The universe is enormous, I don't see how it's possible we're the only ones. If life could develop here it most certainly can elsewhere.
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Is there life elsewhere in the Solar System?
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Life in our Solar System – Europa, Ganymede & Callisto
Europa’s icy crust shows evidence that it’s regularly cracked open by tidal forces, and many cracks may be repeatedly pulled open and pushed together as Europa orbits Jupiter, pumping water from the sub-surface ocean up into the cracks.
Greenberg proposed that ecosystems of bacteria and even multicellular life could live in these surface cracks, having just enough shelter from UV radiation and being supplied with heat and nutrients in the water pumped into the cracks.
He even proposed that ultraviolet radiation striking Europa’s surface could free oxygen atoms from the ice, which could be absorbed into the sub-surface ocean via these cracks, and could oxygenate Europa’s ocean, allowing more complex life-forms to be supported, that could feed off the simpler life; there may even be something similar to fish on Europa.
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I was watching a documentary a while ago, and when the sun eventually gets larger life on Europa can blossom if it hasn't already.
Tidal friction could very well have created an ocean underneath that layer of ice already, which life could've already started.
Last edited by Beercules; 08-27-2014, 08:53 PM.
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Originally posted by El-blanco View PostThe universe is enormous, I don't see how it's possible we're the only ones. If life could develop here it most certainly can elsewhere.
There are two issues though. The first is that we have no way of knowing just how likely or unlikely the emergence of 'intelligent' life on this planet was. We have no frame of reference.
The second issue is the vast expanse of time we're dealing with. Even if it is probable that life exists elsewhere, what are the chances of intelligent life-forms arising at the same time?
Not only do they have to arrive in the same era amidst the billions of years the universe had existed. At least one of them has to develop inter-stellar, if not inter-galactic travel capability during the period of the other's existence. And they have to be close enough for that to matter.
Can civilizations even get to that point without destroying themselves first? You wouldn't be very optimistic about our chances.
Even though it does seem overwhelmingly likely that life must exist elsewhere in the universe, tragically, the chances of two higher life-forms ever meeting seem quite slim.
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