Ghosts or Aliens?
Poll: Ghosts or Aliens?
Total Members Polled: 207
Discussion
After reading the "nation of morons thread" it prompted me to ponder this. If people are so against there being such things as Ghosts then i presume aliens are out of the question as well.
Im going to stick my neck out and say that there must be other life forms out there somewhere, the chance of just earth evolving to a higher standard of life is very unlikely. And as for Ghosts, I sit on the fence as it saves arguments. My sister just moved flats becasue she kept having issues with "something" else there. My dad claims he saw one when he was younger and my Grandparents regulary used to see one in there house about 20 years ago (it used to hide knives around the house).
i now sit back and await a flaming for having a crackpot family
Im going to stick my neck out and say that there must be other life forms out there somewhere, the chance of just earth evolving to a higher standard of life is very unlikely. And as for Ghosts, I sit on the fence as it saves arguments. My sister just moved flats becasue she kept having issues with "something" else there. My dad claims he saw one when he was younger and my Grandparents regulary used to see one in there house about 20 years ago (it used to hide knives around the house).
i now sit back and await a flaming for having a crackpot family
im not saying that they do but aliens COULD exist, it is physically possible that "life" of some sort could evolve on some other planet. wether or not this takes the form of little green men or not is a different matter and kinda unlikely.
ghosts on the other hand is just a big bag of piss for nutters to blindly believe in whilst ignoring physics
ETA thus my vote is "refuse to vote" (though i voted)
as there is no "aliens could exist, belief in ghosts is utter tosh" option
ghosts on the other hand is just a big bag of piss for nutters to blindly believe in whilst ignoring physics
ETA thus my vote is "refuse to vote" (though i voted)
as there is no "aliens could exist, belief in ghosts is utter tosh" optionEdited by samdale on Monday 13th April 11:38
I belive Aliens exist but they could be a microbe or a type of plant 500 light years from here. I do believe that somewhere in this universe there are intelligent beings but I dont think we will meet them.
As for ghosts well they can feck off. The only part of a person that survives when they die is the bits that end up in the worm or on the wind as smoke.
As for ghosts well they can feck off. The only part of a person that survives when they die is the bits that end up in the worm or on the wind as smoke.
It seems somewhat ironic that according to the "nation of morons" topic if you take a different view to somebody else (heaven forbid you keep an open mind)then you are rendered a "moron" and also apparently you have barely enough i.q. points for your body to function.
well I'm sorry but at the risk of being moronic I'll continue to keep an open mind. I'm pretty sure there's an awful lot more we don't know than we do know.
I'll now try and rustle up the mental capacity to make a coffee.........
well I'm sorry but at the risk of being moronic I'll continue to keep an open mind. I'm pretty sure there's an awful lot more we don't know than we do know.
I'll now try and rustle up the mental capacity to make a coffee.........
I will happily accept that their could be some form of life elsewhere in the universe. I don't believe that they are a super advanced race that come here in their UFOs.
Ghosts. Not a chance. Believing in ghosts to explain an event that can have an entirely natural, reproducible and observable explanation makes you a nutter.
Ghosts. Not a chance. Believing in ghosts to explain an event that can have an entirely natural, reproducible and observable explanation makes you a nutter.
It is highly likely that there is life on other planets. There are 100 billion planets in the galaxy. There are about 80 billion galaxies in the observable universe.
I doubt we'll ever meet alien life - it's just too far away. But it's highly likely to exist.
Not convinced about ghosts.
I doubt we'll ever meet alien life - it's just too far away. But it's highly likely to exist.
Not convinced about ghosts.
The chances of life NOT existing somewhere else considering the scale of the universe have got to be considered as very very low.
I'm not talking little green men or flying saucers - i'm talking life in any form.
To think that in the whole universe we are the only examples of life to have evolved is IMO exceedingly small minded. When you look at the numbers involved it has got to be almost certain that these or conditions similar to them exist somewhere in the universe.
Ghosts on the other hand. Utter tosh.
I'm not talking little green men or flying saucers - i'm talking life in any form.
To think that in the whole universe we are the only examples of life to have evolved is IMO exceedingly small minded. When you look at the numbers involved it has got to be almost certain that these or conditions similar to them exist somewhere in the universe.
Ghosts on the other hand. Utter tosh.
pb! said:
well I'm sorry but at the risk of being moronic I'll continue to keep an open mind. I'm pretty sure there's an awful lot more we don't know than we do know.
