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Haley Goranson

Spiritual Being Having a Human Experience,

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Do you believe in extraterrestrial life?

I know I do!

Just a fun topic I enjoy.

Does it matter if there is extraterrestrial life?

Would this change the way you look at this world?

If there was extraterrestrial life without a doubt, maybe instead of having pride in our own separate countries, we would have pride as a planet together as one, or even take pride in our galaxy.

Topics: beyond the universe
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    Cassy Lee

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    Jan 13 2013: I defiantly believe in extraterrestrials. I find it hard to believe that we are the only planet with life! The universe is massive there just has to be something else out there.
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    Nicholas Lukowiak 50+

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    Jan 6 2013: Anyone who denies E.T is going to be very disturbed in the next few years....

    Lets see... Russia, U.K and France release UFO files
    UFO sightings daily... around the world...
    Most S. American countries swear to their existence
    Ancient Astronaut Theorist only developing further and further proof...

    I would say to deny E.T existing.... is easy. It's easy to be afraid of not being the most sophisticated species.. It's scary to imagine us as the ants on the ant hill or the animals in the cage at the zoo...

    Rather than fear the unknown, we should get angry and strive to compete in universal events and not merely earthly matters.
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    Juliette Zahn 50+

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    Jan 6 2013: Dear Haley, I love your idea of us acquiring a unified Earthling identity and sharing the attitude of living in a way that "we would have pride as a planet together as one".

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M

    It is hard to believe -not to mention arrogant- that in this incomprehensibly vast Omniverse, we would be the only life form.

    http://www.ted.com/talks/sean_carroll_distant_time_and_the_hint_of_a_multiverse.html
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    Sri Vatsan

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    Dec 27 2012: Math says yes.
    but we don't have the evidence to back it up.
    For now it doesn't matter if ET life exists or not because we have no proof and no means of disproving it as well.
    So its just a matter of choosing to believe in it.
    Some believe in ET life, and this makes them happy, gives them a different perspective on life.Some say that they won't believe it till they see it.
    But as long as there is no solid evidence to prove or disprove this theory, both views are acceptable.
    Yes I think if it is proven without doubt then human beings would take pride in their planet.

  • Todd Westervelt

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    Dec 27 2012: From an abiogensis perspective I believe the odds are NOT in favor of sentient life beyond our own.

    From a faith perspective, I don't know.
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    Krisztián Pintér 200+

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    TED Translator
    Dec 17 2012: to put that in some perspective

    in our galaxy alone there are some hundred billion stars. that is, for every human being, we could hand out dozens of stars. if you wanted to visit all of them, you should visit 100 stars every second of your life.

    in the visible universe, we have some hundred billion galaxies. some are as small as ten million stars, some are beasts with a hundred trillion. ours is quite average. we don't know how big the universe is. it can go on forever, for all we know.

    that totals somewhere in the sextillion range. if every single man living today started to count stars one per second, it would take the time of the entire written human history multiple times to count them all.

    just in our own solar system, we have 3 bodies that can host earth-like biochemistry. one would of course be the earth, the other two are europa and enceladus. we don't know if they actually host life. they pretty much can. some suspects that gas giants and ice giants also can harbor life. we have four of them at home. mars and venus are also candidates for having life in their past.
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    Lejan . 30+

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    TED Translator
    Dec 17 2012: The building blocks of the universe are the building blocks of life itself. And as we leave narrow geocentric, heliocentric or religious views on this universe, extraterrestrial life becomes a matter of believe only, because of the vast distances which makes it difficult to gather evidence.

    Thinking of quadrillions of stars - which our minds are unable to grasp - and even more orbiting and 'invisible' planets, it seems just arrogant and uninspired to me to think, that life on earth would be the only life in the whole universe.

    'Would this change the way you look at this world?'

