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SiNai · 11-23-2004, 10:05 AM

I was JUST heading off to google to find the Drake Equation, or at least the version Carl Sagan had in Cosmos.. doh..

Anyway, I subscribe to the scientific approach given by this equation, and as Giant Hamburger said, the problem now is.. what values do we assign the variables?

Life on the planet Earth could easily be wiped out if our orbit was moved even a miniscule amount towards or away from the sun. Now, perhaps life on Earth could exist if it's orbit was a little closer/further from the sun (Given the chain reaction that produced all our pretty water and carbon still happened), but obviously it would be quite a bit different from what it is today. Species of animals would evolve differently, different ones would die out instead of others, etc. If every planet that can harbor life needs such an intricate balance of organic substance and distance from it's star (as in, basically an exact replica of the Earth, or any Earth based on organic compounds), then it follows that the amount of planets harboring life in the rest of the universe is very small. What I'm trying to say is, what is it that life definitely needs? A star that is in the same period of life as our own?A moon to regulate tides? Does life need heat? Does life need a certain proportion of organic compounds? Maybe, maybe not. Are viruses alive? What if there's a planet of super-intelligent virus-like things swimming around in some primordial goo playing lazer-tag (I'm at a loss on imagination here..)? What we know of life we only know given life that has evolved on Earth. Given different circumstances, there could be entirely different things out there. Not the difference between humans and wookies, but life forms that we cannot even fathom, since we simply do not know the possibilities yet.

Any number of intelligent life forms are possible in my mind. There is simply too little known about the universe at this point in time to say, but even if you fidget around with the numbers, given any number of stars, I think scientific evidence is strongly supportive of life on other planets, possibly even in the galaxy.

11-23-2004, 10:05 AM	#46 (permalink)
SiNai Dreams In Digital Location: Iowa	I was JUST heading off to google to find the Drake Equation, or at least the version Carl Sagan had in Cosmos.. doh.. Anyway, I subscribe to the scientific approach given by this equation, and as Giant Hamburger said, the problem now is.. what values do we assign the variables? Life on the planet Earth could easily be wiped out if our orbit was moved even a miniscule amount towards or away from the sun. Now, perhaps life on Earth could exist if it's orbit was a little closer/further from the sun (Given the chain reaction that produced all our pretty water and carbon still happened), but obviously it would be quite a bit different from what it is today. Species of animals would evolve differently, different ones would die out instead of others, etc. If every planet that can harbor life needs such an intricate balance of organic substance and distance from it's star (as in, basically an exact replica of the Earth, or any Earth based on organic compounds), then it follows that the amount of planets harboring life in the rest of the universe is very small. What I'm trying to say is, what is it that life definitely needs? A star that is in the same period of life as our own?A moon to regulate tides? Does life need heat? Does life need a certain proportion of organic compounds? Maybe, maybe not. Are viruses alive? What if there's a planet of super-intelligent virus-like things swimming around in some primordial goo playing lazer-tag (I'm at a loss on imagination here..)? What we know of life we only know given life that has evolved on Earth. Given different circumstances, there could be entirely different things out there. Not the difference between humans and wookies, but life forms that we cannot even fathom, since we simply do not know the possibilities yet. Any number of intelligent life forms are possible in my mind. There is simply too little known about the universe at this point in time to say, but even if you fidget around with the numbers, given any number of stars, I think scientific evidence is strongly supportive of life on other planets, possibly even in the galaxy. __________________ I can't seem to remember now What it was like- to live life, before you.. symbiont Last edited by SiNai; 11-23-2004 at 10:24 AM.. Reason: Tried multiple times to get my point across without confusion..