We know that the exact conditions on our own planet are capable of sustaining organic life. We do not know of any other planet where the exact conditions are so capable. But we do know that no two planets are alike.
The chances of any other combination of factors, however closely similar to those which sustain us here, being able to sustain us or anything like us anywhere else are almost inconceivably remote. If, that is, they are not actually zero.
But we are not alone.
We have God.
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They may be inconceivably remote, but the numbers are inconceivably big. So the odds are reasonably good.
ReplyDeleteNo, the chance of there being another planet with exactly the same conditions as those on our own, the only conditions known to be capable of sustaining organic life, are as good as, if not actually, zero.
ReplyDeleteAs with the descent of the human species from A N Other, for which absolutely no evidence exists (whatever may be the case, of academic interest but no moral importance, where other species are concerned), certain people want there to be life, especially "intelligent life", on other planets because that would lessen or destroy the specialness of human beings. But that does not mean that it is so.
No, you're simply mistaken. I don't care in the slightest whether there is life. But pure mathematics means that the odds are good. That's something that is simply incontrovertible.
ReplyDeleteNo, the conditions of and on every planet would have to be the same for that work. But the condition of, and therefore also the conditions on, any two planets can never be the same; specifically, they can never be located at the same point in space.
ReplyDeleteWe have been spoiled by Star Trek.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing out there remotely as interesting as Captain Jean Luc Picard.
There are no Klingons, no Ferengi and probably no Cardassians.
As a 17 year old I sat up all night to watch Neil Armstrong and the guy who wasnt Neil armstrong walk on the moon....
Everything since has been a major disappointment.
Space travel is the ultimate vanity project of scientists...those nerdy boys who did peculiar kinds of maths while normal boys studied literature and history.
personally I was glad when that Beagle thing did not work when it landed on wherever it landed. Although the guy with the strange facial hair seemed genuinely disappointed.
So much better if all that money was spent on improving the human condition.
I dont get on with scientists.
They get a bit upset when I point out Josef Mengele was a scientist.
Well, it is possible to see their point.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, why is so much money spent on this? Why isn't it spent on medicine, or nuclear power, or something?