Believing in ghosts doesn't mean you have an open mind.Being open-minded simply means that you are willing to consider new ideas. It's how science works and thrives. To try to explain an event as supernatural because you can't explain something is close minded in itself, as you are not willing to research further and try to find a non-supernatural explanation. You could say a ghost did it, but that's an intellectual dead-end.
All ghost stories, IME, are based on 3rd party explanations of an event which are often quite flawed. Either because they don't have a good enough understanding of the events and influencing factors or their 'open-mindedness' towards the supernatural makes them skew what actually happened to try and convince you that the event had to have a supernatural cause.
I'm open minded to accept new ideas, however I am NOT open-minded to accept new ideas without supporting evidence. If you want me to believe in ghosts produce some valid, observable, reproducible evidence for a supernatural event that can't have a non-supernatural explanation.
Until then ghosts stories are just questionable anecdotes.
him_over_there said:
I will happily accept that their could be some form of life elsewhere in the universe. I don't believe that they are a super advanced race that come here in their UFOs.
For the sake of argument, let's say that there are ten planets in our particular solar system. Of those ten, we are reasonably confident that only one contains intelligent life (this one, before you ask).So, if I can get all UB40 on you, that's one in ten. Not the biggest odds, but when you extrapolate that one in ten to the millions, billions, trillions of other solar systems out there in this and other galaxies, the chances of some other intelligent life not being out there become so small as to be almost unavoidable. The possibilities are infinite and it follows that some will have started their development after ours, so would appear quite primitive to us. Some, however, will have had a head start on us and will have technology far in advance of our own puny efforts.
Why, however, they would choose to use this advanced technology to visit dumb rednecks in the middle of Alamaba in the middle of the night and anally probe them, is beyond me.
him_over_there said:
AndrewW-G said:
How about an option for: I neither believe nor disbelieve in aliens or ghosts, however I'm open minded and accept that both may exist, if sufficient evidence is presented to me in a scientific way
I think we just posted the same thing at the same time..oooooh spooky.
Los Palmas 7 said:
him_over_there said:
I will happily accept that their could be some form of life elsewhere in the universe. I don't believe that they are a super advanced race that come here in their UFOs.
For the sake of argument, let's say that there are ten planets in our particular solar system. Of those ten, we are reasonably confident that only one contains intelligent life (this one, before you ask).So, if I can get all UB40 on you, that's one in ten. Not the biggest odds, but when you extrapolate that one in ten to the millions, billions, trillions of other solar systems out there in this and other galaxies, the chances of some other intelligent life not being out there become so small as to be almost unavoidable. The possibilities are infinite and it follows that some will have started their development after ours, so would appear quite primitive to us. Some, however, will have had a head start on us and will have technology far in advance of our own puny efforts.
Why, however, they would choose to use this advanced technology to visit dumb rednecks in the middle of Alamaba in the middle of the night and anally probe them, is beyond me.
- Fun for bored Aliens, not fun for me of course
Edited by V6 on Monday 13th April 12:01
Los Palmas 7 said:
him_over_there said:
I will happily accept that their could be some form of life elsewhere in the universe. I don't believe that they are a super advanced race that come here in their UFOs.
For the sake of argument, let's say that there are ten planets in our particular solar system. Of those ten, we are reasonably confident that only one contains intelligent life (this one, before you ask).So, if I can get all UB40 on you, that's one in ten. Not the biggest odds, but when you extrapolate that one in ten to the millions, billions, trillions of other solar systems out there in this and other galaxies, the chances of some other intelligent life not being out there become so small as to be almost unavoidable. The possibilities are infinite and it follows that some will have started their development after ours, so would appear quite primitive to us. Some, however, will have had a head start on us and will have technology far in advance of our own puny efforts.
Why, however, they would choose to use this advanced technology to visit dumb rednecks in the middle of Alamaba in the middle of the night and anally probe them, is beyond me.
jmorgan said:
Los Palmas 7 said:
him_over_there said:
I will happily accept that their could be some form of life elsewhere in the universe. I don't believe that they are a super advanced race that come here in their UFOs.
