Are AGW Believers more likely to believe life exists elsewhere in the Universe?

Question

Do believers of AGW also believe in aliens? After all, it is not possible to prove life exist elsewhere, one can only believe it does.

Does the lack of evidence prevent people from "knowing" even though there are no facts to support their beliefs?

Are they just following others, following some "consensus" rather than looking at objective facts?

Is it just some people’s human nature to accept some ideas as fact when there is no proof?

Regardless of what you believe, what we know is that Earth is the only planet where life exists.

And we know the climate is warmer today than it was 40 years ago, we cannot place the cause, and we have no idea what the climate will be at anytime in the future.

Answer 1

The overwhelming majority of climate scientists believe they can place the primary cause as mankind's CO2 emissions. I have no idea why you would say "we can't place the cause". Just saying something doesn't make it true.

Answer 2

Just because WE don't know of life elsewhere, doesn't mean the government doesn't...

Answer 3

"  Regardless of what you believe, what we know is that Earth is the only planet where life exists.  "

Nope.  What we know is that life does exist here.  That doesn't equate to knowledge of whether it does exist elsewhere, or doesn't.  We do know other things, and more every day.

Answer 4

Yes they probbly do and then on Christmas they think Santa will come too.

Answer 5

Alien life somewhere out there really is a good possibility. AGW is more like believing that the US gov't has signed a treaty with the Greys to allow them to do medical experiments on us in return for technology transfers.

Answer 6

Is "Dr. Jello" a real person, or just a Troll-Bot?

Does life exist on "Earth" or are we all simulated, matrix-style?

"AGW":  'Anthropogenic Global Warming'

http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/AG...

Answer 7

I WISH there was intelligent life on other planets...most of the AGW proponents would just jump at the chance to leave.

Answer 8

Given the number of solar systems and galaxies and planets in the universe, it's likely there are other forms of life. We may not even recognize them as life if we encountered them since it's not implicit that they'd be intelligent. If you believe in the strictest rules of evolution then we arose from a primordial soup and only gradually and over billions of years arrived where we are now. How likely is that? You first need a planet with a strong magnetic field (iron core), a bearable distance from a stable star, water, the right chemical mix in the seas and a bolt of lighting that hits fortuitously.

I'd say the chance of all those things occurring randomly are extremely remote, but given the number of stars if you posit evolution then it's certain there'd be other planets with life.

Currently we only 'know' of one planet with life so it's either disingenuous or naive to claim otherwise, unless you believe in the 13th planet or something like that. Until you see such life you don't know it exists, it's only a theory until then.

And yes, Dana, if something is only 99% likely then it is just a guess, sometimes called a theory. I can theorize about anti-matter but until someone produces a sample, isn't it still just a theory?

We're not even sure there isn't life elsewhere in our own solar system, we just haven't found it yet. It's very likely there is other life in the universe, maybe much older and more intelligent than us which may be why they don't want to answer our long-distance radio signals.

Alan, gravity is an observable phenomenon, extraterrestrial life is not. And I've always found it odd that we're more closely related to pigs than to monkeys, given our supposed common ancestry.

Answer 9

Gcnp suggests that we know we are the only life in the solar system.   We don't even know that.  I agree with Dana on this one.  Statistically speaking, with the trillions and trillions of solar systems out there,  there certainly should be life somewhere else.

Answer 10

Cindy W,

Hey, I have spotted Elvis several times in Vegas.  He is alive and well.

Answer 11

Why do these alleged 'Educated' people refer to Wikipedia and Wikibooks?

This is starting to seem like a bunch of circus clowns patting themselves on the back and giving each other 'peer reviews.'

There is not a shred of scientific evidence that global warming exists.

There is much more evidence of aliens, big foot, chupacabra and Elvis' still living than there is of global warming.

Dr. Jello is obviously the smartest poster here...

Answer 12

I think we've been over this several times before, J'lo, but I'll run over it just this once more, just for you.

Science doesn't prove things. It never has and it never will. It isn't supposed to. Science gives us useful explanations of how the natural world works. Even our most elegant and respected scientific theories, such as the theory of evolution and gravitational theory, are subject to revision if and when new evidence comes to light.

We don't know there is life elsewhere in the universe, just as we don't know for certain that humans and chimpanzees evolved from a common ancestor millions of years ago. All we can do is make probabilistic statements based on what we observe. What we've observed so far has led us to believe (more on belief in a second) that humans and chimps do share a common ancestor. Are we absolutely certain of this? Of course not. New evidence could come to light that would show humans were more closely related to chickpeas than to monkeys (it isn't likely, but it's possible).

To say that we definitely know something is pure hubris. We may not have discovered life on another planet. But there are tens of billions of galaxies in the universe that contain hundreds of billions of stars. Are you willing to say that you're absolutely certain that life hasn't arisen on at least two of them? No rational, scientifically minded person should. Even if you think it's improbable, you must remain open to the possibility.

Finally, you seem to be confused on what exactly the word "belief" means. In every dictionary I've looked in, believing something simply means to accept it as true. It has nothing to do with religious faith. I believe that things fall to the ground when I drop them. Does this make me a follower of the religion of Gravitism?

Answer 13

Um, what we know is that Earth is the only planet in this solar system on which life exists.  There are billions of other planets in the universe where life as we know it (i.e., carbon/water based) could exist.  To claim, as you do, that life does not exist on any of them is faulty logic.  

Aren't skeptics such as yourself supposed to keep an open mind?

Answer 14

If life exists or not in another place than Earth is totally unknown to anyone living on this planet. We can only speculate or "believe". The same is NOT true when it comes to climate change. We know lots about that. (I think there are very few scientists whether involved in climate research or not, who believe in aliens visiting Earth though, if that's what you had in mind with your question.)

Answer 15

I think you proved your point very well. It's ironic how some diehard's, jumped from the science,  to a leap of faith scenario. "( Big Chuckle)"...never the less it's a wait and see situation, without scientific consensus, or peer reviews....reminds me of something else.

Answer 16

Probably, because statistical analysis shows that it's likely life exists elsewhere in the universe.  Since AGW proponents tend to be scientifically and statistically informed and educated, they're more likely to know about this statistical calculation than deniers.  You're a good example - seemingly oblivious to all statistical and probability theory.  You think if something is 99% likely it's just "a guess".

"Statistically, therefore, it is highly improbable that our planet is the only one to bear life; the universe contains an incredibly large number of stars, and the conditions and ingredients required to start and support life probably exist in many, many millions of places. Furthermore, these places may include intergalactic space, within gases where life’s precursors may first have formed, then evolved, to create living entities that waft through the heavens in forms vastly different from ones we might recognize."