New Spielberg movie - Transformers

[JessicaH (imported)]

It would be ironic if MORGASTER belived in gody and the bible...

[artisticlicense (imported)]

. .

. Sorry guys but there is no such thing as an 'alien spacecraft' because there is no such thing as an 'alien'. Life is peculiar to the Earth and exists nowhere else in the universe. It is a singularity that emerged miraculously here and only here some 3.5 billion years ago. The tag line of the trailer is "We are not alone, we are definitely not alone."

Wrong! We are alone. If anyone doubts that assertion, I invite them to come forward with some evidence, any evidence, to the contrary.

Spielberg and movie magic aside, it really depends upon what you, and you alone, consider to be 'alien'.

There is enough evidence all over the world to suggest that Earth was visited by alien lifeforms. The "miraculous event" was itself . . . possibly from alien life landing and growing into 'us' and all other lifeforms on Earth.

If you go along with the Biblical / written accounts of the 'miraculous' singularity, Creation, and the God(s) stories; it is a little interesting to note the archaeological evidence, and some of the findings in ancient cultures concerning Creation.

Early man didn't know what the heck he was seeing, and gave it a name according to his times. Then the stories came after.

We do the same. Even modern man sees things he can't explain.

We're getting better at it though.

Logically, I have to give credence to the evidence. Alien life may not include a 'space craft' as we might conjure up, but there are several ways alien life can land on Earth, and there is a lot of evidence to comply with beliefs around the world to boot.

Check out Legendarytimes.com (http://www.legendarytimes.com/index.php ... 4206b4d1aa ad). Even if you CANNOT believe in anything alien, it's still very interesting. I think they are the most logical of all ET proponents.

[morganster (imported)]

Ok, my (unfounded?) assertion is challenged. First, nobody here has supplied any actual evidence of alien life, aside from myths about flying saucers and prehistoric visitations, which remain myths.

Secondly, there is nothing in statistics or probability that says a 'singularity' must be repeated. Are there two snowflakes alike? Are there two sets of fingerprints alike? Who says that the vast, practically uncountable number of possible planets similar to Earth MUST include at least one that has life? Life may well be a singular peculiarity of this one planet just like the peculiar crystal structure of a snowflake is unique.

You can't prove a negative (e.g. 'that no alien life exists'). What you have to do is prove the positive by supplying some evidence of its existence and there is none.

Belief in alien life is like belief in God. Some would say it is a surrogate for belief in God in the modern age. It is comforting to think we are not 'alone', so we believe we are not alone. This in spite of no evidence whatsoever.

[morganster (imported)]

Okay, you want evidence? Define what you will accept as that evidence.

there are gigabytes of pictures, stories and commentary on UFO's, and of course abduction claims. are they all liars?

If that is evidence then the Catholic Bishops responsible for finding miracles to confirm sainthoods (e.g. Pope John Paul, etc.) are finding 'evidence'. Statues of Mary that bleed from the eyes, and so forth (it's rust by the way). Don't believe everything you read at the checkout counter.

[gareth19 (imported)]

Wrong! We are alone. If anyone doubts that assertion, I invite them to come forward with some evidence, any evidence, to the contrary.

Obviously, you didn't do too well in metaphysics because it is impossible to prove a negative assertion (we are not alone). All that can be said at this stage is that no convincing evidence for extraterrestrial life has yet emerged; however, Titan has the same conditions (methane, ammonia, water and in internal heat source) that most theoreticians argue were the basic elements for the appearance of life on earth. There is a priori no reason for excluding the possibility of life outside of the earth. There are a priori reasons for excluding life on Mercury, Venus, or Mars, but the rest of the universe is too vast to be excluded with the wave of a hand.

[transward (imported)]

Ok, my (unfounded?) assertion is challenged. First, nobody here has supplied any actual evidence of alien life, aside from myths about flying saucers and prehistoric visitations, which remain myths.

Secondly, there is nothing in statistics or probability that says a 'singularity' must be repeated. Are there two snowflakes alike? Are there two sets of fingerprints alike? Who says that the vast, practically uncountable number of possible planets similar to Earth MUST include at least one that has life? Life may well be a singular peculiarity of this one planet just like the peculiar crystal structure of a snowflake is unique.

