How will you react?
 

I find it very likely, that we will discover life of some sort on another planet in the next decade. I was wondering what (if any) reaction this will bring about in the minds of you all?

It would also be interesting to hear how likely you think it is we will find we are not alone?

Not sure how I'd react. I suppose it would depend on what sort of life was discovered, where and how.

I'm interested to know why you think this will happen in the next decade, though.

As am I. I don't see this happening. Perhaps discovering that there WAS life on another planet (such as Mars), but aside for that, I don't think so.

As for how I'd react, I wouldn't. I don't consider that something to react to because I've always thought there's probably other life out there. Intelligent life is a bit of a more sticky question, which I think is out there, but I also think we'd probably not live long enough to discover.

Either way, I think the only people that would really "react" to such a discovery are biblical literalists, which are a small minority of people these days.

It's spark interest, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least. I figure there's bound to be at least some sort of single-celled organisms somewhere out there.

did they really find water on mars or is it something people are making up?

I've never had a question that there is some sort of life out there. Truly, it is only a matter of time until it is discovered. However, I also would be interested to know why you believe that it will be within the next decade? Perhaps you know something that the rest of us do not? :hmm:

I also believe that a lot of people are going to be sorely disappointed to find that extraterrestrial life does not resemble the Star Wars cantina band. :rolleyes:

Re: How will you react?
 

How will I react? I would be pretty shocked, admittedly, and try to get more information on the claims, but my life wouldn't change much. I would still get, take a shower, go to school, come back, take a nap, and go online to surf the TFP (shameless product placement :D :D . In short, my life will remain the same, but it would feel weird to harbor that fact in my mind.

Most would say neeto-cool and get on with their lives unchanged.

Those who don't want to believe it will do what they currently do with evolution and the like and claim its all lies.

Nothing to see here.

Yeah. I'd read more about this on the newspaper because it's really interesting, but my life will still go unchange or slighty changed nevertheless. I just hate to think what the cults people will do...*shrudders*

I would expect to find life on other worlds. Simple life probably isn't that hard to find. Complex life might be a lot rarer. But unless it was coming to see us on a daily basis (I'm no saucer believer), it wouldn't rock my world much. I already assume that it's out there.

The other question, what if intelligent life was discovered "out there," and it was you. Nobody really knows the size of the universe, and some believe that it may in fact be truly infinite. Scientists have calculated that in a really hellaciously and astounding large but finite amount of space, all possible configurations of matter would reoccur several times; like say, maybe the earth as it now exists and all space in a 100-light-year radius. If that's true, some of the intelligent life out there is _you._

I wouldn't be surprised at all, but I would be excited and intrigued.

O.K.
The reasoning behind my expectations within a decade.
TITAN
This year the cassini probe will enter an orbit of Saturn. It will drop a probe into one of Saturns moons(Titan), which has a thick atmosphere (ten times the density of earth) of methane and nitrogen. Experiments have shown that the mixture of this atmosphere, when electrically sparked, creates an organic soup(tholin) which just happens to contain the base chemical structure of RNA.
Radar images of Titan hint at an ocean of this soup, and the estimated age of the moon is in the billions of years. It took appox. 750 million years for basic life to develop on earth. The tidal forces created by planetary/moon interaction in the Saturn system create an internal warming of Titan, which likely has kept the core liquid and thus could produce hydrothermal activity.
In a nutshell, these are the basic steps many scientists now believe were the building blocks for life on earth.
EUROPA
In the past five years, scientists have come to accept the fact that Jupiters' moon Europa has an ocean of water under its Icy crust. Interaction between Jupiter and It's moons also keep the core of Europa molten, which again sets the stage for hydrothermal activity.(this interaction is also what creates the volcanism on Jupiters' moon "Io")On earth, there are many instances of chemical(hydrothermal) dependant life on the ocean floor, eating metals and sulfer escaping from vents in the crust of the planet.
MARS
Yes, there is actually quite a bit of water on Mars. Both the northern and southern ice caps are H2O, although the southern cap is mixed with CO2. Evidence from the rovers currently exploring Mars clearly supports the ancient ocean theory. The possibilty of current life is relatively slim on the surface, But is quite possible beneath the surface. Bacterial life has been found up to (I think)over a mile beneath the surface of the earth, and likely exists far deeper.
NEXT GENERATION TELESCOPES
Over the next ten to twenty years, several new telescopes will be built with the ability to see the spectra (light composition) of extra solar planets. By studying the reflected light of another planet, we can tell the chemical composition of its atmosphere. Should a planet show a certain mixture of Gases in the atmosphere (Oxygen, Methane, and Carbon Dioxide) It would almost certainly have life on it. Methane is easily destroyed by Ultra-Violet radiation, and must be replenished in order to exist, and although there are geologic processes that create methane, the combination of all three Gasses in observable quantity is virtually nil without biology.
By the way....two days ago Nasa announced they had detected Methane in the atmosphere of Mars, and are attempting to find a geologic explanation, as it must be replenished by some means.

I hope I didn't bore you all with this....I just think the possibilities are fantastic.

I certainly wouldn't doubt it. I mean, how egotistical is it to think we are the ONLY intelligent life in the universe. It doesn't matter to me how I think we got on this earth.