For the sake of argument, let's say that there are ten planets in our particular solar system. Of those ten, we are reasonably confident that only one contains intelligent life (this one, before you ask).So, if I can get all UB40 on you, that's one in ten. Not the biggest odds, but when you extrapolate that one in ten to the millions, billions, trillions of other solar systems out there in this and other galaxies, the chances of some other intelligent life not being out there become so small as to be almost unavoidable. The possibilities are infinite and it follows that some will have started their development after ours, so would appear quite primitive to us. Some, however, will have had a head start on us and will have technology far in advance of our own puny efforts.
Why, however, they would choose to use this advanced technology to visit dumb rednecks in the middle of Alamaba in the middle of the night and anally probe them, is beyond me.
Though it is probable that aliens exist it is also probable that they won't be what we normally think of when the issue comes up.
Simply put: Clever aliens (as clever or more clever than us) are unlikely while moss or bacteria are very likely.
Just think about all the stuff that tries to stop life evolving:
You need a 2nd generation star
The older stars had no heavey elements to make solid planets or complex life.
You need one that's big enough but not too big
Small stars last a long time but lack the energy output to get life going, big stars burn out too quickly.
You need stable gas giants far out
Stable and close in is fairly common but means that all the Earth like planets will have been destroyed. Stable and far out means that the inner worlds are sheilded by the outer worlds hoovering up meterorites.
You need to be at the right radius in the galaxy
Too close in and you get involved in too many collisions as there's more stuff to hit. Too far out and you don't get enough to nudge things along.
You need to avoid too many and too great extinctions
This is similar to the above criteria but more specific. Too many extinctions will knock back the most advanced life forms before they can do much meaning perpetual slime and jelly fish. Too big and life might have to start again from a complete wipe out. We came close to this in one our extinctions.
You need a stable crust but not too stable
Unstable and eruptions get too big and can wipe out life, too stable and you don't get the thermal vents where we think life starts.
You need to avoid interstellar collisions
All of them. Stars, free planets, giant commets, other planets, giant meteor swarms, black holes.
You need to avoid local stellar radiation bursts
Some of these can be very very big and effectively sterilise galaxies. Gulp.
You need a species that evolves along the brain route
This is rare. Very rare. Look at the most successful species of all time. Insects have been around for a long time but have stayed the same for tens of millions of years. Fish have been around for much longer but but didn't take the brains route, Jelly fish are really ancient but don't have much that you'd even call a brain. The last time a species was as big as we are in evolutionary terms they were dinosaurs. Not generally known for having big brains.
The list of factors is longer than this and it is almost the reverse of the "Green bank formula", making life rarer and intelligent life rarer still with every step.
Simply put: Clever aliens (as clever or more clever than us) are unlikely while moss or bacteria are very likely.
Just think about all the stuff that tries to stop life evolving:
You need a 2nd generation star
The older stars had no heavey elements to make solid planets or complex life.
You need one that's big enough but not too big
Small stars last a long time but lack the energy output to get life going, big stars burn out too quickly.
You need stable gas giants far out
Stable and close in is fairly common but means that all the Earth like planets will have been destroyed. Stable and far out means that the inner worlds are sheilded by the outer worlds hoovering up meterorites.
You need to be at the right radius in the galaxy
Too close in and you get involved in too many collisions as there's more stuff to hit. Too far out and you don't get enough to nudge things along.
You need to avoid too many and too great extinctions
This is similar to the above criteria but more specific. Too many extinctions will knock back the most advanced life forms before they can do much meaning perpetual slime and jelly fish. Too big and life might have to start again from a complete wipe out. We came close to this in one our extinctions.
You need a stable crust but not too stable
Unstable and eruptions get too big and can wipe out life, too stable and you don't get the thermal vents where we think life starts.
You need to avoid interstellar collisions
All of them. Stars, free planets, giant commets, other planets, giant meteor swarms, black holes.
You need to avoid local stellar radiation bursts
Some of these can be very very big and effectively sterilise galaxies. Gulp.
You need a species that evolves along the brain route
This is rare. Very rare. Look at the most successful species of all time. Insects have been around for a long time but have stayed the same for tens of millions of years. Fish have been around for much longer but but didn't take the brains route, Jelly fish are really ancient but don't have much that you'd even call a brain. The last time a species was as big as we are in evolutionary terms they were dinosaurs. Not generally known for having big brains.
The list of factors is longer than this and it is almost the reverse of the "Green bank formula", making life rarer and intelligent life rarer still with every step.
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff