nothing I can say will ever change your mind? There is a TON of evidence out there from NASA scientists and astronauts, to government officials, to independent researchers. What more are you looking for?

[Luc2k]

Alien life, if it exists or not, has no influence (that we know of) on you or humanity. With this in mind, why is it so important for some people to believe in something hypothetical before the data is in?

[mrchetsteadman]

People are so self centered, they actually can't take a coincidental sequence of events - they have convinced themselves that when they speak, someone listens. And since he has "showed" them but for example, won't "show" the millions of Africa starving, it probably makes them feel superior. :laugh:

How is that self-centered tho? We all have our sets of beliefs and they should be respected. Superiority is far from what's at play here and we both know that. Never once have I said I was better than anyone and I will never claim to have all the answers. All I know is what I believe and it works for me. So many people stuck in jobs and lives they hate and I was able to find something that works for me. We all need something to believe in. Why do you think "The Secret" sold so well? All it was is a rewording of the bible verse "Ask and ye shall receive."

[@Leo]

You don't have to say it explicitly. By believing your prayer has been "answered", you inadvertently believe you are better than all those "many people stuck in jobs and lives they hate". :rolleyes:

[mrchetsteadman]

You don't have to say it explicitly. By believing your prayer has been "answered", you inadvertently believe you are better than all those "many people stuck in jobs and lives they hate". :rolleyes:

Well technically I am aren't I? Let me ask you, if I had all the excuses to be dead or in jail and do the opposite then what does that make me? I'm no Mark Zuckerberg but doesn't that make him better than most? If someone went to college, graduated and now works at a job they hate and wish they could change what would you call them? I was moved to 13 different schools, chose to drop out of High School, got my GED 3 weeks later attended college and dropped out of that to build 2 businesses. Never had government assistance except for unemployment for 3 months, travel when and where I want and answer to no one. Most people wish they had that. If I were an atheist, does that make me a good businessman? Or is it my belief in God that makes you think I think I'm better than everyone?

What's the difference between my believing in God, and people that turn to self-affirmation to motivate themselves? I'm asking because I really want to understand your point of view. Have you been around that many religious people that look down on you? I'm not the average believer. I question everything about religion so believe me that my belief didn't come easily. I'm STILL in search. So please, help me out.

[Dot Matrix]

Belief in a concept so pointless as life on other planets (which I would lay money does not exist) without a shred of any conclusive proof whatsoever is something we thinkers who think outside of the herd prefer to call by an accurate term. Namely: "faith". Be intellectually honest with yourselves. That's what it is.

I will leave it to psychologists to ponder why this concept has so much unwarranted support among ostensibly "scientific" thinkers as some here imagine themselves to be.

[Rippleman]

Well technically I am aren't I?

spoken like a true believer, you go girlfriend!

[@Leo]

Well technically I am aren't I? Let me ask you, if I had all the excuses to be dead or in jail and do the opposite then what does that make me? I'm no Mark Zuckerberg but doesn't that make him better than most? If someone went to college, graduated and now works at a job they hate and wish they could change what would you call them? I was moved to 13 different schools, chose to drop out of High School, got my GED 3 weeks later attended college and dropped out of that to build 2 businesses. Never had government assistance except for unemployment for 3 months, travel when and where I want and answer to no one. Most people wish they had that. If I were an atheist, does that make me a good businessman? Or is it my belief in God that makes you think I think I'm better than everyone?

What's the difference between my believing in God, and people that turn to self-affirmation to motivate themselves? I'm asking because I really want to understand your point of view. Have you been around that many religious people that look down on you? I'm not the average believer. I question everything about religion so believe me that my belief didn't come easily. I'm STILL in search. So please, help me out.

It means a plethora of things, included, yes, you being good business man, if you are indeed successful in what you do. Or do you attempt to claim that because you prayed, God succeeded for you? Are you for real? Do you claim that all successful businessmen are True? Believers?? :rolleyes: If so, why are not all those poor Africans or Americans or Europeans or people in general that all pray to your god not successful as well? Either you are "better" than them and your god has chosen you over them, or your imaginary friend does not exist and you made him to feel better/humble with yourself ("can't be I'm that good - I dropped out of school and college - so it must be god").

