Why are some people so preoccupied with finding life on other planets?

[LuvOrlando]

Saw this article and had a funny thought.

Have the people looking never met someone, had it go really wrong then wished they never met them at all? I have, too many times to count. What in the world are they thinking, that alien life would be nicer and full of friends?

https://weather.com/news/trending/video/saturn-moon-titan-new-discovery

Just why????

 

[princesscinderella]

 

[princesscinderella]

Man has used the stars as a guide since before recorded history it’s only natural that we would want to keep exploring the cosmos. Better technology allows us to see and explore more than ever before why would we stop?

 

[LuvOrlando]

^Why would we stop?

The song Pets by Porno for Pyros comes to mind

Look at the way humans can't even seem to manage coexisting with each other if there is disagreement, have zero ability to harness tolerance, protect children, animals or anything vulnerable. Do I think humanity would do better with other life forms, need to go with a no, not at all.

Would things go well with a life form that could bite back, probably not.

 

[BayouQueen]

Well, eventually we're gonna need somewhere else to go.

 

[sam_gordon]

Well, eventually we're gonna need somewhere else to go.

This is a part of it. Trying to find places that will support life is not the same as looking for life.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Well, eventually we're gonna need somewhere else to go.

Why?

There is no reason to assume nature won't force adaptation. When there are too many of anything disease or some other factor that fine tunes the species and reduces numbers sets in to right the ship. No living thing can just propagate willy nilly indefinitely, that's not how it works and going somewhere else won't change anything mostly because we are not evolved to live elsewhere. If we try to live elsewhere a whole new set of diseases and afflictions will just show up that will probably adapt whole lot faster than our very complicated slow changing globs of goo bodies. Viruses are bits of recipe/code bacteria are super tiny with one job, then there are prions and fungi mostly much smaller and less complicated which is why they adapt so fast. My money is on microbes beating us to the finish line of evolutionary adaptation light years before our bodies even begin to change.

 

[BrianL]

Why?

There is no reason to assume nature won't force adaptation. When there are too many of anything disease or some other factor that fine tunes the species and reduces numbers sets in to right the ship. No living thing can just propagate willy nilly indefinitely, that's not how it works and going somewhere else won't change anything mostly because we are not evolved to live elsewhere. If we try to live elsewhere a whole new set of diseases and afflictions will just show up that will probably adapt whole lot faster than our very complicated slow changing globs of goo bodies. Viruses are bits of recipe/code bacteria are super tiny with one job, then there are prions and fungi mostly much smaller and less complicated which is why they adapt so fast. My money is on microbes beating us to the finish line of evolutionary adaptation light years before our bodies even begin to change.

Yeah, but we don't have to change our bodies if we can change the planet. Terraforming would need to become wildly more advanced, but that's more likely than some kind of accellerated, forced evolution. We are a LONG way from any of that, but we still have to take the baby-steps now.

 

[princesscinderella]

Wall-E may prove to be prophetic.

 

[princesscinderella]

^Why would we stop?

The song Pets by Porno for Pyros comes to mind

Look at the way humans can't even seem to manage coexisting with each other if there is disagreement, have zero ability to harness tolerance, protect children, animals or anything vulnerable. Do I think humanity would do better with other life forms, need to go with a no, not at all.

Would things go well with a life form that could bite back, probably not.

Knowledge is power, if you would rather not know that’s your choice. The link you posted above was about space exploration not aliens. Obama did just recently state that aliens exist in an interview with Bryan Tyler Cohen so it’s definitely being looked at too while they are trying to understand our place in the universe. When you really try to think and focus on all of the unique creatures and plants that already inhabit our planet it’s mind boggling.

 

[easyas123]

Human Nature. It's part of our nature to explore and investigate, to experiment and push boundaries. It's part of our biology, if not we would not have evolved to this point. I don't think a living organism gets to a certain juncture in time and then that urge automatically turns off.
Same reason I suppose we started developing basic tools, developed farming techniques, created languages, cultures, governing systems, machines, and what not. Something within in us compels the collective us to move forward.

At this junction in time, space is one of those forward places. There are many forward places humans are moving towards...bottom of the sea, center of the earth, advances in medicine and other sciences. I think if the collective us did not stop advancing then we'd stagnate and sit still and that doesn't jive with the human biological drive to evolve.

*I'm no scholar, scientist or philosopher.

 

[citruscurtis]

Kolob.. Fayette New York

 

[princesscinderella]

Kolob.. Fayette New York

What does this mean?

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Could be cool. Even if it's just a form of yeast. Would possibly even be humbling, knowing we're not a lonely mistake or whatever.

 

[NovenShade]

People are curious by nature — especially about the unknown. Finding life on other planets would answer huge questions about who we are and whether life is a universal thing.
It’s not really about thinking aliens would be nicer than people; it’s more about discovery, understanding our place in the universe, and exploring possibilities beyond Earth. For many, it’s the idea of others out there — not expectations of friendship — that’s exciting.