100 Earth Like Planets Within 30 Light Years

[Jeff K.]

All carbon based life forms look alike to me.

I think Helen Keller said that originally.

[KevinG]

Or how about if he shows up as a short, curly haired, dark skinned, pronounced facial features, old man wearing a yarmulke and a tallit katan. And says, "What were you expecting?"

Even better! Either way He will probably be suspended a few feet above the earth and emitting a heavenly glow.

[thesometimesaint]

jonhas:

You could be made of different elements, have different attributes (height, weight, density), different tollorances, even look completely 'alien' when compared to someone from this earth yet still have a similar degree of resemblence to a glorified resurrected eternal being.

Possible, but not very likely. Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen combine with so many other elements than any others. While height, and weight are functions of genetics, density of living objects is pretty much a function of water. All life on this planet is just a collection of water(H2O) with a few trace elements tossed in. There is no other medium that works near as well as water. I don't know how a immortal being would function as a living organism. I have belief that they do, but how I don't have a clue. I don't see how something/someone totally alien could relate to us on a father child level.

[KevinG]

I think Helen Keller said that originally.

Oh bravo!! you win the thread.

[Tarski]

No reason to expect intelligent life on all of those planets and no reason to think that any intelligent life would be remotely human-like.

[Jeff K.]

Actually there is reason to think intelligent life on other planets could be human like. Is there a compelling reason why the development of the brain will not follow a distinct bipedal path absent of other evidence?

[thesometimesaint]

I'm not too sure that intelligent life exists on this planet.

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

http://www.theage.co...0328-1vytq.html

If life was verified on other planets, it would be interesting to see each faith respond to it. I think Mormons would respond very well. How do you think each group would react to this kind of news?

Edit: "There could be many billions of planets not much bigger than Earth circling faint stars in our galaxy, says an international team of astronomers."

http://www.bbc.co.uk...onment-17532470

The "Flat Earther's" would be very upset. I have a friend who is such a fundamentalist, he believes the Earth is the Center of the Universe and that the Universe revolves around the earth.

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

Edit: "There could be many billions of planets not much bigger than Earth circling faint stars in our galaxy, says an international team of astronomers."

Edit to add to your edit...there are billions more.

[thesometimesaint]

To quote Carl Sagan "Billions upon Billions".

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

To quote Carl Sagan "Billions upon Billions".

He had such a distinct way of speaking, I can read what you put in quotes and hear him say it.

[TJayT]

Actually there is reason to think intelligent life on other planets could be human like. Is there a compelling reason why the development of the brain will not follow a distinct bipedal path absent of other evidence?

I imagine that any intelligent life that was fully aquatic would have no reason to develop on a bipedal path and could be as far from "human like" as we can imagine.

[thesometimesaint]

TJayT

The dolphin is very close to humans in brain size compared to body mass. While very smart for an aqatic mammal, humans still far exceed them in intelligence. Bipedalism would seem to have a definite advantage.

As to life outside this planet it is a subject for rank speculation until we have actual contact with ALF.

Edited March 29, 2012 by thesometimesaint

[Jeff K.]

Yes, but technological manipulation? Tool users? That aspect certainly isn't manifest in dolphins.

[Sethbag]

There's a nice little piece of Mormon folk doctrine that says that Jesus had to live on this planet, because this is the only planet wicked enough to kill its God.

This is one we may eventually get some revelation on, thanks to the astronomers.

[Jeff K.]

Depends, if we interact with one planet that seems incredibly good and nice (we will conquer it of course) that may lend credence, but not if there are hundreds more.

[Sethbag]

I mean something along the lines of the "Book of Zork: A Witness for a Guy Named Jesus Christ Who Lived and Died on Planet Earth", written by the Prophet Zork, by revelation, for the benefit of the people of planet X, who were righteous enough that they wouldn't have killed Jesus, but still wicked enough to need a savior.

[Jeff K.]

What would be cool is if there was the need to read that book through a hat like machine that they were and then peer through in order to read.

[TJayT]

TJayT

The dolphin is very close to humans in brain size compared to body mass. While very smart for an aqatic mammal, humans still far exceed them in intelligence. Bipedalism would seem to have a definite advantage.

As to life outside this planet it is a subject for rank speculation until we have actual contact with ALF.

