Why I Believe We Are Not Alone In The Universe – Intelligent Discussion

Yeah, after seeing the UFO sighting over Dallas in the early 1950’s, I’m a believer. I may not buy everything that I hear from others mind you, but I do have an open mind and do not criticize, regardless of how out there a few of their stories may be. This is why I want to hear what the membership believes.

After correcting an initial problem with the lens, when the Hubble Space Telescope was first launched in 1990, the floating astro-observatory began to relay back to Earth, incredible snapshots of the 'final frontier' it was perusing. Recently, astronauts voted on the top photographs taken by Hubble, in its 16-year journey so far.

Remarking in the article from the Daily Mail, reporter Michael Hanlon says the photos 'illustrate that our universe is not only deeply strange, but also almost impossibly beautiful.

I simply cannot believe that in all these millions of stars, galaxies and planets, that we are the only ones. And to quote Taylor from the original Planet Of The Apes.....

”There Has To Be Something Better Than Man, Has To Be!”

Here are the scientist’s Hubble Telescope's TOP TEN greatest space photographs listed from #1 to #10.

NUMBER ONE

The Sombrero Galaxy - 28 million light years from Earth was voted the best picture taken by the Hubble telescope. The dimensions of the galaxy, officially called M104, are as spectacular as its appearance. It has 800 billion suns and is 50,000 light years across.



NUMBER TWO

The Ant Nebula, a cloud of dust and gas whose technical name is Mz3, resembles an ant when observed using ground-based telescopes. The nebula lies within our galaxy between 3,000 and 6,000 light years from Earth.



NUMBER THREE

In third place is Nebula NGC 2392, called Eskimo because it looks like a face surrounded by a furry hood. The hood is, in fact, a ring of comet-shaped objects flying away from a dying star. Eskimo is 5,000 light years from Earth.



NUMBER FOUR

At four is the Cat's Eye Nebula.



NUMBER FIVE

The Hourglass Nebula, 8,000 light years away, has a pinched-in-the-middle look because the winds that shape it are weaker at the center.



NUMBER SIX

In sixth place is the Cone Nebula. The part pictured here is 2.5 light years in length (the equivalent of 23 million return trips to the Moon).



NUMBER SEVEN

The Perfect Storm, a small region in the Swan Nebula, 5,500 light years away, described as a bubbly ocean of hydrogen and small amounts of oxygen, sulphur and other elements.



NUMBER EIGHT

Starry Night, so named because it reminded astronomers of the Van Gogh painting. It is a halo of light around a star in the Milky Way.



NUMBER NINE

The glowering eyes from 114 million light years away are the swirling cores of two merging galaxies called NGC 2207 and IC 2163 in the distant Canis Major constellation.



NUMBER TEN

The Trifid Nebula. A 'stellar nursery', 9,000 light years from here, it is where new stars are being born.



Thanks for your intelligent contributions. Again, depending on the quality of posts, we MIGHT put some of the best ones on a future ATS MIX Show.

Thanks everyone.

Dave

This IS a SCIENTIFIC THREAD. No posts about RELIGION please.

This is NOT A DEBATE – Just Your THOUGHTS & OPINIONS Please!

NO FLAME ZONE

[edit on 10/20/2008 by Dave Rabbit]

Great thread idea, Dave.

The images you have posted from the Hubble are some of the most striking images the human race has ever laid eyes upon.

They are truly haunting.

Anyway, on with the topic in hand.

Here's my opinion on why we aren't alone in the galaxy...

It's short and to the point.

There have been too many sightings of unexplainable things by too many reliable people. This in itself suggests to me that there are other 'beings' for want of a better word out there.

To think that we are the only planet that has life is ridiculous and arrogant.

We are here so the odds are that others are too.

Short and simple.

Just like me.

Peace,

MGGG

Amazing photos.

