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<blockquote data-quote="mlnevese" data-source="post: 1043690" data-attributes="member: 36157">It would be statistically unlikely for life not to exist elsewhere given the mind bogging number of worlds out there and the fact organic substances have been identified on asteroids and comets. Don&#039;t confuse organic substances with life though, those are building block substances, not life itself.Then there is the question we have no real parameter to calculate how often complex life evolves and how often life creates intelligence. There may be whole worlds out there full of life with no intelligent technological civilizations. Also considering the wild variation of life right here it&#039;s possible there are species out there as smart as us but physically unable to develop advanced technology.Then there is the question of why an advanced civilization would be here. I can think of some reasons:1) Determine if we may be a threat to them if not now, in the future2) Study a primitive civilization.3) Study biodiversity.Resource gathering is unlikely. There is nothing on Earth that can&#039;t be found elsewhere where no violent monkeys exist to bother the miners... And that&#039;s even considering there is an easy way to travel the long distances involved. I can see no point in sending a living being on a 1000 + years trip just to collect some DNA or even worse, to mine some resources. Just send an AI robotic probe. We could do that right now and there is no way to predict what a civilization even a few centuries ahead of us could do.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="mlnevese, post: 1043690, member: 36157"] It would be statistically unlikely for life not to exist elsewhere given the mind bogging number of worlds out there and the fact organic substances have been identified on asteroids and comets. Don't confuse organic substances with life though, those are building block substances, not life itself. Then there is the question we have no real parameter to calculate how often complex life evolves and how often life creates intelligence. There may be whole worlds out there full of life with no intelligent technological civilizations. Also considering the wild variation of life right here it's possible there are species out there as smart as us but physically unable to develop advanced technology. Then there is the question of why an advanced civilization would be here. I can think of some reasons: 1) Determine if we may be a threat to them if not now, in the future 2) Study a primitive civilization. 3) Study biodiversity. Resource gathering is unlikely. There is nothing on Earth that can't be found elsewhere where no violent monkeys exist to bother the miners... And that's even considering there is an easy way to travel the long distances involved. I can see no point in sending a living being on a 1000 + years trip just to collect some DNA or even worse, to mine some resources. Just send an AI robotic probe. We could do that right now and there is no way to predict what a civilization even a few centuries ahead of us could do. [/QUOTE]

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