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What If We ARE Alone? Discuss Implications if Earth has ONLY Intelligent Life in the Universe
Self | February 8, 2013 | PJ-Comix

Posted on 02/08/2013 8:37:47 AM PST by PJ-Comix

Most people seem to assume that the universe is chock full of intelligent life. But what if we ARE alone in the Universe? So far all SETI searches have shown no evidence of other civilizations out there. If you have devoted your life to searching for intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, you are probably wasting your time.

The more I study about the formation of the earth, the more convinced I am that the earth is pretty much a freak occurrence whose conditions for life or intelligent life exits nowhere else. So what are the theological implications of this? I would be most interested in reading your input.


TOPICS: Theology
KEYWORDS: abiogenesis; earth; historicity; intelligentlife; scientism
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To: cripplecreek

Definitely. But the speed issues will probably get solved in a curve anyway, so somewhere along the lines we’ll be able to navigate the solar system in weeks or days before we get any kind of warp drive. Kind of like how we had to be able to go 700MPH before we could break the speed of sound.


41 posted on 02/08/2013 9:27:24 AM PST by discostu (I recommend a fifth of Jack and a bottle of Prozac)
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To: Cboldt

I think there is probably plenty of life around but next to none with the tech to do radio.

I think dogs are pretty intelligent but they are no where close to doing radio.

the dinosaurs had 300 million years to develope radio and from the fossils, they never even developed simple tools or built buildings.


42 posted on 02/08/2013 9:28:15 AM PST by staytrue
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To: cripplecreek

Hey what force holds an atom together? Why do everything spin, planets, galaxies, etc? How come splitting atoms generate such awesome energy? How come satellites, space shuttle, etc, orbit at over 16,000 MPH? If atoms are mostly empty space, how come we dont fall thru the floor?

I think we have all the energy we need at our fingertips but we are not smart enoug yet to harness it.


43 posted on 02/08/2013 9:29:34 AM PST by USAF80
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To: JimRed

We’re just tiny little specks about the size of Mickey Rooney.


44 posted on 02/08/2013 9:32:06 AM PST by dfwgator
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To: PJ-Comix
Since it would take THOUSANDS of years just to reach the nearest star system, you won't find many volunteers for that settlement mission

Aye, and there's the rub to finding other life, intelligent or not...the sheer distance between Earth and other "potential" Earths, is far too great for us to travel, or even electronically detect other life forms.

Unless some new physical law is discovered, or some technological breakthrough is made--and we're talking about quantum leaps in space propulsion--even if we knew the precise place in which to look, the distances are far too great to either travel. Any such journey would be a one-way trip, with little way to "report back their findings," certainly not to anyone here who would remember them.

45 posted on 02/08/2013 9:33:16 AM PST by Lou L (Health "insurance" is NOT the same as health "care")
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To: Springfield Reformer
Secular evolutionists use the premise that given enough time, life, and eventually intelligent life, will emerge spontaneously from inanimate chaos, an unproven theory at best.

That is a SELF EVIDENT TRUTH. The question at hand is how much time. Perhaps evolution requires a trillion trillion years and god created life. Or maybe it takes a billion or so and evolution is true.

But it is self evident that from the chaos and given a nearly infinite or nearly infinite of time, life will certainly arise.

46 posted on 02/08/2013 9:33:45 AM PST by staytrue
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To: discostu
But the speed issues will probably get solved in a curve anyway, so somewhere along the lines we’ll be able to navigate the solar system in weeks or days before we get any kind of warp drive.

I think the next big leap will be with manufacturing in space. People seem to forget the enormous cost of launch from the surface of earth. Bigger really is better in space but its also harder to launch from the surface. That's why I'm hoping for real success from the companies working toward mining asteroids.
47 posted on 02/08/2013 9:33:55 AM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: PJ-Comix

It may take thousands of years in earth time to go somewhere, but if the occupants are going fast enough, it will only be a few years in their time.