I simply believe - whether the Universe is 'infinite' or not - that its so damn big there must be other life.
I also reckon theres a lot of intelligent life, a lot of unintelligent life, and probably less idiots out there in the whole cosmos than there is on this one little microscopic speck on the microscopic speck on the microscopic speck that is this galaxy...

Hi Dave. I really enjoyed your lasdt thread about your thoughts on religion and expect this one to be the same. Anyway, my thoughts on whether we are alone or not are as follows.



My personal believe is that are not alone. The vastness and scope of the universe being what it is; I can't fathom that we are a truly unique occurence within it. As the technology behind space based telescopes improves and we, hopefully, deploy more and more of them, I think we will come to discover that there are, in fact, many planets similiar to Earth. We'll learn the age of these planets and hopefully, some will be old enough to theoretically hold life.

I also think that we have to think outside of our own reality when it comes to life forms. Because we are a carbon based life form and require what we require to live doesn't preclude other types of life. They may be based on other elements that to us would be toxic. I know that we don't have any evidence to this end but that doesn't mean it isn't possible. The greater our understanding of our own world, the more oppurtunity to study other worlds, even if it is from afar. Out of the box thinkers have been responsible for many inventions that until that "Eureka" moment, were thought impossibilities.

Will we ever truly know if we are not alone? To me the answer is simple: Yes. It may not be in my lifetime but I believe that a definitive answer will be known in the future. I don't know if it will come from some Government, that after the proper conditioning, announces that we have made first contact. Or maybe it will be through undeniable proof aquired by intrepid researches such as some of the amazing guests you and Johhny, who is also one of those aforementioned intrepid folks, have interviewed on your show. I have my doubts that it will be an event such as the one predicted for the near future by some members here. The mass hysteria and panic that would ensue wouldn't be good for us as a species and the source of such claims is, to put it politely, a little suspect.

Great idea Dave and I'm looking forward to reading some replies to this topic. The people here fascinate me in their intelligent and informed responses to the crazy subjects that get covered here.

I believe that we are not the only intelligent life let alone just life. Life of someform i would think will certainly exist somewhere. We are all made up of atoms surely they have created life elsewhere. I will think this unless prove otherwise. I am very open mided an acept all possibilities unless proven incorrect. As this is a scientific Thread i but not religious i am not sure if to mention this or not, but as Issac Newton was a Scientist i will. He discovered gravity, yes. He also studied Philosophy. One of the most famous tranlations of the Tablet of Hermes was made by Him. Maybe he solved the riddle - he did make a lot of discoveries to which we owe him -still current scientific and mathematical laws.

www.alchemylab.com...'s%20Translation%20of%20the%20Emerald%20Tablet

reply to post by Dave Rabbit


Heres what i think, There are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on earth, and if you draw a dot on a peice of paper, there are more atoms in than dot than tress on earth.

That there alone makes me belive.

Will "they" get here? have they been here? are they here? have some of us been there?.......I dont know.

But ill tell you this if they are much like humans, and they get here first we look screwd?

Take 1066 or any old'n day..great ships saling the globe discovering the planet/universe...............been at sea/space for months/years.

land on a tropical island full or life..........But guess what "we got muskits you got spears"

I hope there not much like us in that way.


But the hot chick looking one likes me i hope .or do i

[edit on 5-10-2008 by N.B.A.Y.S.O.H]

Great thread Dave.

here are my thoughts

I believe that we are not alone. To believe that we are the only live beings in the universe is incredibly arrogant. But i also beleve that if other races exist that are hundreds, thousands or even millions of years in advance of our own we may not even be able to recognise them as intelligent life forms. They could be passing directly past us right now but we would never know.

It wasnt until quite recent in our history that we started to look under rocks and realise that colored slime etc.... are actually bacteria and not a simple chemical reaction which was happening.

We've now discovered extremophiles who have set up a home in the most inhospitable places on the planet, places that could easily kill us.

I think that we are being watched with interest just like children watching an ant colony. They are watching us with interest waiting for us to grow up, waiting for us to stop hurting each other.

