Not true at all - See like Luci elucidated, A habitable zone exists around every star where the distance of the planet from the star is neither too less or too much - just right. And Luci's correct about the gravitational field of Jupiter primarily having had a major role in cementing the orbits of terrestrial planets like Earth and Mars. But this habitable zone is not THE ONLY region in the system that could generate life - its the region with THE HIGHEST PROBABILITY of developing life.

Now when I said that there are so many other stars out there between 6-9 billion years old, I was obviously comparing the sun to similar-sized stars only. Cos we all know that stars much larger than the sun end up as Red Giants and then go supernova pretty fast in their life cycles.

Secondly, how do you know that the exact same conditions like Earth will be needed for life elsewhere?? What if life on another world is not carbon-based like on Earth? What if it is Silicon-based? or Iron-based?? How do we even define the standard that all life possible in the universe must follow?? WE only have ourselves as a reference point - and hence we see numerous HUMANOID species shown in popular science fiction. But life can be everything from clusters of green goo to 9-feet tall creatures with three heads and two tails!! We don't know and we do not have sufficient data to even begin to extrapolate -- all we can do is conjecture!!

Again as Luci said, survival instinct and intelligence would be necessities in any form of life to evolve and develop - these are natural processes, much like laws of physics that are universal. Hence, evolved societies could be anything from barbarian cultures like the Klingons to united collectives like the Borg. These are only examples - but they serve to show a possible spectrum of civilizations that can exist. And yes society, religion, government --- these concepts (maybe not exactly like the earthly versions) would exist.

Exactly. I'm taking that into consideration, that our typical zone has the highest probability of having life forms. Putting that into consideration, the chances of life forms slims down to a significant ratio compared to what you had earlier. That was the primary point I was trying to make.



That decreases the chances even more. If there are older stars than the Sun which are larger than the sun, they have definitely went supernova already, meaning life was blown off if it even existed at all in the first place.



Of course, all of Science is making theories and conjectures. As your referencing to the same aspect, I say it again: Our view point of life is extremely limited and small, compared to the size of the universe. However, it is more likely to go with what the see and understand first, rather than jump to the supernatural conclusions.



I'm not saying that they cannot exist outside the Earth at all, but that the variety would vary largely if civilization existed at all outside Earth.

But no you are getting what I said about having the barest minimum of reference points for a suitable extrapolation. We only have Earth to compare with (which is why the whole concept of the habitable zone developed) -- Earth with its carbon-based life-forms that arised out of replicating nucleotide entities that were abiogenetically derived. What about other systems?? We do not have any clue of what forms of life may exist --- Its know for a fact that microbial life can survive in severely extreme temperatures - how do we then assume that no other possible form of life could have adapted to such non-habitable zone conditions?? The habitable zone makes t easy for life to develop but its NOT THE ONLY REGION where life could develop. We cannot say for certain since we cannot extrapolate. We can only conjecture based on the life we see on Earth.



who's talking of stars larger than the sun?? They will one day grow into supernovas and explode. But that is not to say they cannot harbor life. And if a star has a lifetime of say even 6 billion years - and if life does develop - I think a civilization will evolve and develop enough to become space-faring and know that the parent star will self-destruct. They wouldn;t be stupid enough to keep sitting pretty on their home-world knowing that it will be destroyed -- Obviously they will leave their system well in advance and establish new colonies. But I digress. There are trillions of stars out there that are the sun's age and size --- Even if 10% of these harbor life, thats like a billion civilizations or more.



There is nothing supernatural about possible extra-terrestrial life. There was a time when men believed that the world was flat and I trust many would have told dissenters to believe what you see and not jump to conclusions that cannot be proven yet. But some did believe the Earth was round and guess what - Bingo! The universe is vast and obviously we aren't alone and there IS extra-terrestrial life. And Science is theory and Conjecture at the first stage - but you also have extrapolation and proof next. Without these 2, I'd bet even Vampires and Magic is real.



Yup obviously. However, the logic behind all the things Luci mentioned stands. From Chaos to order. Thats how any society progresses and en route hitches a ride at all of these stops -- Government, Religion etc.

I believe there are aliens. There has to be one other planet that has life on it. We can't be the only one.

I guess it's possible. Although I doubt it, going from what the Bible says anyway.

If you go by the Bible then I suggest you stop going to School - because, next thing you know you'll be learning that Man came from Adam and Eve and the Stars and Planets have nothing to do with Gravity but with God --- all of which is incredibly ridiculous. You believe in the Bible - fair enough its your faith - but in the real world and in today's day and age, open your eyes and embrace Science and Logic.

i believe science and religion shouldn't be combined. it just causes problems in my opinion. you get arguements about how organisms got here and if there is alien life.

That's another thread to open about. Don't squish it into this one, as the subject you're speaking of is much more broader in the sense of science and religion.

I'll be replying back to you, Slip, later.

It's kinda obvious Sunjo was just trying to get 10 posts so he could post his forum/site. But das kewl cuz he followed the rules.

If there are other living, advanced organisms in different galaxies, they better have jetpacks by now. They can work on long-range space travel, too, so we could meet up or something, but jetpacks are a priority here.


Last Edit: Feb 7, 2007 1:41:10 GMT by Ess Ohh