I kind of like the idea we exist because we had a planet collide into earth bringing minerals and such creating life. The combo of that happening will bring chances down drastically for our life, statistically if universe is for ever what we do now is to be repeated
But once again you've ignored the time element. Divide your "incredibly large number" by the very, very small amount of time life has existed on this planet and you get back to my, statistically, very small number. And - given the amount of time it would take to travel across the universe (even at the speed of light, if that were ever possible) the chances of two life-forms from different planets ever coming into contact are infintesimally small...
But, also... A four dial Enigma machine can produce more combinations of numbers than the number of atoms in the known universe... Big numbers are a very interseting subject...
The current estimate is that the universe is 13.799 BILLION years old, not 13.8 million. Life may have existed on earth for around 3.8 billion years, according to the latest estimates. Human life has existed for around 200,000 years. What could be considered intelligent human life probably not much more than 4000 years. Inteligent human life capable of actually looking for other life in the universe? Even if you say 2000 years, divide that by the 13.8 billion - it's a very small number indeed. Given that, the chance of intelligent life existing on any planet capable of sustaining it is around 2000 in every 13.8 billion. Do the maths on that one and tell me how likely it is that two lifeforms exist at the same time in the universe at the same time.
I've ignored nothing. 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (70 Billion Trillion). Solar systems. However you want to boil it down, including the time aspect. You've nowhere to go on this one I'm afraid. Let me put it this way. If I said........."There are 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Solar systems in the Universe, but life only exisits on Earth". I'd be putting my tin hat on very quickly. Of course neither of us can prove whether life exists elsewhere. :Wideyed:
Sadly us humans to tend to repeat ourselves, which is what eventually massively helped in breaking the codes.
I don't really see pointing out the difference between 13.8 million and 13.8 billion as being pedantic - it's a pretty huge difference ! But, whatever... Even if you're right and there are lots of planets that could, and maybe do, support life the distances and time involved still make the chances of life existing in two places in the universe at the same time incredibly small; so the chance of those two lifeforms ever meeting, or even knowing of each other are so small as to be mathematically indistinguishable from zero. Feel free to disagree - as you obviously do...
I don't know what I think about any of this shit let alone what you or anyone else, including me, has written here - but this seems to be mixing things up a bit - I don't understand how you can state that life forms existing in two different places (in the universe) at the same time is incredibly small. I'm not seeing the logic here given that you've been precise with your definitions of numbers and scale etc. I completely agree that the chances of such life forms co-existing at different locations are highly unlikely to be having a chat any time soon, if ever, should life forms be limited to travel at the speed of light or below. What's the reasoning for having difficulty believing that 'some' life form 'could' exist out there? Particularly given the numbers Robanero has posted - which BTW I've no idea whether they're complete bollocks or not but sound somewhat believable. Just saying I don't get it - nothing more.
Professor Sara Seager also says you're wrong... A New Equation Reveals Our Exact Odds of Finding Alien Life
But as someone else pointed out: Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
I like the cut of his jib I'll go with the expert, because I'm certainly not. "In November 2013, astronomers reported, based on Kepler space mission data, that there could be as many as 40 billion Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zones of sun-like stars and red dwarf stars within the Milky Way Galaxy. 11 billion of these estimated planets may be orbiting sun-like stars. The nearest planet in the habitable zone may be as little as 12 light-years away, according to the scientists" As Aircon said, people can get their knickers in a twist arguing about something nobody can prove, and although I've enjoyed the debate, I'll leave it here. My final word on the matter though.....Are we really saying that the Universe has existed for 13.8bn (or 13.799bn) years and what you see below is the pinacle of the evolution of life