48 posted on 02/08/2013 9:36:20 AM PST by staytrue
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To: PJ-Comix

I believe that we are alone in the universe.


49 posted on 02/08/2013 9:36:24 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: PJ-Comix

Actually, that’s not entirely true. I believe in God.


50 posted on 02/08/2013 9:37:35 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: Cboldt

the shell or cell membrane is a phospholipid bilayer that can occur in nature without life.

The lipid bilayer is a hydrocarbon that floats on water and can form spherical shells when water droplets (rain or splashing water from the ocean) fall on it.


51 posted on 02/08/2013 9:41:18 AM PST by staytrue
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To: PJ-Comix
If we are alone in the universe, or alone in even a small part of it, then it's our job to fill it.
I just hope we can expand our living sphere with an interesting and vibrant culture instead of some uniform totalitarian state.

52 posted on 02/08/2013 9:46:00 AM PST by BitWielder1 (Corporate Profits are better than Government Waste)
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To: PJ-Comix
Hi there. You've managed to attract a horde of science fiction fanboys and, while I'm not that different from them, I did manage to notice that you asked for the theological implications.

The theological implication that immediately comes to mind is that if we are the only intelligent, mortal life living on a planet, then God really does exist and He created us, and only us, in His image.

53 posted on 02/08/2013 9:46:16 AM PST by Bryan
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To: cripplecreek

Building escaped from the gravity well will be huge. Of course building that first dry dock will be a massive undertaking.


54 posted on 02/08/2013 9:47:25 AM PST by discostu (I recommend a fifth of Jack and a bottle of Prozac)
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To: trisham

“I believe in God.”

The is another SELF EVIDENT TRUTH. If you believe in god then god certainly exists.

Your belief will motivate you, change you, and embellish you. AND THEREFORE HE EXISTS.

If you believe the spirit of Elvis lives inside you, then it is a self evident truth that he does live inside you.

It does not mean that god exists for everyone else.

But if you believe, then God does exist in some form or another even if it is only in your head.


55 posted on 02/08/2013 9:47:25 AM PST by staytrue
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To: PJ-Comix
The problem with any of these discussions of intelligent life in the universe is we never define what we mean by the term "intelligent". What we consider to be our intelligence arose in order to exploit the very specific environment we have here on Earth. Other environments that give rise to life -- and we need to define that term too -- may be so radically different that we would not even recognize what develops there as either alive or intelligent.

Consider the science fiction novel Solaris as one example of what this could mean.

56 posted on 02/08/2013 9:47:30 AM PST by PUGACHEV
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To: PJ-Comix
What If We ARE Alone?

Then about half the History Channel's programming would become obsolete. Doing away with pawn shops would make a big dent in what was left.

57 posted on 02/08/2013 9:48:32 AM PST by DoodleDawg
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To: PJ-Comix
I mentioned in other posts before that we are probably ALONE in the universe and got flamed for that "heresy."

No 'heresy' call here; I agree with you 100%. I have ever since I read Ward & Brownlee's book "Rare Earth" in the 90's. And even more since I read G. Gonzalez' book, "Privileged Planet".

If there are life forms in other solar systems, I believe we will never find it out. Warp drive, I believe, will ever evade us, much like time travel; both require exotic matter and enormous amounts of energy.

58 posted on 02/08/2013 9:48:37 AM PST by backwoods-engineer ("Remember: Evil exists because good men don't kill the gov officials committing it." -- K. Hoffmann)
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To: cripplecreek
"Ian Douglas" has written extensively on the idea that maybe we think we're 'alone', because somebody out there wants us to think we're 'alone' ...
59 posted on 02/08/2013 9:52:20 AM PST by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: PJ-Comix

Well, Theologically speaking, it doesn’t matter if we are alone or not. What matters is that God “is.”

Cheers!


60 posted on 02/08/2013 9:54:17 AM PST by DoctorBulldog (Obama sucks. End of story.)
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