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Debate Info

19
16
yes no
Debate Score:35
Arguments:34
Total Votes:35
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Argument Ratio

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 yes (18)
 
 no (16)

Debate Creator

Axmeister(4322) pic



Is the universe a big bustling place full of aliens

the "hitchhikers guide to the galaxy" is a book where earth gets "demolished" to make a new intergalatic highway or something and the universe turns out to be like one giant city. so I thought is the universe like a giant city that earthlings haven't yet made contact with.

yes

Side Score: 19
VS.

no

Side Score: 16

The odds are greater than 50/50. Our technology is very primitive and that's why we haven't found anything yet. As for the aliens they could quite possibly know we exist, but by their standards we are too primitive and therefore they don't bother with us.

Side: yes
TERMINATOR(6781) Disputed
1 point

There is yet to be any proof that aliens even exist, much less that the universe is a 'bustling place of of' them. The likelihood could not be "greater than 50/50."

Side: No
trumpeter93(998) Disputed
1 point

The odds are greater than 50'50 according to Steven dick. He is NASA's chief historian and astropysicist specializing in astrobiology and the post biological universe.

Side: yes
1 point

They've done some very odd analyses, and as it turns out, there should be anywhere from 10 to 1 million "advanced" civilizations in the universe at any given time, but that says nothing about less advanced lifeforms. And it is very unlikely that aliens have visited, because although we may seem primitive to them, there is fair reason to fear that if we do not kill ourselves, we may become advanced enough to destroy them, so they'd want to get rid of us NOW, while we are not as powerful. Since we're not under invasion, aliens don't know we're out there.

Side: yes
TERMINATOR(6781) Disputed
1 point

They've done some very odd analyses, and as it turns out, there should be anywhere from 10 to 1 million "advanced" civilizations in the universe at any given time

And yet it is all conjecture. There is not even proof that a single 'civilization' exists aside from Humanity (if we can even be called a 'civilization').

And it is very unlikely that aliens have visited,

If they exist, then why not? Isn't there quite a bit of evidence to suggest that - if the do exist - they have visited?

because although we may seem primitive to them,

Why would we seem 'primitive' to them?

there is fair reason to fear that if we do not kill ourselves

"If we do not kill ourselves"? I believe it to be a matter of 'when', not 'if'.

we may become advanced enough to destroy them

If we can destroy ourselves now, then why are we not currently 'advanced' enough to destroy them?

so they'd want to get rid of us NOW, while we are not as powerful.

Why do humans believe that everything unknown is a threat? Androids, aliens, etc.

Since we're not under invasion, aliens don't know we're out there.

That's a ludicrous assumption; why is everything 'evil'? Is it because we know that we, ourselves, would treat aliens so horrible that they, too, must take on our 'evil tendencies'?

Side: No
aveskde(1935) Disputed
2 points

If they exist, then why not? Isn't there quite a bit of evidence to suggest that - if the do exist - they have visited?

One cannot travel at superluminal velocities, and traveling at our fastest ship speeds it would take around half a million years to reach the nearest solar system.

Even if light speed were possible, many distances in space would take millions of years to reach, and there are also billions of galaxies with trillions of stars and so on. Our best hope would be that nearby solar systems have intelligent life, but that intelligent life would have to reach its apex of civilisation around the same time as us (that means within thousands of years out of hundreds of millions of years to choose from), and they would need to be able to travel near light speed to reach us within a decent time frame of hundreds or thousands of years.

It's like trying to hit a bull's eye the size of a grain of sand over a mile away. Sure, interstellar contact may happen and probably has occurred numerous times in the universe, and will, but it's a vastly improbable event, simply due to timing.

Intelligent life may be equally improbable, that is very hard to tell also.

That's a ludicrous assumption; why is everything 'evil'? Is it because we know that we, ourselves, would treat aliens so horrible that they, too, must take on our 'evil tendencies'?

Conquest is in the nature of life.

Side: yes
Bohemian(3860) Disputed
1 point

And yet it is all conjecture. There is not even proof that a single 'civilization' exists aside from Humanity (if we can even be called a 'civilization').

