# It seems more likely that there would be aliens than there wouldn't **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 16, 2001, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-seems-more-likely-that-there-would-be-aliens-than-there-wouldnt/93833 "2001-11-16T22:40:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-seems-more-likely-that-there-would-be-aliens-than-there-wouldnt/93833/41 "2002-03-31T05:52:31Z")
Water and energy aren’t necessary enough for life to appear. For instance, I remember of a study some years ago, stating that our huge (as compared to other moons in the solar system) moon stabilized our orbit around the sun and that in the long run, without it, the orbit (hence climatic conditions) would have varied too widely for life to be able to devellop. So the necessary conditions for life are perhaps extremely rarely found. Anyway, assuming that life is quite common doesn’t mean that intelligent life would have develloped. And even if intelligent life exists somewhere, I’m not convinced that we would be able to communicate with these “people”. They would be utterly…alien…to us, and perhaps we would have absolutely no common ground to understand each other in any way. ---
**Author:** ![galrion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aca169/32.png) [@galrion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galrion)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-seems-more-likely-that-there-would-be-aliens-than-there-wouldnt/93833/42 "2002-04-02T16:09:24Z")
as for extra-terrestrial life, haven’t they already discovered bacteria on mars or something like that? Bacteria is life. As for intelligent life, maybe so, it’d be neat. As for rare earth, there are lots of systems with gas giants, they’re like a dime a dozen in our galaxy. And there are plenty of other good star positions in our galaxy. If I recall the discussion was over the universe itself, and that contains many, many galaxies ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-seems-more-likely-that-there-would-be-aliens-than-there-wouldnt/93833/43 "2002-04-02T19:17:59Z")
> [@](#): > > as for extra-terrestrial life, haven’t they already discovered bacteria on mars or something like that No. Microscopic structures have been observed in a meteorite which most probably originated from Mars. These structures could be the fossilized result of bacterial biochemical processes. But it’s a long shot from a proof that a there has actually been a bacteria living on Mars. (Personnally, I’d be very excited if some form of life was to be found anywhere in the solar system, but I tend to always be somewhat skeptical) ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2002, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-seems-more-likely-that-there-would-be-aliens-than-there-wouldnt/93833/44 "2002-04-03T02:42:59Z")
\*\*clairobscur \*\*: It is difficult at times to know how to apply skepticism. [Europa](http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast09sep99_1.htm) (one of Jupiter’s moons) is thought to have liquid subsurface water, heated by tidal forces. Can a large body of water exist for 4.5 billion years and not have life? I’m skeptical. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2002, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-seems-more-likely-that-there-would-be-aliens-than-there-wouldnt/93833/45 "2002-04-03T17:16:35Z")
**clairobscur** wrote: > [@](#): > > (Personnally, I’d be very excited if some form of life was to be found anywhere in the solar system, - tracer peeks over in the corner of his computer room \* - tracer sees a spider \* Hey! Here ya go, **clairobscur**! ---
**Author:** ![taklon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/34f0e0/32.png) [@taklon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taklon)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2002, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-seems-more-likely-that-there-would-be-aliens-than-there-wouldnt/93833/46 "2002-07-03T11:29:53Z")
i’m still wondering if there is intelligent life here on earth [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-seems-more-likely-that-there-would-be-aliens-than-there-wouldnt/93833.md?page=2)