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All About UFO's

We don’t know how life started on Earth but scientists are working on it. To say that the elements or building blocks of life exist in the universe is kind of stating the obvious…we are here. We don’t know the process that gave rise to life. Until we know that, and the odds of this happening on other planets, then the rest is pure speculation. Sean Carroll has said maybe the odds are so great of all these things aligning up that we are it, or at least extremely rare. We just don’t know.

I certainly hope we aren’t alone. As they say in the movie Contact, it sure would be a waste of space. Hoping doesn’t get us far but research and exploration, I believe will give us at least hints.
 
Galliardist said:
Organic material doesn't equal life, though, does it?
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It sure doesn't. :) It could be argued that the term is a misnomer, since many (not all!) molecules containing carbon were noticed to be of biological origin (proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids). Organic compounds, are those containing carbon and hydrogen (at minimum), and often oxygen, nitrogen (and many others). Fundamentally, the term means carbonaceous, but excludes non-organic carbon (e.g., carbonates).
The synthesis of urea by Wohler (in 1828, according to teh interwebs -- I wasn't around!) from an inorganic precursor (ammonium cyanate) was effectively the genesis (no pun intended) of the science of organic chemistry. Wohler is reported to have written "I must tell you that I can make urea without the use of kidneys, either man or dog. Ammonium cyanate is urea.[sic]" :)


EDIT: Indeed, urea isn't commercially produced today from lots and lots of enslaved kidneys, but rather from ammonia and carbon dioxide.

Randy Bessinger said:
We don’t know how life started on Earth but scientists are working on it.
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"They" have been since at least the mid 1950s.

Godataloss said:
There is abundant evidence of extraterrestrial-origin nucleobases arriving on earth.
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"Nucleobases"? What do you mean by this? Do you mean nucleotides, or just the bases themselves (adenine, uridine, guanidine, citidine, uracil) or something else? The bases are relatively simple "enabler" molecules.

Since I am not an exobiologist (rather, I'm a biochemist - albeit a somewhat lazy one) and you seem to know, please do share some reference from the peer reviewed literature. Thanks!
The existence of the bases themselves, similar to the known existence of other extraterrestrial organic compounds (e.g., some amino acids) doesn't really say much about the existence of extraterrestrial life. It does say something about the universality of organic chemistry, which is kind of reassuring -- at least to organic chemists! ;)
 
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XTRProf said:
Sorry, I dunno whether this has been posted before. But it seems aliens are at least fictionally not too far from us!
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True by definition (the "at least fictionally" part, that is)!
;)
 
If Marvel is making something on Aliens among us, obviously this topic is of some importance now. Great posting by everyone here!
 
XTRProf said:
If Marvel is making something on Aliens among us, obviously this topic is of some importance now. Great posting by everyone here!
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Well...it's promising fodder for movie makers.
 
mhardy6647 said:
The existence of the bases themselves, similar to the known existence of other extraterrestrial organic compounds (e.g., some amino acids) doesn't really say much about the existence of extraterrestrial life. It does say something about the universality of organic chemistry, which is kind of reassuring -- at least to organic chemists! ;)
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Exactly. What strikes me most about it is that there is nothing special about the chemistry of Earth. These precursor chemicals form throughout space (as opposed to being formed in stars). I think it's fair to say the composition of our planet is far from unique. We know there is liquid water and volcanic activity on other bodies in our own solar system which is one of 4,000 in just the Milky Way- one galaxy of perhaps 200,000,000,000 in our universe. Now if you consider how far away from 'life' these chemicals are and all the other processes that had to come together to result in what we are today, It seems much more likely to me to be a product of a multitude of worlds than to be a miracle happening on just one and even if you believe that life started spontaneously on Earth, there remains the possibility that it was altered by extra terrestrial genetic material.

So why not take the next step? If Earth is not the origin of life, but just another fertile atoll in the sea of space, perhaps we were seeded- intentionally or by chance. If by chance, perhaps there is evidence we can find in the vast swaths of virus leavings in our DNA. If it was by intention, could there be a message as well? AI is good at learning dead languages. Maybe it can learn to speak ET.
 
Maybe expanding a bit beyond just spotting Aliens, do we think we can ever be able to integrate any friendly Aliens into our society as depicted in some of the TV series. Imagine an Alien for the President of the United States. Some food for thoughts.
 
Galliardist said:
Do you really believe in craft that happily fly around the galaxy at faster than light speeds, flown by representatives of a highly advanced civilisation, and yet when they reach Earth's atmosphere they suddenly and inexplicably crash? They, as in more than one?

We can make the negative assumption until proven otherwise on that score alone, for now, surely?
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I don't think that's unlikely as it sounds. Most aircraft crashes are due to human error either in the air or on the ground.

Unless the aliens are infallible then they can crash no matter how great their tech is. Maybe their ground crew didn't properly tighten a bolt before they took off?

Plus if you assume that there's a lot of traffic - say a million saucers a year visiting the earth - then a handful of crashes every century or so seems reasonable.
 
Let me tell you about the time I was abducted... LOL.

I started this thread. Unlike some members who start threads, I make no attempt to guide it in any particular direction. Some pretty good stuff here.
 
Ron Texas said:
Let me tell you about the time I was abducted... LOL.

I started this thread. Unlike some members who start threads, I make no attempt to guide it in any particular direction. Some pretty good stuff here.
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It has been fun. Odd; but fun.
 
Mart68 said:
Unless the aliens are infallible then they can crash no matter how great their tech is. Maybe their ground crew didn't properly tighten a bolt before they took off?
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Does this imply that they don't have AI?
Maybe they are of superior intellect.
 
mhardy6647 said:
Does this imply that they don't have AI?
Maybe they are of superior intellect.
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Or they're so bright their AI actually works right.
 
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