Regarding self-affirmation, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I do not see, however, how self-affirmation has anything to do with our discussion. Do you believe that if you had no god, you'd have nothing to motivate you? Why is that? Why is your success not reaffirming your qualities and thus motivating you to achieve more? I am not familiar with what you do, but you say you are good at it, and I "believe" you. If so, I find it puzzling why people do not see qualities in themselves, but instead attribute their success to this god or another. As a side-note, do you also attribute your "failings" to your god? Do you attribute your school moving and dropping out to him? Or do you take the "blame"? If this is the case, I "believe" you have been indoctrinated like most religious folk - bad things are one's fault but good things are god's doing; "god works in mysterious ways" and so on.

I live in Israel, so as you can imagine I meet many religious people. Let's just say that the "looking down on" has been mutual. They have their beliefs and look down upon me, and they have their beliefs so I look down upon them. :laugh:

[*RedBull*]

Sure there's a strong possibility of life on other planets other than our own. More likely well beyond our capabilities to travel. Like many of our Sci-Fi movies portray this life may be predatory in nature. Do we really need to find such? Then again, who's to say that asteroid didn't come from a different dimension? In this dimension we are the only life in the universe, but in other dimensions there are multiple life forms across universes.

[mudslag]

From a poster on Reddit

I was excited, but from reading the paper, and doing a little research, I'm flagging.

Reasons to be skeptical:

1) [N.C. Wickramasinghe](http://en.wikipedia...._Wickramasinghe), one of the authors of the paper, has been "finding" fossilised life in meteorites for years. He's regarded as a fringe scientist, and allies himself with many rather bullish personalities. He claims that the universe was intelligently designed, and has argued on the side of a type of creationism. He claims that fossil finds of the near-bird dinosaur Archeopterix are frauds.

2) The paper is full of references to other scientific papers, as it should be. But Wickramasinghe was personally involved in almost every one.

3) This paper was published in a [journal with a checkered history](http://en.wikipedia....al_of_Cosmology), run by another bullish man known to run his mouth off when questioned. He's also a long-time fan of Wickramasinghe.

4) The paper refers to an incident of "[Red Rain](http://en.wikipedia...._rain_in_Kerala)", a weather phenomenon that has occurred infrequently over the last decade in that area of the world. It is caused by algae spores suspended in water vapor. Initially, the Indian Centre For Earth Science Studies posited an extra-terrestrial origin (a cometary burst) for the spores, but when ground-investigations were carried out, it was found to be a common species of Algae the grew extensively in the area. Wickramsighe et al appear to have ignored this result.

5) The type of Algae found in Red Rain is **[photosynthetic](http://en.wikipedia....cal_composition)**, and so, deprived of light, would have died in the heart of the meteorite/comet.

6) The paper quite confidently states:

> "At the time of entry into the Earth?s atmosphere on 29 December 2012, the parent body of the Polonnaruwa meteorite would have had most of its interior porous volume filled with water, volatile organics and possibly viable living cells."

Without any explanation of how that could have been inferred, or how it would even be possible in the frigid depths of space.

7) The overall tone of the paper is less investigative than it is persuasive and dismissive. The final sentence neatly sums up the unscientific attitude of the authors:

> The universe, not humans, must have the final say to declare what the world is really like.

This whole thing is turning into an embarrassing disappointment. But with peer-review, and other institutions' investigations, perhaps it's true.

Who is more likely to find life in a meteorite than someone who has been searching for it for his entire life?

...A double-edged sword if ever I saw one.

The Journal of Cosmology doesn't have the best reputation.

[Hum]

I don't like those bible thumping ignorant folks. If they believed God created this Earth, then why all the extra space? For nothing? I believe in God too but come on.

I think Leo meant that as a little sarcastic/humorous. ;)

[Colin McGregor]

Anyone that doesn't believe in aliens obviously hasn't seen megan fox's toe thumb