Intelligence is relative first of all...
If we define 'intelligent life' as having similar or greater intellectual abilities to ourselves *cough* egocentric *cough* then I would say probably since the universe is such a big place afterall...I mean if the Universe is infinite wouldnt that mean there is an infinite chance of there being other intelligent life out there??? My reasoning is likely flawed somewhere but oh well.
um......wrong defenition of intelligence man. It's not a scale to be compared........making anything relative to anything else.
Intelligence as used in the phrase "intelligent life" simply means life that is self aware, not bound by nor confined to instinct.
for example, most higher apes are considered intelligent life. Many use tools, they are not bound by instinct....they have used intelligence to create a tool or create a use for a naturally existing tool.
Originally posted by Evil Dead
um......wrong defenition of intelligence man. It's not a scale to be compared........making anything relative to anything else.Intelligence as used in the phrase "intelligent life" simply means life that is self aware, not bound by nor confined to instinct.
for example, most higher apes are considered intelligent life. Many use tools, they are not bound by instinct....they have used intelligence to create a tool or create a use for a naturally existing tool.
Intelligence is indeed relative, a scale like you said. Your description of 'intelligence' is just the byproduct of our higher intelligence in comparison to the lower intelligence of animals. Being self-aware does not equal some kind of true intelligence, it is arrogant to think that way, an alien lifeform of higher intelligence than us would have abilities we couldnt fathom...does that mean they have some kind of 'true' intelligence and we are completely void of it? No.
whatever man........
when science looks for intelligent life, there is no scale of comparison. Intelligence itself is not comparative, either a species or individual has it or it doesn't. what you are describing is the very layman and wrong definiton of intelligence used in society, "I'm more intelligent than this guy over here, I'm smarter"........that is not the scientifc definition and is not applicable to anything dealing with scientific search or research.
but hey......think what you want to think.......hell, you have the right to type your thoughts at great length on the internet regardless of it's validity.......have fun excersising that right.
"Intelligent life" is generally meant to be creatures able to use abstract symbols (as in mathematics)--in combination with a self-aware perspective beyond the here-and-now--in solving problems; creatures capable of building complex tools, especially (but not necessarily) a powered technology.
A chimp or dolphin is intelligent but (so far) they manifest no evidence of abstract-symbol using or problem-solving involving a perspective with "long-term" foresight. If we found chimp/dolphin analogs on another planet, we might regard them as intelligent, but not "alien intelligence" as in an analog to ourselves (which could well be a mistake on our part).
A farming community, however, would be considered "intelligence." So would, obviously, spaceflight.
Originally posted by Evil Dead
whatever man........when science looks for intelligent life, there is no scale of comparison. Intelligence itself is not comparative, either a species or individual has it or it doesn't. what you are describing is the very layman and wrong definiton of intelligence used in society, "I'm more intelligent than this guy over here, I'm smarter"........that is not the scientifc definition and is not applicable to anything dealing with scientific search or research.
but hey......think what you want to think.......hell, you have the right to type your thoughts at great length on the internet regardless of it's validity.......have fun excersising that right.
Intelligence is defined as the ability to learn or understand and deal with new or trying situations. Your really making no sense here man...most animals have these abilities even if it is at an extremely primitive level. You say "Im more intelligent than this guy over here" is the wrong use of the word intelligence, nope...If guy A shows better ability to learn or understand and deal with new or trying situations than guy B than guy A is 'smarter'.
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/intelligence
now try the third defenition of the word, understanding. That is the defenition as it relates to science, intelligent life. There is no scale to ascribe if a lifeform has the ability to understand. It simply does or it doesn't, as stated earlier.........your scale only applies if it does infact already have intelligence. Whether you percieve an alien intelligence to be on par with our own is irrelevant, the simple fact of them having the ability to understand classifies them as intelligent life......no matter how you would rate them compared to yourself or civilization.