I also believe that they are concerned about us and the way that we are destroying out planet and i dont believe that they will intervene to prevent us wiping each other out... afterall, why would they care im sure that there are many more interesting civilisations to observe.

I honestly don't see how there could be a debate on whether we are alone in the Universe... Especially when you look at those pictures.
It is staggering to thing how absolutely insignificant we are in relation to the Universe.

To believe that there are no other intelligent life forms, even in this galaxy, is in my opinion, absolutely ignorant. Unfortunately, we just need some definitive proof to put our minds at ease over it.

I believe Carl Sagan once said 'in the "billions and billions'' of galaxies and planets the likelihood of other life is certain'. Or something to that effect.

Both our Apollo and Shuttle astronauts have reported unexplained phenomenon.

The reports of mass sightings by reputable sources.

My own few personal experiences. Stationary orbs, then zipping away at high speed. I used to spend alot of time outdoors with my telescope. A true sky junkie at heart. The capper was in 2004. Minding my own business smoking a cig in the backyard at 10:30 pm waiting for an ISS flyover. This monster craft came up over Lake Erie nearly due south. Football field long. It was huge. It passed overhead at moderate speed, maybe 400 mph and was totally cloaked in a yellow haze. Except for what appeared to be a very bright white illumination at the core. I'd guesstimate it was about 1000 ft. altitude. Made a lazy turn toward I480 and continued SSE. I needed another smoke after that. And a short check.
One more thing, it was 'completely' silent.

I was also hoping they did not mistake me for a cow, as I don't look good naked anymore lol.





[edit on 10/5/2008 by jpm1602]

I have been fortunate enough four times in my 50 years to have witnessed a phenomenon that was utterly unexplainable as being a human-created or naturally-occurring object. I didn't say extraterrestrial, as I think it's possible that an intelligent species different from us evolved on the Earth far before we did -- perhaps in the depths of the ocean, or maybe even subterranean. What if that were the reason for some entities not communicating directly with us surface-dwellers? What a timeless secret, if so. Intradimensional? Possibly. I didn't say UFO, as one of the events was as a child, where myself, a friend and my parents witnessed a craft on the ground.

Thinking in terms of a physics time dialation wave, if we survive as a species, then some time in the future we might likely exhibit physical traits far different than we have now. We might be our own ETs.

I liked the line in the movie Contact, spoken by the visage of Ellie's father to her "I don't know, Sparks. But I guess I'd say if it is just us [in the universe]... seems like an awful waste of space." This rings true to me -- sheer probability alone indicates the existance of other, older intelligent civilizations.

and..... finally, throughout recorded human history, there have been a myriad of sightings, reports and depictions of [presumed] otherworldy entities and craft that, as a whole constitute, in my opinion, a wealth of evidence that cannot all be explained by hoax, misinterpretation or cultural icons. The efforts of some governments to discredit UFO witnesses/reports strongly infers there is something there to hide.

What will ..... finally constitute proof for us, particularly in this age of advanced human techology? A personal experience, subjective, close up and eyes wide open.

Good thread, as always

I always find it highly illogical when people will fight tooth and claw that we are the only sentient beings in a universe as expanse as this. Holding on to Occums razor for dear life slashing at others who do believe the mathematical probability for life other than us is not only probable but expected.

Originally posted by Dave Rabbit

And to quote Taylor from the original Planet Of The Apes.....

”There Has To Be Something Better Than Man, Has To Be!”

Funny and oh so true Dave

The reasons why I believe that we are not alone in this universe is that we are a quit young planet in an immensely big universe.

There must be hundreds or thousands of planets with life, and like seagull already said life is adaptable and we don't even know how many possibilities there are except for carbon based life.

And indeed there must be a few species out there that are mentally on a different level than we and that is probably why we will never see them

Another reason is one that makes me know instead of believe is that I have seen something as a kid that couldn't possibly come from this earth because of it's size and shape.

Grey Magic