    No, why? The 'pride in our own separate countries' you describe is not caused by a collective feeling of 'isolation', so having evidence 'without a doubt' would not change the way 'we' treat each other on this tiny planet.
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      peter lindsay 30+

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      Dec 17 2012: We do like to think we're special don't we? At least we don't think we're the centre of the universe anymore, and some of us are realising that we're not really all that special compared to other life on earth. How are we going to cope when we find out that there are millions of other intelligent lifeforms and most of them are smarter than we are.
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        Lejan . 30+

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        TED Translator
        Dec 18 2012: You are right! And I don't really understand why 'we' are this way. In psychology this overdose of self-esteem would probably be diagnosed as megalomania - and there are many other indicators that 'we' suffer from it. I can understand if a fife year old wants to be in the center of the universe, but a whole grown up species? We can't even live in peace on our planet yet claim to be 'the measure of all things'... Pretty weird for my understanding of knowing ones place ... :o)
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        Colleen Steen 500+

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        Dec 18 2012: Peter and Lejan,
        THANKFULLY, some of us realize that we may not be so special compared to other life forms. I'm thinking of dolphins, elephants, and even dogs, now are suspected of being more intelligent than humans!

        Good question Peter..."How are we going to cope when we find out that there are millions of other intelligent lifeforms and most of them are smarter than we are."?

        I suggest practicing kindness and respect for ALL life that we KNOW at this time. Then when we have the opportunity to meet the "super beings" who/which might be WAY MORE INTELLIGENT than anything we think we know, we might be prepared to accept them/it with kindness and respect, rather than trying to fight against them/it?
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    peter lindsay 30+

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    Dec 17 2012: If we're lucky we might find out on the 21st when they show up to rescue us from the end of the world ;-)
    Oh and Yes, we may be the most self centred species on the planet but even we must admit it would be highly unlikely for all those other planets to be completely empty.

  • greg dahlen 30+

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    Dec 16 2012: No, I don't believe in it. If I knew there was extraterrestrial life, I'd want to know how they did things, because maybe we could learn from the way they did things. Then again, they'd probably have as many problems on their own damn planet as we have on ours.
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    Colleen Steen 500+

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    Dec 16 2012: Hi Haley:>)
    Yes....I absolutely believe there is other life "out there". Considering the vastness of our known universe, and suspecting that there is even more beyond what we know about, I cannot realistically believe that there is not more life...probably in many different forms:>) Whether or not there is, in fact, other life forms does not change the way I look at this life experience. I am here...now....and that is the important piece for me. I like that idea....take pride in our galaxy.....nice! Even the military released a report several years ago, indicating that they have records of sightings of UFOs for years back:>)

    BTW, years ago, I experienced a NDE/OBE, which gave me a peek at the bigger picture:>)
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    Roy Bourque 20+

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    Dec 16 2012: I do believe in extraterrestrial life. The law of probability is overwhelming given the number of worlds that exist in the universe.

    I am skeptical that extraterrestrial life has ever visited this planet, although I am open to the possibility. I doubt that it could have come here in physical form if it has come at all. I have had spiritual experiences and I believe that there are other dimensions that we have not explored. They exist outside of the realm of our physical senses.

    I believe that our belief about ourselves would be challenged if we discovered life exists elsewhere, hopefully in a good way.

    I don't know about the pride thing. But I believe that we would come to the realization that there is so much more for us to learn. It would be a very humbling experience to me.
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    Ken brown 30+

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    Dec 15 2012: Yes but i just don't know what form it will be in and the general consensus doesn't mean that it will be what we think it will be. If we are talking about I.E.L's then i don't think it would be worth their time and resource expenditure to get back what? Peace,love and harmony? Life utilizes resources available to it's continued existence but you don't see us trying to fast track our hominid cousins to our level and expect their adored adulation, if anything they will be put to work.

    The only resource this planet has is it's oceans. We could be a organic resource as pet food?

    Or we could be just not worth it.

    What do we have to offer?

