Philosophy Now Forum

Does this article bolster your belief in extraterrestrial life?

The article:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/sc ... %20planets

PhilX

[edited by iMod]

Philosophy Explorer wrote:Does this article bolster your belief in extraterrestrial life?

The article:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/sc ... %20planets

PhilX

[edited by iMod]

Nope. They ain't none!

I am sure there is intelligent life out there somewhere. Nothing on Earth by which to judge it though.

The best that science can say right now, is that we don't know what's out there.

Philosophy Explorer wrote:Does this article bolster your belief in extraterrestrial life? The article:

Doesn't bolster my belief in complex life being so thick that an interstellar probe couldn't avoid tripping over it; or so thick that astronomers couldn't avoid having their celestial views of another solar system being obscured by colossal engineering projects constructed by octodecillions of nanobots and larger machines.

"Astronomers reported that there could be as many as 40 billion habitable Earth-size planets in the galaxy, based on a new analysis of data from NASA’s Kepler spacecraft. One out of every five sunlike stars in the galaxy has a planet the size of Earth circling it in the Goldilocks zone — not too hot, not too cold — where surface temperatures should be compatible with liquid water, according to a herculean three-year calculation based on data from the Kepler spacecraft by Erik Petigura, a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley."

And yet, strangely, I've yet to hear of a true twin of the Earth being found among the extrasolar planets. Their idea of such includes "five times the size of Earth and revolving around a red dwarf star in just 36 days", like Gliese 832c.