How likely is it that aliens exist?

[Eddie Riggs]

Title

 

[YWNBAM]

I remember reading about scietists confirming a high chance of alien life form existing on one of the Jupiter's moons. They are germs though, or something.

 

[Calandrino]

It's either 0% or 100%, not sure

 

[ibeatmywife]

 

[Battlefield2142EU]

It's either 0% or 100%, not sure

100% mean the history channel was right. 0% means Aleister Crowley was right and the history channel is wrong. Which is scarier?

 

[Yamaha YM2612]

0%

They're just demons/nephilim/fallen angels

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

2:1 against.

Source: My ass.

 

[Merton J. Dingle]

Extremely likely, including species that fill a cognitive niche like humans, if only because of how many damn stars/planets there are, along with the laws of physics being constant throughout the universe. The problem that always seems to pop up in discussions on this subject is that people can't get away from the notion that there is something almost supernatural about life and have a hard time thinking of living things as being part of a natural process that could occur elsewhere under the right conditions. Regardless of whether I'm correct about a species that independently evolved to fill the cognitive niche, it's unlikely that we will encounter them given that stars and planets have formed at different times, meaning that said organisms might develop and then go extinct tens, if not hundreds, of millions of years before we ever encounter them; it could also be that there will be other species of the cognitive niche that will evolve once we're gone.

Another issue stopping species from the cognitive niche from interacting (assuming that two different species exist at the same time) is how damn inconvenient that space travel is. You have the vast distances between stars that would take literal years to reach even traveling at the speed of light, and you have the effects of relativity making it difficult if not impossible in many circumstances to coordinate with people on the home world.

 

[Tate McRae]

It's clear that our planet was literally "seeded" with life from somewhere else (panspermia), so I'm guessing that intelligent life in the universe (besides us humans) is 100% likely.

 

[NoBueno]

100% mean the history channel was right. 0% means Aleister Crowley was right and the history channel is wrong. Which is scarier?
View attachment 7605696

 

[Nick Gars]

If what we know about the size and scope of the Universe is true, it is statisically impossible for aliens to not exist.

I feel "are they advanced enough to ever make contact" is the better question.

 

[Sake Ojone]

If what we know about the size and scope of the Universe is true, it is statisically impossible for aliens to not exist.

I feel "are they advanced enough to ever make contact" is the better question.

also, are they close enough to us to make contact, because everything outside of our local group will eventually drift away from us faster than any method of travel any species could achieve

 

[Dysnomia]

Very likely if you're talking about simple organisms, but if you're talking about sapient aliens that have the same cognitive capabilities as us, then definitely extremely unlikely.

We usually tend to think of those types of aliens as highly advanced. But what if the closest sapient species hasn't even invented the wheel yet? Or whatever their equivalent would be. That's why they haven't contacted us. They are still trying to figure out how to roll stuff up a hill effectively.

If what we know about the size and scope of the Universe is true, it is statisically impossible for aliens to not exist.

I feel "are they advanced enough to ever make contact" is the better question.

That's my point. We're obviously trying. But maybe we're just shouting into a void of space Flintstones.

 

[ChefBourgeoisie]

110% likely that aliens exist. Universe is far too large for it to only be humans and Earth-life. Hard to say how likely it is that human-like intelligence exists elsewhere, but even if ours was a fluke, still a big universe and enough room for more flukes.

It is nearly 0% likely that Earth has ever been visited by aliens. If intelligent alien life were to pop up just say 8-10 light years away max (not many places that close), and if they got through their great filter, they could maybe visit or send an uncrewed probe. Depending on their psychology, they might do so without announcing themselves. But this is one-in-a-trillion, and I doubt they'd ever send a followup. The other possibility is that some extrasolar asteroid once passed through our system with some not-quite-frozen-solid microbes.

Neither of those is all that likely.

 

[Fascist Frederick]

I've always thought the answer to the Fermi paradox is that FTL travel is impossible. There could be a civilization out there, 3 galaxies over, that had a billion year head start on us, and it doesn't matter.

 

[Most Wanted Banana]

They exist, I've seen them with my very own eyes. Here's undeniable evidence of their existence:

Spoiler: There's no way back...

 

[Lemmingwiser]

just remember that human society meeting alien society will never be a good thing. They're either retarded, or we are.

 

[Taser Confetti]

Almost certainly - the odds of it being little grey men that crash land in New Mexico or abduct and cornhole schizos is almost zero.

 

[The Secret Sauce]

It'll be fucking zero if I have any say in the matter. Kill spaceniggers, chuck a spacenigger child into a black hole, etc.

 

[grump]

My pet solution to the Fermi Paradox is that once a civilization reaches a certain stage it tends to be overtaken by libtardation and the suicidal tendencies that come with it and implode.