Of course. We know that earth is teeming with life, that there are at
least protoamino acids in space (which means there are likely to be
amino acids as well), and there are other solar systems with planets
similar to ours in the neighbourhood. We also know that the universe is
huge and has been around a long time; so the probability that there is
not other life out there is almost vanishingly small. Given that it is
unlikely that our planetary system is in any way unique, the least
hypothesis is that there is other life similar to our own out there but
almost certainly at different stages of evolution (certainly none
"close" at the same level of evolution or SETI should have detected them
by now - although I suspect SETI is looking for entirely the wrong kind
of signals). Some are probably more developed than ours, others less so.
On the other hand, there is no evidence which requires life forms like our own, so, given the lack of evidence, the least hypothesis is that there is no other life out there, but with a very high probability of that hypothesis being incorrect. Fortunately that will be easy to correct. Hopefully soon :-)
TheHermit
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-virus@lucifer.com [mailto:owner-virus@lucifer.com]On Behalf
Of James Veverka
Sent: Saturday, June 05, 1999 17:41
To: virus@lucifer.com
Subject: RE: virus: Re: Technology (was manifest science)
Hermit,
But the probability of the universe being full of lifeforms is not zero!.....jim