Discussions on a ranges of philosophical issues including the nature of truth and reality, personal identity, mind-body theories, epistemology, justification of beliefs, argumentation and logic, philosophy of religion, free will and determinism, etc.
Kerux wrote:Several years ago someone made a calculation about the probablity of how many other potential earths there could be in the universe. I believe it went something like this:
If there is a one in a million probabilty of there being another earth in each of the known galaxies, then there are approximately 100,000 other earths in our universe. Keep in mind, this was several years ago and many other galaxies have been discovered since.
Update:
Since I last look into this much has been discovered: I found this:
THE NUMBERS:
1. Of the 500,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe, 10% are suitable for life in regard to galaxy-cluster density.
This leaves 50,000,000,000 galaxies in which life could occur.
THE NUMBERS:
12. Of the 10 galaxies left in #11, 10% have a suitable dwarf galaxy absorption rate.
This leaves 1 galaxy in which life could occur.
Conclusions
1. It is highly UNlikely that there are any other planets in the universe which have life on them, if the percentages and average chances are taken into consideration. -- Dr. Ross gives more than 300 parameters which would need to be fulfilled for life to exist anywhere in the universe, and he explains that for them to be filled by chance occurrence would be one chance out of 10282.
2. The chance of a life-supporting planet/sun system occurring randomly is so small that it is fully rational to conclude that the existence of our solar system is probably the result of an intelligent designer.
I heard Jay RIchards speak a short while ago and he was asked this question. He was not dogmatic on it. He believed other life on other planets was possible but not necessarily probable.
C.S. Lewis is one who believed in this possibility. His space trilogy was allegorical in that sense but he also conjectured that such life was possible.
I'm not aware of anything scripturally that denies the possibility.
Dogmatism is the comfortable intellectual framework of self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is more decadent than the worst sexual sin. ~ Dan Allender
All efforts to detect life beyond earth have failed so far. The search began with the moon, where astronauts walked during six lunar landings from 1969 through 1972. After it was concluded that the moon was a sterile, lifeless place, the search moved to the other planets and their moons. Viking probes to Mars in 1976 performed experiments designed to detect life, including microscopic organisms, with negative results. Two unmanned Voyager craft whose destinations include Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus—have taken thousands of pictures of the outer solar system. They reveal harsh, nonlivable conditions everywhere (see Question 23 (not currently online—see book)). Searches of deepest space have been carried out by radio telescopes, instruments that are able to beam messages of greeting toward any planets that might be circling distant stars. Radio telescopes also "listen" for any space messages that may be coming in earth's direction. During the past few decades, scientists have searched dozens of nearby stars for intelligible radio signals. The results are once again completely negative. At this point, it appears that life as we know it is unique to planet earth. This conclusion has been very upsetting to evolutionists, who believe that life began spontaneously on earth and that the same thing probably happened elsewhere in the universe.
This conclusion has been very upsetting to evolutionists, who believe that life began spontaneously on earth and that the same thing probably happened elsewhere in the universe.
1. Life discovered in other sectors of the unimaginably vast universe that I believe God created would not prove or disprove evolution, as the question would remain there, as it does here, whether life formed spontaneously verses its creation by God.
2. AIG employs here the logical fallacy that the absence of evidence equals the evidence of absence.
3. Not all evolutionists believe in spontaneous creation. Theistic evolutionists in general do not.
I am not an evolutionist.
Utilizing this type of argument and fallacious argument is not helpful in any interactive debate of conversation, and contributes to the unfortunate characterization of creationists, young and old, as illogical and emotionally based people.
Bart
Dogmatism is the comfortable intellectual framework of self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is more decadent than the worst sexual sin. ~ Dan Allender
Wouldn't it be neat if we were in contact with "aliens" and they confirmed everything about Christianity?
"...You guys didn't know? Dude, it's all totally real. We thought you knew... we would've come sooner to deter your doubt if we had known."
Also, wouldn't it be neat if we were in contact with intelligent life aliens who had a sense of morality just like our own? That would really affirm things for myself on the morality argument for God.
No chance of that... Christ could be the Redeemer for the whole human race because the first sinner was the father of the whole human race, so aliens wouldn't be included in the plan.
But yeah, it's a cool idea.
The Bible says they were "willingly ignorant". In the Greek, this means "be dumb on purpose". (Kent Hovind)
I think it's funny that people believe with all the problems in the world (including wars, nations not trusting each other, spying, treason, ect) that they (all the nations of the world) can stay in agreement about not letting people know about aliens.
People really believe in aliens, but say all proof is been covered up by ALL the leaders of the world.
So no I don't think aliens are real...now bigfoot...thats a different story!
The Christian Life is about relationships, not performance.
Well, I was in a debate with an atheist the other day, and he asked me a question along the lines of, "What would happen to your faith if we found intelligent life on another planet."
I responded something along the lines of, "Well, that would certainly pose some problems for Christianity. The Bible does not mention nor suggest the existence of alien life."
He seemed to think that he won a debate or something...
Then, out of the blue, I asked him, "Now, what if that life where to be Christian?"
Personally, I don't think the whole "Greys/ Reptilians" thing has any substance to it other than cases of Sleep Paralysis. There are records of the Germans having developed "saucer shaped" flying craft during the second world war, and in all honesty, I think that if there are actual genuine "ufo sightings", they're vehicles being developed and kept secret by an aircraft manufacturer. Really; with all the "OMG UFOS AR ALIENS" hype you get about every "alien story", people look in the other direction on their own.
I also know how easy it is to fake a "UFO SIGHTING", because I've done it with my uncle once just for fun. We tied a prop U.F.O. to the end of a pole using a string, and it looked real for the first few seconds until we started "flying" it in front of trees and sounding like total imbeciles.
And technically speaking, God would be an "extraterrestrial" by definition, because he's apparently not from Earth. Alien doesn't sound right, though I guess you could use it. Also, If you've ever read the de-canonized book "Enoch", it would also mention an "alien invasion", more or less because fallen angels are also extraterrestrials by definition. There's a problem with saying this in that it gives the "OMG GREY ALIENS FROM UFOSPACE MAEKED MODURN CIVILIZATIONLOLOL" people a decent bit of self-assurance.
I honestly doubt that the alien/ufo type of conspiracy theorists type of aliens exist, though organic life on other planets does not seem too far fetched to me. At any rate, I doubt that type of... creature has ever dropped by this planet.
If there are aliens they are watching our television and want nothing to do with us.
I can accept the possibility of aliens. The probability of them visiting us is nil considering the incredible distances they would have to travel. That life exists elsewhere in the universe is to me without question. Intelligent or self aware lifeforms? Maybe. It's all conjecture. There is no proof. I cannot imagine however that the wonders of this world could be a singular event. Given the mind boggling expanses of space to me its a given that there is life elsewhere. To assume its humanoid in any respect is ridiculous. Theres no x-files aliens or klingons out there running around. If we were to find intelligent life it would probably be intelligent in the way that a dolphin is. Organised social groups and language development but completely held hostage by the environment it evolved in and unable to build a magic spaceship that travels faster than light and visits other planets but doesnt stop in to say hi.
I believe that aliens could exist, but most likely not. If you read in between the lines of this discussion though you see the question isn't if there are, but rather If there are what does it mean for Christianity? Supposing there is and they aren't Christian, disbelievers will say "told you so" but it won't change anything (such as with the native americans). If they were, it would be neigh impossible to tell, because for all we know of Christianity, it's only the Earth part of it, with no way to compare it to an alien cultures history with what would be "Christianity" because their "Bible" would have completely different things in it. Understand?
