Is it even possible for life, including intelligent life to not exist in this vast universe?

Question

What are the chances we are alone in the universe? How is it even possible that we are alone in the universe with the billions of galaxies, and unimaginably collosal number of stars and planets? Are we humans, the best God has to offer? I mean, we are nothing, and have done nothing that has had much affect on the Cosmos(and we will all be killed by asteroids some day). There has to be something better, something more beautiful than our puny existence, right?

Answer 1

the chances of us being alone in the universe:

1 out of 750,000,000,000,000,000

i'll tell you how i got that figure. there are, in theory, 750,000,000,000,000,000 solar systems in the visible universe. thats not even counting the countless number of galaxies containing solar systems that we can't see from earth. so do you really think that only 1 solar system out of 750 sextillion solar systems has life? i don't think so.

lets face it: life is rare. intelligent life is extreamily rare. so rare, we may be the most intelligent organism in galaxy.

now bacteria... thats a different story. the universe is probably loaded with it. we once left a sample of bacteria on the moon, and later went back to pick it up. this certain bacteria didn't need oxygen to live. they didn't need air period. the population had decreased significatnly, but the orgincal bacterium had reproduced. thus proving that life can survive on the moon... and also supporting the theory of simple life throughout the universe.

and there probably is life for intelligent life than humanoids. its just extreamily rare. as stephan hawking once said, "some say we have yet to encounter intelligent life on earth."

one thing i would like to mention though. i think it would help you understant science better if you left religion and science apart. i'm not saying to give up your faith, but i think its best to leave science and religion apart. this is because they don't agree with each other. i'm an athiest, but you can keep your faith in God, and still study science as if there wasn't a God. just friendly advice.

Answer 2

So far, we have always been wrong in our assumptions that put us in the center of the universe.  We first thought that the earth is flat, then we thought that the sun orbited the earth and now we think that we are the only life in the universe.  Some people beleieve that life started here on this planet as a result of probability, others believe that we were created by God to live here.  I think that the fact that life exists anywhere in the cosmos is a miracle when you look at the unsurmountable odds of it happening at random, even with a universe this vast.

You must also take time into account.  Maybe life comes into being every 90 trillion years or so and goes into extinction all over the cosmos like a swarm of fireflies lighting up and going out here and there but not at the same time or place.

Even though we have the technology to go to space and inhabit another planet, I feel that humanity as a whole is threatened by its inability to govern itself as a whole.  Even though we are technologically advanced, we are not civilized when it comes to treatment of other people, distribution of resources and global ecology.  If we dont die from war or disease, the oil companies may prove to be the biggest threat to life on earth as they use thier vice like grip on our government to keep us oil dependant as we doom our species with global warming and the like.  Corporate greed is a formidable threat to our civilization as it is unchecked by corrupt or short sighted government.  How much longer do we have as a species?  All it takes is one nut with a nuke, one killer virus, one natural disaster, or one economic crisis to plunge us into chaos.

To sum it up, Is there life elsewhere or elsewhen? Quite possibly , but if we are going to live as a species long enough to meet them, we are going to have to have a major reform on our thinking and our governments actions that ensure that we maintain a balance in our planet that can sustain life and assure all people life, liberty and opportunity.

Answer 3

Intelligent life may be rare considering how long it took to evolve on this planet.  Even if only one in a million stars has intelligent life, that would still equal countless billions of species of intelligent life with more than a hundred thousand in our galaxy alone.  I doubt we are destined to be destroyed by asteroids because it is in our power to most likely prevent that and expand into space.   Large asteroid collisions are exceedingly rare events and we shouldn't expect one for tens of millions of years.

Answer 4

Anything is possible. Maybe everything beyond the oort cloud is just a curtain put there by God who was too lazy to create the rest of the universe. However just like this example the chances that there are no other incarnations of life or intelligent are astronomical. I myself try to stay as level headed as possible by  not believe things because I would prefer it to be true: like the existence of God, intelligent life beyond Earth, and carebears. Having a plethora of other beings to interact with would be nice (humans are so boring easy to offend), but despite the probability of it the jury is out until we meet them.

Answer 5

I don't think any rational, logically-minded person believes that Earth is the only world in the universe with life.

Many scientists have stated that life is not only possible, but highly likely, based on the fact that planets seem to be common around other stars, and the abundance of organic molecules in the nebula and dust in space.

Now, has that life visited Earth in UFOs - no.

And will we ever find life on another world - unknown.

Answer 6

After careful review of the Q&A on yahoo, one can only conclude that there is *no* intelligent life in the universe at all.

Answer 7

It is close to impossible that we are the only intelligent life in the universe.

AND

It is close to impossible that we will ever come in contact with other intelligent life.