http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29557555
here is a link that I happened to notice as I signed out of my e-mail account so I thought it would be interesting for a discussion...
Earth-like planets out there?
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[ShadowPhoenix]
- Posts: 728
- Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2009 4:21 am
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- Location: Louisiana
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mudnpool
I think it would be quite nieve to say there are no other planets like Earth in the vast never ending universe. Though I do not believe we should be looking for them. I think man was never meant be able to cross sea's. To cross galaxies, well thats just... I don't even know what o say. But say we do find a planet like Earth asuming with inteligent life comparable to human or higher. After that it would be inevitable for human curiosity to attempt to make contact. If contact is made this could be the begining of the term "when two worlds collide"
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Damien
I agree with mudnpool, it would be very naive to assume that earth is the only planet capable of sustaining life or that we are the only life in the universe. I am near positive that there is life out there somewhere, we just have yet to make contact with it or perhaps we are being watched even now. Imagine, on some distant planet other lifeforms could be asking the exact same questions we are. In fact there are other planets that are developing towards life like Earth did, Saturn's moon Europa is one example. Mars and Europa have life on them already albiet bacterial life but life nonetheless. Europa even has a liquid ocean beneath its surface and Mars has liquid pools of water on its surface as well as ice-caps and ancient stream beds.
In a book by John Gribbin titled Cosmic Coincidences, he has some statistics within the first few chapters on the probability not only of earth-like planets but also of carbon-based life. I no longer have my copy of the book, but the numbers are a lot higher than what I would have expected. Now whether or not they are close enough to earth for close encounters or even technological as a species is another question. I'll have to see if the library has a copy and get those numbers again.
It's like walking down an empty street, listening to your own footsteps. But all you have to do is knock on any door and say, "If you'll let me in, I'll live the way you want me to live. And I'll think the way you want me to think." And all the blinds will go up, and all the doors will open, and you'll never feel lonely. Ever again.
~Henry Drummond, "Inherit the Wind" (1960)
~Henry Drummond, "Inherit the Wind" (1960)