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Asked by anon-188357 to Paul, Nadine, Alex on 16 Nov 2018.
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Nadine Mirza answered on 16 Nov 2018:
I don’t think there’s a definite answer to that as yet but I definitely believe in the possibility that we might not be alone.
For a while people assumed that it’s not possible for there to be other life forms because Earth is the only planet with oxygen. Firstly- the ego on these people assuming just because we need oxygen that other life forms would too! And also, we’ve only explored 4% of the parts of the universe visible to us. That’s hardly anything. So the chances that there are other life forms out there that we haven’t encountered are very high.
But I think what holds true in the end is what Arthur Clarke said: “Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”
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Alex Reid answered on 16 Nov 2018:
I am a huge fan of questions like this rebelgirl. I personally think it is very unlikely we are alone in the universe. Our most conservative estimates indicate there are literally billions of planets that occupy a ‘habitable zone’ (not too hot or cold – like earth) around their local star. We don’t know exactly how life arose, but there is also no reason to assume we are ‘special’ either. Whether we will ever see alien life, or if it will be intelligent like us, is another question and it remains one of the ‘holy grails’ of science and exploration. Our current calculations actually indicate the universe should be bustling with life (even if we are all really far apart). Given this, the real question is, why haven’t we seen any yet? This question is called the ‘Femri Paradox’. I am obsessed with it because I love science fiction. I really recommend seeing these two really awesome videos on it: 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNhhvQGsMEc 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fQkVqno-uI&t=262s Also, maybe ask the scientists in the Einsteinium zone as well 🙂
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