While browsing Facebook I saw an interesting article from "I Firetrucking Love Science," about the general scientific consensus from NASA, on the topic of finding extraterrestrial life. The technologies and projects they are developing (new satellites designed specifically for finding water on other planets, for instance), combined with the increasingly growing list of potentially life-sustaining exoplanets, makes them confident that they will find signs of life in the next 20 years or so.

 

http://www.iflscience.com/space/nasa-believes-newest-telescopes-could-spot-extraterrestrial-life-within-20-years

 

What do you guys think? Are we alone in the Universe? Will we see signs of alien life within our lifetime? Are NASA too optimistic with their predictions? Have aliens already visited us?

I don't think we're alone in the universe since all the anal probing stories I've heard from abductees are pretty believable. 

I'm pretty damn sure NASA has already confirmed life existing on other planets [or at least, really darn close to it]

I would not be surprised if Aliens have already visited us...

You'll never find me

I personally think that we aren't alone in this Universe, because if God created the entire universe, he can't have made Earth to be the only planet with life on it. (For those who don't believe in God, view it from the Big Bang Theory.)  The universe is vast, expansive and uncharted, and I seriously doubt we are the only planet with life. Maybe there are races that are lightyears  technologically advanced, or maybe there's more primitive species and whatnot.  I'm pretty sure aliens have been here to Earth.  I mean, why do they keep stuff at Area 51 so secret?  If there weren't any aliens, then certainly there wouldn't be the need for so much secrecy.  But yeah, in general, I don't think we are alone.

I always wondered why we're here on this planet. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one?

 

And suppose there are other worlds then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?

 

That's why we need to go out there and find out. Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff, so let's go.

Ironic that this thread comes up when this has been a common topic in my Astronomy class. I definitely think that it's possible that we'll find extraterrestrial life. In fact, my Astronomy professor has mentioned multiple times that he thinks that there could be life in our very own solar system (Jupiter's moon Europa is basically a giant ocean frozen under a ton of ice. It's quite possible that there's something living down there).

I personally think that we aren't alone in this Universe, because if God created the entire universe, he can't have made Earth to be the only planet with life on it. (For those who don't believe in God, view it from the Big Bang Theory.)  The universe is vast, expansive and uncharted, and I seriously doubt we are the only planet with life. Maybe there are races that are lightyears  technologically advanced, or maybe there's more primitive species and whatnot.  I'm pretty sure aliens have been here to Earth.  I mean, why do they keep stuff at Area 51 so secret?  If there weren't any aliens, then certainly there wouldn't be the need for so much secrecy.  But yeah, in general, I don't think we are alone.

 

That's what I thought while I believed in God. One thing I thought back then was "if other life exists, will God let us meet them?"

 

Since we are inclined to be violent, would God let us meet the rest of his Creation and let us destroy that as well as own world? Hopefully we prevent the destruction of our own planet and evolve to be a more peaceful species so that we could explore "God's Creation". The biblical Eden could be the rest of the Universe and until humanity unites and stop our violent ways, we may not be able to see everything God created. God might not like war/violence, and he might not want us meeting other sentient life until we are ready to live peacefully.

Edited July 19, 201411 yr by atheist123

I believe that we are not the only planet that has life on it. I won't be surprised if we can get to other planets in the milky way 20 years from now.

Edited July 19, 201411 yr by Zeldablade7

I believe we will.

I always wondered why we're here on this planet. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?That's why we need to go out there and find out. Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff, so let's go.

YAAAAASSSSSSS

Area 51 enough said

If there are other alien beings out there, I'm 100% certain we won't find any that are sentient in the next 20 years. At least, by our standards.

I believe we already have, unless you believe weather balloons move faster then the speed of sound. But.... 

I believe that we are not the only planet that has life on it. I won't be surprised if we can get to other planets in the milky way 20 years from now.

Well, the problem with that is how far apart stars are. There's a massive distance from out solar system to others, and our spacecraft can't really travel that far. Not to mention that it would take time to develop radio systems that can communicate with objects that far out into space (Not sure if those exist already or not since I'm not too knowledgeable in that field).

Well, the problem with that is how far apart stars are. There's a massive distance from out solar system to others, and our spacecraft can't really travel that far. Not to mention that it would take time to develop radio systems that can communicate with objects that far out into space (Not sure if those exist already or not since I'm not too knowledgeable in that field).

Maybe they can send space probes to other planets so we can see the planet. They have already done that on certain planets in our solar system especially mars. 

I think there's definitely other life out there. The universe is so massive that it just doesn't make sense for us to be the only sentient creatures in existence (and for the scientific part of that there's the Drake equation, which guarantees there's life out there, and lots of it) I don't really know about finding alien life in the next 20 years. Depending on how technologically advanced it is there are two possibilities - 1) they already found it and are keeping it secret or 2) they're gonna find it and not tell us because if there's some super intelligent alien out there with ultra fast spaceships and laser beams it's going to cause mass hysteria. I think they'd only tell us if they found some very, very new species who wouldn't be able to develop space travel technologies for an extremely long time. But who knows, maybe I'm just paranoid and they'd tell us immediately if they found something. I think it's kind of cool to imagine other life, but if it can get to earth it can probably kill us too, so that's a bit of a downside.

It's definitely a lot more realistic than the idea of god imo

I think there's definitely other life out there. The universe is so massive that it just doesn't make sense for us to be the only sentient creatures in existence (and for the scientific part of that there's the Drake equation, which guarantees there's life out there, and lots of it) I don't really know about finding alien life in the next 20 years. Depending on how technologically advanced it is there are two possibilities - 1) they already found it and are keeping it secret or 2) they're gonna find it and not tell us because if there's some super intelligent alien out there with ultra fast spaceships and laser beams it's going to cause mass hysteria. I think they'd only tell us if they found some very, very new species who wouldn't be able to develop space travel technologies for an extremely long time. But who knows, maybe I'm just paranoid and they'd tell us immediately if they found something. I think it's kind of cool to imagine other life, but if it can get to earth it can probably kill us too, so that's a bit of a downside.

what if we found them and they were like giant dildos with brains

It's definitely a lot more realistic than the idea of god imo

what if we found them and they were like giant dildos with brains

I'm pretty sure NASA would agree that they never saw anything and they would never speak of it again

There has to be SOMETHING out there... There`s other planets similar to earth... So surely there must be even a damn plant! There is other life.

In AP Biology, we made these things called coacervates which are basically the cytoplasm of the cell held together by a fluid which is filled with hydrophobic particles. 

That interaction was one of the first steps of the life on earth forming. I am pretty sure that if we can make this in a high school lab, myriads of planets have some form of life or at least coacervates (pre-life) on their planets. 

If we do find any in the next 20 years, I doubt they would be developed beyond cellular forms.

I don't think we'll find sentient beings, and I doubt we've been visited by any.

Fact. There used to be water on the surface of mars long ago.