Originally posted by Evil Dead
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/intelligencenow try the third defenition of the word, understanding. That is the defenition as it relates to science, intelligent life. There is no scale to ascribe if a lifeform has the ability to understand. It simply does or it doesn't, as stated earlier.........your scale only applies if it does infact already have intelligence. Whether you percieve an alien intelligence to be on par with our own is irrelevant, the simple fact of them having the ability to understand classifies them as intelligent life......no matter how you would rate them compared to yourself or civilization.
Well firstly your using only part of the complete definition, but whatever...
The main mistake your making is that you think animals are not capable of any understanding whatsoever. Scientists have trouble deducting exactly how much animals do understand, but they know most animals are capable of it however limited it may be. By your own argument, if a being is capable of some understanding then it is intelligent and my scale applies.
Originally posted by Great Vengeance
Intelligence is relative first of all...If we define 'intelligent life' as having similar or greater intellectual abilities to ourselves *cough* egocentric *cough* then I would say probably since the universe is such a big place afterall...I mean if the Universe is infinite wouldnt that mean there is an infinite chance of there being other intelligent life out there??? My reasoning is likely flawed somewhere but oh well.
The universe is not infinite. However, it is expanding. Astronomers know where the edge of the universe is, but it will continue to expand for eons to come. It is not infinite though.
This is a topic of conversation that I have had many times before, and after reading all the posts that have been made in this thread, I would like to offer my own opinion.
There are some of us who think that there must be life elsewhere in the Universe, for it is far to vast and extreme for us to be the only ones...though on the other hand there are some that think that we are the only beings.
I believe that there is Intelligent life elsewhere, but one has to take into consideration the fact of just how large the Universe is.
Humans have been on Earth for only 2 Million years, and space travel for us has only been in the last 50 years. We have broken the sound barrier, but haven't achieved Light Speed travel as of yet, so it would take us as Humans an eterntity to travel anywhere in our Universe, let alone our own Galaxy.
But in thinking about this, who is to say that a civilization on a different planet would be far more advanced than us? That they would have achieved the knowledge of light speed travel so that they could explore the universe as we have not.
I do believe that there is life out there, but in order to find that life, I do believe that it will be us seeking them out, rather than them seeking us.
Re: Is there intelligent life out there?
Originally posted by stormtrooper501
The universe is huge and it is expanding. It is so large that there has to be intelligent life out there somewhere. Why haven't we had contact from them? Where are they and how advanced are they?Personally, I think there has to be life out there somewhere. I mean to say that we are the only living organisms in the universe would be completely inconcievable. There has to be something else. Our galaxy started with the big bang, so other galaxies must have started out the same way and must have gone through an evolutionary period similar to the one we went through. There has to be other life out there.
You know I ask myself that question everyday right when I walk out of my house and start to talk to other people around me 😱
I am still looking for intelligent life down here...
On another note, I read some of those equations, about the probability of there being intelligent *snigger* life "out there". And I came to the conclusion (not very original) that with enough manipulation and assumptions you can make your figures say anything. You can make your figures say there is a 100% chance, because look, it happened once therefore it will happen again. Or you can use another argument, saying we are unique, no way will the exact same conditions that gave us our opportunity ever arise again.
The main thing is, it is pure speculation.
I WANT to believe there are alien races out there, people we can talk to, but then, when I was a kid, I also wanted to believe in Christmas Father. My conclusion? If there is an intelligent race, watching us, it is out of morbid curiosity, to see what new way we are going to invent to torture our fellow-man with next. Or out of self-protection, in case we become a danger to them.
But I have a feeling (call me an optimist) that we WILL meet our neighbours, one day, when we have evolved far enough to be allowed to move into a decent neighboorhood. When our neighbours won't be afraid to come and ask if they can borrow the lawn-mower, because we might shoot them with a nuclear bomb because they look funny or said something mean about our god/sport/politics/art...
Or you can use another argument, saying we are unique, no way will the exact same conditions that gave us our opportunity ever arise again.
Drake's equation aside.....
the conditions that allowed life on this planet are the same conditions at the time of creation of all planets. Extremely hot.......and hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe. Those two things, heat and hydrogen is what caused life on our planet......