I know I would be a little surprised and a little skeptical though because we've seen so much fantasy about it. It would seem surreal until it sunk in.

I would be content to see people realizing that they aren't quite as important and significant as they thought they were. I almost hope that whatever we find is smarter than us. There's so much to learn.

I don't believe that we will discover life any time soon, though I think that it is very likely that life exists elsewhere in the universe. My argument goes something like this:

1. The chances of life arising on any particular planet is very slight
2. But the universe is a huge place.
3. Therefore it is quite likely that life exists beyond earth.
4. But the universe is a huge place.
5. Therefore it is unlikely that any two lifeforms, from different planets will ever meet.

I would be shocked if life was found on Mars (also delighted!). It would mean that the chances of life arising is much higher than I would have expected it to be.

If we were to find life on mars, it would be result in a quantitative change in my worldview, but not a qualitative one!

the chances of life are relatively huge compared to the chances of INTELLIGENT life.

Why so?

If "simple" life arises on a planet, surely it is only a matter of time for it to evolve into more complex forms?

Not necessarily. The climate has to be much more hospitable on a planet for intelligent life to form (i.e. animals and the such). Single-celled organisms (Protista I believe, if my biology serves me right) can survive in a cataclysmic shitstorm of a climate. Along with bacteria and other small organisms that are thousands of times smaller than the head of a needle.

Many scientist now believe that life(in a primitive form) will exist anywhere it possibly can. Here on Earth, life exists in virtually every environment the planet can produce. Deep underground to the fringes of our atmosphere, Blistering heat , to antarctic Ice sheets.
In my opinion, it is extremely unlikely we will fail to find some form of life within our solar system, but off of Earth. If indeed we can recognize it.

I think it is obvious that life exists outside of the planet. At least to me it is. How could it not? How many millions of galaxies are there?

If we discovered intelligent alien life i'd be surprised, but simple life, i think it is only a matter of time.

Even knowing that simple life has to exist out there somewhere, I'd still be fascinated on how it looks.

If there's life out there, chances are, our government will hide it from us for a long long time, untill they deem it's safe to our knowledge.

Honestly.

I'd say.. .."I told you so!"

As a nation and a race, we've been very egocentric to beleive that life is only harbored on this one planet. I think it will be humbling for many, and shocking to some.

-SF

Drake Equation seems pretty applicable to this conversation.

if they found life in a different planet then my religion is not real and I would end up a crazy mess.

Take me to your leader.

Ditto.

I just don't think it's logical to assume that we're the only life in the universe.

How excited/intrigued would depend on what kind of life we're talking about.

I feel sorry for the poor bastards.... Earth is probably that smelly dirty neighbor always stating quite loudly what it knows jack shit about. Oh well, guess they'll have to screen their calls now.

I'll react more along the lines of what kind of being we'd encounter. If it was your basic, bi-ped, Sci-Fi, Human looking alien, I'd be a little freaked out. Then again, I'm sure the only way we would have a chance of finding one of those is if they found us, definately not the other way around. If it's some lame micro-organism that could easy just be bacteria of some kind of another, then I would start shouting through the streets that we've found life on other planets (or that other planets' life has found us, either one).

I expect there to be life out there. If there isn't life out there, then damn, the game we are playing is for bigger stakes than I like to think about.

Now, where would it be found? If we find it both on Mars and on a moon of Saturn/Jupiter, this means that life is quite probably extremely common. There would still be the "in solar system asteroid life transportation system" theory, but that's pushing it. (if any of the life forms we run into is a left-right mirror of terrestiral biology, that basically disproves that theory)

Life being extremely common would be enheartening. As in, 'whoo-hoo!'.

It would mean that life is common, and life on earth isn't special. Which lowers the stakes of the civilization game: and given how we are doing at it, that's a good thing.

I would be happy. It'd be amazing.

Any lifeform. Microscopic or intelligent.

Reason being... imagine if they looked at it at a cellular level and it didn't have any DNA whatsoever, but something else instead. It'd definitely help give us better insight on not only our own life, but how lifeforms develop and adapt to their environment elsewhere in the universe.

I'm very skeptical though. I honestly don't see it happening in my lifetime.

reads from the joke card: There is intelligent life out there, but they haven’t been allowed to contact us due to the Prime Directive.

reads from the answer card: I would defiantly be shocked and excited. I would try to get as much info as possible and keep informed on the topic. The space program would expand, jobs would open up. Front page of all the news papers.

Two Words:
Tinfoil Hat

it probably wouldnt change my life that much, I believe theres life out there somewhere. Evolution happened here, why not somewhere else? I dont know if we'll discover it in the next decade, but definately someday we will.

If live does exist outside of Earth's boundaries, then we will find it and it will be a huge news story for about a week. Then, when the public gets tired of staring at the same single-celled organisms we'd most likely find over and over, they'd flip the channel to see Janet Jackson's left breast exposed.

What I think would be interesting is if we found life on another planet that was not only structurally different from life on Earth, but also something out there like being silicon-based instead of carbon-based as we are, or any other scenario previously left to the arena of science fiction. The possibilities that studying these oraganisms would lead to would be boundless.

I'd immediately surf over here to the TFP and see what the intelligent life on earth thinks about it...seriously! :)