Agreed

If they exist, then why not? Isn't there quite a bit of evidence to suggest that - if the do exist - they have visited?

If by that you mean fuzzy photographs, and crop circles.....this is spurious at best.

Why would we seem 'primitive' to them?

If they are capable of inter-stellar travel, they are probably more advanced.

Side: yes
Pessimist(182) Disputed
1 point

And yet it is all conjecture. There is not even proof that a single 'civilization' exists aside from Humanity (if we can even be called a 'civilization').

All this is equally a conjecture.

If they exist, then why not? Isn't there quite a bit of evidence to suggest that - if the do exist - they have visited?

No.

If we can destroy ourselves now, then why are we not currently 'advanced' enough to destroy them?

Maybe they have technology capable of rendering useless our best weapons.

so they'd want to get rid of us NOW, while we are not as powerful.

Why do humans believe that everything unknown is a threat? Androids, aliens, etc.

Here's a hypothetical situation. Assume that using extremely advance methods which I cannot imagine, we are able to deduce that a certain species of orangutans will become far more intelligent than humans 30 000 years into the future. Guess what we're going to do? It's the same situation with aliens and us.

Side: yes
1 point

I'm pretty sure that there are aliens out there. WE can't be the only life form in this huge, ever-expanding universe. That's merely impossible. Although, there are no evidence that aliens visited us in the past, that doesn't mean the didn't. I think that they are so different (not obligatory more advanced, tho) that we can't possibly find them with our equipment, which is meant for detecting Carbon-based lifeforms, like us, humans. Many people believe that aliens are so advanced that they don't feel threatened by us and therefore don't bother killing us, or taking preventive measures like locking us inside our atmosphere or something. But what if aliens are less advanced than us, did you ever think of that?

Side: yes
1 point

yes it is my brother has hacked into area 51 there have been axperaments since the early 50

Side: yes
1 point

At any given moment there may be millions or even billions of civilisations amongst the stars, but space is so vast that we never see them and can only speculate. It's likely the same for them too, the vast majority would be too distant to communicate with each other.

Side: No

And yet, is there not just as great a chance that there is but one 'civilization', if you can even call us that? Or are you going to use Schroedinger's Cat, stating that, until evidence that they either exist or do not exist, we can assume both?

Side: No
aveskde(1935) Disputed
1 point

And yet, is there not just as great a chance that there is but one 'civilization', if you can even call us that?

Very dubious, since it seems that life is a natural product of the universe, theory allows for it to be commonplace. However, you're right that without true observational evidence we're operating a bit blind here.

I place my trust in theory, because it seems that planets far enough from their suns for liquid water aren't so rare, Gliese 581 d supports this, and we live in a vast universe where even improbable things happen in abundance.

Side: yes
1 point

It is big. It is bustling. However the bigness of it and the speed of light limit on travel seem to predetermine that while there is likely a lot of life out there, it is nowhere near full.

Not to say there is not a lot of it out there. It seems that every single theory, scientific theory of how life begins here, makes it a simple thing which could easily happen billions upon billions of times throughout the universe - there being approximately 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (10^23) stars in the Universe, it is nearly impossible that there shouldn't just accidental be all kinds of life out there, some of it quite a bit smarter than us I should think.

Side: No

The books also stated that the percentage occupation of the universe was 0%, or so close to it as makes representing the actual percentage irrelevant. The books proposed that the universe was infinite and therefore a finite number of inhabitants would render such a percentage. It is, however, mathematically unlikely that we are the only intelligent species in the universe. Such a notion is a by-product of arrogant, erroneous Christian teachings.

Side: No
1 point

I think it is possible that aliens exist & we can't find them yet, but i am choosing 'No' for now because there's no evidence. Every planet we have found so far has no life. I understand that there are billions and billions of unseen planets but why are the hundreds that we have seen ALL lifeless???

Side: No
1 point

There has been no evidence whatsoever relating to aliens existing. Therefore, I will take the theist route and say (loudly), "No!!!!"

Side: No