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Just a random question

Seeker567Seeker567 Explorer
edited April 2011 in General Banter
So does anyone believe in aliens?

Comments

  • CloudCloud Veteran
    edited April 2011
    I think it's a stretch to think that in all the vast space we've discovered and all the star systems with planets etc... that there's no life. Life anywhere other than Earth is by definition what you mean by "aliens". So yes, I "believe" there is life elsewhere than just on Earth.

    Do I think we're being visited? No. I think it's possible, given that other solar systems and galaxies are much older than ours and may have given rise to highly advanced (old) sentient beings, such that their technology would allow it.
  • compassionate_warriorcompassionate_warrior Veteran
    My inclination is to say no (re: have we been visited), but I probably lean more towards agnostic on that.
  • ArjquadArjquad Veteran
    Yes there are aliens but we have not been visited
  • PhoenixPhoenix
    As Cloud mentioned, once you get an idea of just how enormous space is, how many billions of stars in our galaxy, multiplied by billions of other galaxies, the likelihood of alien life forms is quite high. There's actually an equation on this that I read in "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan. If you have not read it and are at all interested in Astronomy it is a must.

    Anyway, it's called the Drake Equation. And you can read more about it on this Wikipedia page. It only concerns itself with the Milky Way and of course the estimates are .... well estimates, so you have to keep that in mind. But I think that even if you enter in a margin of error you have to conclude that it's almost impossible for aliens NOT to exist.

    Laugh if you will, but I include this possibility when doing loving-kindness meditation.
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    There is our universe, which has now been found to be not alone. I have heard of two different theories, one suggesting that there are many or infinite universes, and the other which is slightly for complex and I forget the vast details of. Our universe as we know it, is a bubble that is streaming forces and everything else from a far larger system. They findings were that of, damn I have forgotten the name. It is not dark matter, but something dark lol. And it cannot be explained for. Also that gravity as we know it is super weak, for example, if you imagine our entries planets gravity, a little magnet can over throw its force and keep a paper clip from the floor. We appear to be getting a gentle flow of forces via this bubble.
    That being said, there is a hell of a lot of stuff out there, and no doubt there are other life forms. It is just they are probably so far away, it would be impossible for us to each them unless we sent a family off in a spaceship with a self producing food and water system to reproduce for light years
  • PhoenixPhoenix
    ...It is not dark matter, but something dark...
    Are you talking about black holes or anti-matter?
  • katazkataz
    But I think that even if you enter in a margin of error you have to conclude that it's almost impossible for aliens NOT to exist.

    Laugh if you will, but I include this possibility when doing loving-kindness meditation.
    I think you actually have a valid point there. From what I've read about the possibility of life on other planets, it would have to be fairly similar to life on Earth (in terms of having DNA, needing water and energy etc.). Given that, and the vastness of the universe (or universes, if you subscribe to multiverse theory, which does seem promising), I would think that any other lifeforms would probably experience dukha just as we do, or in a similar enough form to warrant wanting them to be freed from it. Indeed, there are probably buddhas of some kind on thousands of planets in thousands of galaxies, teaching similar paths out of suffering.

    Anyway, my point is it is definitely acceptable to include potential extra-galactic life in the loving-kindness meditation.
  • VincenziVincenzi Veteran
    yes, my understanding of the buddhist 31 planes of existances is that most or all rebirths are in other planets.
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    anti matter I think Phoenix
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    So does anyone believe in aliens?
    Do you?
  • DazzleDazzle
    edited April 2011
    So does anyone believe in aliens?
    I don't disbelieve in them - but don't really have a strong opinion one way or the other.

    .
  • aMattaMatt Veteran
    So does anyone believe in aliens?
    Lots of people do.
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    The possibility of there not being other life forms out there is near enough impossible. I have often wondered why people think that being reborn often is specific to this planet, it may well be easy enough to assume that you may be reborn else where in the universe or multiverse or whatever else there is out
  • katazkataz
    it may well be easy enough to assume that you may be reborn else where in the universe or multiverse or whatever else there is out
    Perhaps we can go even so far as saying that some of the realms Buddha spoke of (hell realm, etc.) or the 31 planes of existence may simply be rebirth on other, distant planets, or in other, distant galaxies? (this is pure speculation, so take this cum grano).

  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    I have pondered of this many times, why do people who speak of rebirth for the majority keep it confined to this planet when there is a never ending universe out there...
  • katazkataz
    The trippy thing is, you could take it farther and consider multiple universes. Perhaps you could be reborn as the exact same person in a nearly identical universe, except that some of your negative karma from a previous life has been exhausted so more good happens. Literal galaxies of possibilities open up with multiverse theory.
  • sukhitasukhita
    Reading Buddhist material in general, I get the impression that the world we live in (Earth) is relatively new as compared to the "beginninglessness" of samsara. Maybe, samsara works across the galaxies, or whatever... So, I think there is life forms elsewhere......
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    I have pondered of this many times, why do people who speak of rebirth for the majority keep it confined to this planet when there is a never ending universe out there...
    All religions seem to ignore that this world, and the people on it, aren't the center of the universe that it turns out has a multitude of worlds that must also support life. Of course, many religions were formed when the stars were just interesting lights. And since then, religions that incorporate the possibility of alien life tend to be whacko stories of god-like aliens creating us.

    But along with the knowledge that just about every star we've looked at has planets, making the odds of earth-like planets out there a certainty given the odds, we have one additional point. Someone has to be first. No matter how many races come into being, there has to be a first intelligent lifeform. Maybe we're the first. Maybe it takes a more stable, middle aged universe with a middle aged, recycled star before life can evolve without getting knocked down every million years or so.

    So there remains a tiny bit of uncertainty.
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