Aliens: Yes Or No?

[Morrus]

Just getting a gauge on the general opinion round here. I mean, I'm pretty sure I know what it is, but asking never hurts!

Can't decide? "But what about?" Pick one. Pretend it matters and you have to choose one of the options. Or don’t. That's cool too

 

[DammitVictor]

Yes, there is definitely extraterrestrial life elsewhere in the universe. It is possible they've visited Earth or contacted humanity previously, but I find it incredibly unlikely that any human was made aware of this contact without making every human aware of this contact.

 

[BookTenTiger]

The universe is such a vast place, I just can't imagine there isn't intelligent life somewhere out there.

However, the universe is such a vast place that I think it very likely we will never be in contact with any other intelligent life. There's just too much space and time.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I voted “Yes, but they’re not here.”

Caveat: I think it’s possible that there may be “exploratory drones” here, or artifacts like those in Contact. But nothing resembling what we’d consider a life form.

And even with that caveat, the sophonts that created them may be long dead and/or otherwise well beyond any reasonable chance of us ever communicating with them.

 

[Scribe]

 

[overgeeked]

There’s a 100% chance that life exists somewhere out there. The more advanced you get from microbes the more that number drops. The chances of intelligent life out there is still quite high, I think. But due to the vastness of space, the chances of any visiting here are quite low.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Count me as one the, yes there are probably aliens out there, including intelligent ones given that there was so much out there.

 

[Ryujin]

Are there aliens? Almost certainly, based on simple (or complex) math. Have they visited Earth? The answer is either no, or not when we were around. Earth has been around for four and a half billion years. Genus Homo has existed for 1.5 million years, with something recognizable as Homo Sapiens being around for 300,000 years or so. Taking the more generous 1.5M number, something generally of our genus has existed for 0.0333% of Earth's existence.

So that's a no to them visiting "us."

 

[Morrus]

There’s a 100% chance that life exists somewhere out there. The more advanced you get from microbes the more that number drops. The chances of intelligent life out there is still quite high, I think. But due to the vastness of space, the chances of any visiting here are quite low.

Sure, I think we all know the standard argument(s). I'm just curious how may folks subscribe. I suspect in this crowd most everybody (including myself).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Next poll: Is there intelligent life on Earth?