    • Steve C

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      Dec 16 2012: Maybe "Peace, love and harmony" are more valuable than we are led to believe. We've been 'schooled' into a restricted mindset by a very few top-ranking elite about what we should value. It does not take a large leap to make sweeping changes that come with paradigm shifts. I think peace, love and harmony could go a long long way.
      Any alien advanced of us will likely have a sustainable manufactured food source, as we're probably nearing it ourselves; that's IF they are a form of life at all. They may be mechanical.
      As for resource expediture, maybe they have much more efficient tech; meaning it's actually very little cost (or travel time) to get here.
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        Ken brown 30+

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        Dec 16 2012: I use to be of this line of thought too and when you look around at all the hopers for I.E.L contact this is the general consensus. Peace,love and harmony but there's a problem with this.....why? What would this exchange of "Energy" be for these beings? Does it go off to the great central white light singularity in the center of the multiverse where all spiritual and spirit energies go? A returning back to the source? Or is it an exchange of life energies that will sustain each other? What built in system do we have that can absorb and parcel out this energy to the body? So if these beings are creatures of Peace, Love and Harmony, wouldn't they require a heavier dose of it than we would or could hope to give back in return? What of the balance?

        Your post is what most people think and then there is the other group that think we are an experiment, this goes for religious as well as some who are not religious. Some believe that the little grey men are artificial lifeforms that has been left here to observe,report and guide or not to guide the planets organic systems for the real I.E.L's that don't need to travel anywhere as they get instant updates through their communication system that they set up a long long time ago....Absurd? Why travel when you've reached a level of sophistication where you've automated everything.

        How long have we been thinking there is a paradigm shift coming? and when it comes will it be a flourishing of peace that everyone will feel across the planet and give voice to it to strengthen the wave? So when this happens, do you think this will be the time when all the flying saucers hovering around in and out of our atmosphere will drop their cloaks and decide this is what they were waiting for and welcome us into the federation?

        Man has written about a paradigm shift for a lot longer than most people think but i tend to think that the shift isn't a shift but just one constant shifting towards what we hope for.

        • Steve C

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          Dec 26 2012: "What would this exchange of 'Energy' be for these beings?"
          "Giving" (Not getting or even exchanging.) This would be a paradigm shift (& paradigm shifts have happened - why not think they might happen again? Why not think they might happen because we think they might happen‽)
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        Ken brown 30+

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        Dec 16 2012: What do we have to offer?

        • Steve C

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          Dec 26 2012: "What do we have to offer [them in return]?" is merely where the question starts and stops - if their paradigm is one of giving.

  • Sam Robertson

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    Dec 14 2012: I do believe in extraterrestrial life. With as many galaxies as there seem to be in the universe, the possibilities of at least one and probably thousands of equivalent earth-like environments exists. I also believe that we have already made contact with intelligent life from other planets. There are signs on the earth that identify things that could only be seen from high above the surface, that cannot be explained easily as the product of a long-defunct civilization from this planet. An intelligent life form probably would not make itself broadly known, for the simple reason that it would alter so much in our own development. I reconcile this belief also with a belief in God.
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    Meredith M

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    Dec 14 2012: Please excuse my English as it's not my first language.

    I think my answer is "Yes".The universe is so giant. I don's think human would be the most unique creature in this big big world. As we all know, many things in the universe could find something bigger or smaller that are similar to themselves and the same applies to human.

    If there's no extraterrestrial life, we are so lonely.

  • Barry Palmer 50+

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    Dec 14 2012: Yes.

    I think we will one day find clear evidence of extraterrestrial life, in some basic form. If there is such life in our solar system, we could discover this within the next few decades. If there is no other life in the solar system, this discovery will likely take centuries.

    I also think it is very unlikely that we will ever encounter extraterrestrial intelligent life.

    We now know that Earth is very special in many specific ways, and that the evolution of life over billions of years has many specific requirements. The percentage of planets (or moons) with all of these requirements must be very small. Also, even with ideal conditions, the evolution of intelligent life is not destined, but largely a matter of luck. So I suspect that the nearest intelligent life is so far away that we will never have any evidence of it whatsoever. This is just my guess, but it seems reasonable.

    Finding extraterrestrial life will not change the way I look at this world, but I think it could have a huge impact on many people.
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    Feyisayo Anjorin 50+

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    Dec 14 2012: No.
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