freitasm:

Klipspringer:

freitasm:  You can be an atheist and believe there's life in other planets. 

On the other hand, I know a lot of religious people who says life in other planets is impossible because God created man on Earth and that's it, since there's nothing else in the book saying anything about other planets.

Really? care to explain?

If you believe there could be life on other planets, life that maybe formed long before our time, you treading very close to religion. Maybe this life is more advanced than us? Maybe they created us? Or we are Gods ourselves who will one day create our own planet? 

Any atheist who believes in possible alien life is contradicting themselves? surely.

I think you are grasping here. Believing in life outside Earth does not contradict atheism and at the same time is in now way confirmation of a God. 

freitasm: Beautiful discussion folks, well done for holding this far without calling people names.

While discussing the origins is a very important thing, the question from the OP remains open and no answers to that in the last six or so pages: "Is there life elsewhere in the Universe?"

While determining HOW life came to be it is still not the topic. So back on topic would be great.

freitasm: I am not getting into "what's a god". I do not want to discuss religion.

Fred99:

freitasm: Beautiful discussion folks, well done for holding this far without calling people names.

While discussing the origins is a very important thing, the question from the OP remains open and no answers to that in the last six or so pages: "Is there life elsewhere in the Universe?"

While determining HOW life came to be it is still not the topic. So back on topic would be great.

Ok - Fred99 is an abject moron trying to force his quasi-religious views on everybody else (I hope we can call ourselves names?)

In the absence of observational evidence that there is life elsewhere in the universe, discussion about how life happened to appear here (thus could arise elsewhere) is on topic IMO.
If the alternative is to surrender to the argument that lack of evidence is in itself evidence that life doesn't exist elsewhere, then there's not a hell of a lot to talk about really, just difference in opinion.

ubergeeknz:  If particles are demonstrably increasing their distance from an epicentre, what else would you call it?

sleemanj:

ubergeeknz:  If particles are demonstrably increasing their distance from an epicentre, what else would you call it?

A small point, but, do not think of "the big bang" as being in any place, it's not an explosion.  THere's no epicenter, it happened "everywhere", in other words there is no such thing as the "center of the universe", just as there is no "edge" to look towards, there just is the universe.  

The universe is expanding almost certainly, but it's not expanding "outward" from some center, it's just expanding.   We observe EVERYTHING moving away from EVERYTHING else*, in all directions.  No matter what point you are in the universe, everything is moving away from you, contrarily if there was a center, some things would be moving "with" you, that's not what we observe, we observe everything moving away. It's not throwing a ball, it's making the ball bigger.

And to address some other posts by other members;

As for "before the big bang", or what "caused" it... when time and energy is compressed to a singularity "cause and effect" go out the window, in fact even now, the forwards linear progression of cause and effect is not entirely a certainty - that is to say, it could be that the cause does not always come before the effect, when we get down to quantum physics; so perhaps the big bang was caused BY it's effect.  

As to the original question... yes, statistically speaking, I would be very surprised if there was not life elsewhere in the universe.  The universe is a very big place, to think that we are so special, is quite arrogant.  All the time now new planets are being discovered.

From basic elements to organic life forms is not a big leap, just add enough energy and time, two things that our universe has plenty of.

* Edit to add for clarity: Everything that is not bound together by other (stronger) forces that is, eg the atoms making you do not expand away from each other, because you are very much bound together :-)

joker97: well who knows maybe laws of physics changed in the past. they say there is a big bang because everything is moving away, at some time they must be at one singular point hence the big bang ... well ... what if ... it ain't that simple - it sounds way to simple for me esp string theorists are postulating 10 dimensions (6 more than we can comprehend)

Klipspringer:

freitasm:  You can be an atheist and believe there's life in other planets. 

On the other hand, I know a lot of religious people who says life in other planets is impossible because God created man on Earth and that's it, since there's nothing else in the book saying anything about other planets.

Really? care to explain?

If you believe there could be life on other planets, life that maybe formed long before our time, you treading very close to religion. Maybe this life is more advanced than us? Maybe they created us? Or we are Gods ourselves who will one day create our own planet? 

Any atheist who believes in possible alien life is contradicting themselves? surely.