You can't prove a negative (e.g. 'that no alien life exists'). What you have to do is prove the positive by supplying some evidence of its existence and there is none.

Belief in alien life is like belief in God. Some would say it is a surrogate for belief in God in the modern age. It is comforting to think we are not 'alone', so we believe we are not alone. This in spite of no evidence whatsoever.

You need to use your "little gray cells" a bit better. You are the one who has made a universal statement

Life is peculiar to the Earth and exists nowhere else in the universe.

We are under no compulsion to produce evidence of alien life, you need to support your statement. To say that there is no evidence of alien life here in front of me, is absolutely no evidence one way or the other about the existance of life on the other side of the universe. You yourself admit you have no way of knowing what you claim as fact.

And you are the one who is making a statement of faith about something you can know nothing about, just as much as those who believe in little green men. And at least the little green men believers have at least some evidence for their beliefs, however bogus. For your statement there is absolutely no evidence one way or the other. The lack of evidence for the existence of alien life is not evidence for the non existence thereof.

Transward

[butterflyjack (imported)]

I have aliens living next door to me though I think they are from Mazatlan

Hehehe Wolf...Good one dragonfly

[morganster (imported)]

Obviously, you didn't do too well in metaphysics because it is impossible to prove a negative assertion (we are not alone). All that can be said at this stage is that no convincing evidence for extraterrestrial life has yet emerged; however, Titan has the same conditions (methane, ammonia, water and in internal heat source) that most theoreticians argue were the basic elements for the appearance of life on earth. There is a priori no reason for excluding the possibility of life outside of the earth. There are a priori reasons for excluding life on Mercury, Venus, or Mars, but the rest of the universe is too vast to be excluded with the wave of a hand.

Well, I'm no metaphysician but I too pointed out that you can't prove a negative. I added, however, or meant to add, that you have to accept the negative until proven differently. Sort of 'innocent until proven guilty' in reverse. In other words, absent evidence to the contrary we must assume that life exists only here on Earth where it has actually been found to exist. There is no reason to exclude the possibility that there is faery dust on Titan that will grant a person immortality of you ingest it, but the evidence of same is negligible at best.

[morganster (imported)]

You need to use your "little gray cells" a bit better. You are the one who has made a universal statement We are under no compulsion to produce evidence of alien life, you need to support your statement. To say that there is no evidence of alien life here in front of me, is absolutely no evidence one way or the other about the existance of life on the other side of the universe. You yourself admit you have no way of knowing what you claim as fact.

And you are the one who is making a statement of faith about something you can know nothing about, just as much as those who believe in little green men. And at least the little green men believers have at least some evidence for their beliefs, however bogus. For your statement there is absolutely no evidence one way or the other. The lack of evidence for the existence of alien life is not evidence for the non existence thereof.

Transward

Ok, I will support my argument: The SETI project (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) has been canceled for lack of results. "SETI has also occasionally been the target of criticism by those who suggest that it is a form of pseudoscience. In particular, critics allege that no observed phenomena suggest the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence, and furthermore that the assertion of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence has no good Popperian criteria for falsifiability." (source: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v4 ... 1316a.html)

Will that do? Now it's your turn. Provide some evidence that life exists elsewhere than the Earth please, I'm all ears. Mine is not a 'statement of faith'. My statement adheres to the scientific principle that any hypothesis (e.g. life exists elsewhere than the Earth) must be considered speculative at best until evidence for it is provided.

You are under no obligation to prove any number of speculative things, like the existence of God for example, but if you believe such things without evidence, it is you who are immersed in faith, not me.

And your statement that "

The lack of evidence for the existence of alien life is not evidence for the non existence thereof

", is simply wrong. Absent evidence of 'A', not-'A' must be assumed until evidence of 'A' emerges or is discovered. For example, lack of evidence for 'A' having committed murder results in 'A's acquittal.

[morganster (imported)]

I just thought of a compromise assertion that might cool this debate:

"Life exists nowhere else in the universe except here on Earth as far as we know."