Does anyone out there believe that there is anyone out there? As in ET's

[Swede]

I am not convinced in either way.

[Maple]

1. Doesn't matter whether you are

'convinced' or not.

Billions of suns...lotsa planets.

Of course there is. Don't be silly.

[lyrical elf]

2. Though I've seen no evidence either way...

I hope we're not alone, drifting through the expanse of space and time.

[Salviati]

3. As far as I believe,

Is there life elsewhere in the universe? Absolutely.
Is there sentiant life elsewhere in the universe? Almost certainly.
Are there other civilizations as technologically advanced as we are (or more)? Very likely.
Have any of them visited us? Very unlikely.

[RebelOne]

4. Even though I am a sceptic, I cannot discount

the fact that there is other intelligent life in the universe or even beyond our universe

[onehandle]

5. Mathematically impossible that there isn't...

Odds are that there is Intelligent life out there. However, the odds of "visitors" to our planet are slim. Between the near impossibility of faster than light travel and the vastness of space, the odds are poor of anyone coming here.

[acmavm]

6. Of course.

.

[trotsky]

7. Even if earth is literally "one in a million"

that leaves BILLIONS (in my best Carl Sagan voice) of earth-like civilizations out there. Too bad we're all so isolated from each other - it'd be nice to get another species' perspective on the issues that plague the human race.

[Deja Q]

10. But all civilizations would dare to be livin' on the edge...

Space is big.

Very big.

If you thought the drive to the grocery store was long, it's peanuts compared to space.

But as we live on the outer rim, most civilizations living more than a week would have to.

For, as we move closer to the universe, there are more planets, suns, galactic debris, et cetera.

Think of all the meteors, comets, asteroids, et cetera, colliding with each other.

Gravity isn't always our shiny funtime pal.

The liklihood of advanced life as we move inward within our galaxy is not as likely. Or even life, as if an asteroid killed off life 65 million years ago, think of that on a yearly scale, if not more often. We'd be lucky to find a forest and some microscopic single-cell critters eating their own excrement...

Of course, all of this is theoretical. The only way to know for sure is to travel around the galaxy.

But as I'm more likely to have "relations" with a nervous skunk than to traverse the universe, I'll never know. :-( Never know either traversing the universe (which sounds cool), or having relations with a nervous skunk (which I'd rather never, ever do...)

[jonoboy]

8. I think there are billions of occupied planets

God only knows what they think of us though

[Deja Q]

9. It's only a matter of time

Yes. Temporal logic.

The universe is a large place.

There are likely many planets capable of supporting life.

Life forms likely exist.

Even oxymoronic ones like humanity (we're supposedly intelligent, but we're stupid enough to exploit and ruin the planet we're rather trapped on...)

But who said all species exist at the same time? Gene Roddenberry? He may be a liberal with the right ideas for humanity, but the probability of numerous races all having similar technologies and existing all at the same time is remote. Even the Kirk era pointed out (that the other era have not), that not all civilizations progress at the same rate.

I believe all sorts of civilizations exist. But more civilizations may have been born and died thousands of years from now or thousands of years ago.

If an alien species does exist, is intelligent, has found a way to traverse star systems quickly via warp drive or hyperspace or even a very fast banana peel, found their way here in amongst the whole of the universe, and wasn't scared off by our hypocrisy and barbarism, it'd a bloody miracle, especially by the time they reached Earth!!!

Ugh, Boston Public has just been pre-empted by some stupid sports game. If there was intelligent life out there, they wouldn't have allowed this to happen.

[baldguy]

11. If there are no ETs

that would be proof that there is no god.

For me anyway.

=====

I wonder what the consensus in freeperville would be?

[BlueJazz]

12. There might be a LOT less civilizations.....

out there than we have thought.
"Death Stars" have a nasty habit of wiping out all life in a Galaxy.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/gamma/milkyway.html

[toddzilla]

14. of course there is.

typical human self-importance to think we are the only intelligent life in the universe.


http://www.seti-inst.edu/science/drake-bg.html

[Angelus]

13. One would have to wonder....

look at the current administration. Those bastards walk around w/ no heart or soul. Yeah, I believe they are aliens.