Is there life on other planets?

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Questions like this keeps people awake in the night. Personally, I doubt that we are alone in a universe with a diameter of several billions of light years.

I also believe that lifeforms from other planets are so different from life on earth that we can't imagine what it looks like. Still, the evolution uses the same "tactics" on several different species on earth (take for instance the wings on the bats, compared to the wings on the birds). In any case, extra-terrestrial life is several lightyears away, and will never come in contact with life on earth.

There are probably a billion planets in the universe with life potential similar to Earth. No one knows how rare the initial steps to a set of self-reproductive molecules might be. It has been speculated that life systems outside that of the water based system we have here are possible. Fred Hoyle wrote a novel "The Black Cloud" which speculates that life in interstellar dust might be possible. Since the nearest star system is about 4 light years away communication would have 4 year delays if intelligent life appeared there assuming it was technologically on the same level as here. This seems very unlikely. Millions of light years is the more common distance between stars and communication at that level is impractical.

It is not a question of belief, it is a question of possibility. It does not seem impossible.

Of course there is, and its our duty as humans to conquer their planets and enslave them.

I believe there is but I doubt if there is any form of intelligent life. Maybe the extraterrestrial life are only bugs and insects. If there would be any intelligent form of life we would have already encountered it unless it is extremely far away in a different solar system and then we may never find out about it at all. Personally I very much doubt if intelligent forms of life are out there, maybe there is nothing but insects and such.

There are thousands of galaxies in every square inch of the sky, its impossible for anyone with half a brain to say there is no other life out there. As for intelligent life, well, just look at us! How can you say we are the smartest life in the universe??

I know that there are for a fact. May not be intelligent beings like us, but at least in the form of bacteria. They have made discoveries of far away planets that have water and an atmosphere that can support life. Not to mention the infinite amount of galaxies out there, there is no way that this is the only world with life on it.

Definately. I think life must exist elsewhere in the universe if it exists here. Such a system of checks and balances must be prominent because chance pervades all existence. Perfect systems must be prominant to sustain life, not just locally either. Think about the realm of higher intellects around the universe and how they know about the equation presented, and how we as a race are so feeble not to even consider or popularize such.

~~Ockham's Razor, baby!!

As the question about if there is extra-terrestrial life, I would say, yes, they MUST exist, we make that conclusion because we follow a reasonable argument about being the only intelligent life from the whole universe consisting of millions of galaxies, each galaxy millions of stars, against being just one of many other intelligent species out there.

However, this conclusion is a conjecture or a hypothesis, because we don't have a solid evidence "yet". (talking about intelligent beings)

There is a strange reluctance of even intelligent people to admit that they simply do not know. Science has demonstrated repeatedly that assumptions which may seem quite valid have been proven wrong. Why not leave it in a realm of the possible?

there better be... im looking to by some realty

I have yet to see intelligent life on this planet, so I am 100% sure there must be some on another planet. Thus, I could not vote, as 99 does not equal 100.

Yes, there are other forms of life out there. And they are staying as far away from humans as possible because they know how %&(@% up we are.

The probability of life existing out there in the universe is quite small. This does not mean that life existing out there is impossible, but merely improbable. In other words, out of a group of planets in a galaxy, there could potentially be only one or two planets (or even none) that are capable of sustaining life. And probably even fewer that could sustain life forms with sentience or intelligence, since intelligence is not necessarily a part of evolution, if it is not beneficial to adaptation. If there were life in the universe besides the Earth, it would probably exist very few and far between.