I was actually thinking more along the lines of octopodes.

http://m.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/12/octopus-tools/

Invertebrates that use tools, solve mazes, remember cues and do other amazing things? They may not be as smart as we are, but they seem to point to the possibility of intelligent life thats nothing like us.

Getting back on topic while doing research on Original Sin I remember reading about discussions and theories of how other worlds atonements would work (or if one would even be needed) since they may have never fallen. So while I feel LDS are in a good position I think most other christian religions could adapt. I can only imagine most non-christian religions would be able to follow suit. The Hindus may have the easiest time off all, since they have no problem with incorporating new Gods into there pantheon.

[Sethbag]

What would be cool is if there was the need to read that book through a hat like machine that they were and then peer through in order to read.

Yeah, that would be really cool, wouldn't it? Plus it would totally make Joseph Smith not look so stupid for doing that.

Edited March 29, 2012 by Sethbag

[Sethbag]

I think the LDS are uniquely badly positioned on this, actually. Most other Christians believe in a God devoid of body, parts, or passions, and believe that the form of the human being is not directly patterned after the form of deity. They might well have an easier time dealing with grossly non-humanoid intelligent life forms, since humanoid form isn't required. Mormons, on the other hand, believe that homo sapiens is patterned physically on the form of God, and that as people on other planets would be the spirit offspring of this same being, must share the same form. Evolution then rears its ugly head and makes this a difficult proposition. If your God is just pure energy, or some formless megabeing apart from us puny humans, there's no good reason that being couldn't just as easily by the God of TjayT's octopodes.

[Bond...James Bond]

I think the LDS are uniquely badly positioned on this, actually. Most other Christians believe in a God devoid of body, parts, or passions, and believe that the form of the human being is not directly patterned after the form of deity. They might well have an easier time dealing with grossly non-humanoid intelligent life forms, since humanoid form isn't required. Mormons, on the other hand, believe that homo sapiens is patterned physically on the form of God, and that as people on other planets would be the spirit offspring of this same being, must share the same form. Evolution then rears its ugly head and makes this a difficult proposition. If your God is just pure energy, or some formless megabeing apart from us puny humans, there's no good reason that being couldn't just as easily by the God of TjayT's octopodes.

I am not allowed to give any more points today. So +1.

[Stargazer]

There's a nice little piece of Mormon folk doctrine that says that Jesus had to live on this planet, because this is the only planet wicked enough to kill its God.

This is one we may eventually get some revelation on, thanks to the astronomers.

Hey! You're back! Missed you, sb. Who'd you have to bribe to get back in?

[Sethbag]

I think there was some sort of large-scale amnesty a year or two back, but it took me quite a while to muster the desire to post again on this board. I had a brief spree around Christmastime or thereabouts.

What do you think about that Mormon folk doctrine? Did you ever hear it from anyone? What I heard was that Jesus died to save everyone on all the planets in the universe, and that we were on the most wicked planet of all, the only planet wicked enough, in fact, to kill its own God.

I just thought now that there may be a large number of planets with life on them 30 light years away, we might get some further light and knowledge on the subject in a few generations.

[Stargazer]

I think the LDS are uniquely badly positioned on this, actually. Most other Christians believe in a God devoid of body, parts, or passions, and believe that the form of the human being is not directly patterned after the form of deity. They might well have an easier time dealing with grossly non-humanoid intelligent life forms, since humanoid form isn't required. Mormons, on the other hand, believe that homo sapiens is patterned physically on the form of God, and that as people on other planets would be the spirit offspring of this same being, must share the same form. Evolution then rears its ugly head and makes this a difficult proposition. If your God is just pure energy, or some formless megabeing apart from us puny humans, there's no good reason that being couldn't just as easily by the God of TjayT's octopodes.

I don't know if we are badly positioned, especially if the LDS Church is what it says it is.

You may have missed my earlier post in which I described a SF novelette written by an LDS author, "That Leviathan Whom Thou Hast Made", which posits an ancient race of solar plasma beings, called by humans "Swales", that inhabit stars, and can teleport between them. The story is about what happens when one of the stationers of a human station inside our sun's photosphere, who is the president of the LDS branch there, goes to intercede in a matter for one of the swales who has converted to the LDS faith (I don't remember how this swale happened to get baptized). He confronts an enormous swale, called Leviathan, who claims to be nearly as old as the universe (and the first swale), about the treatment the LDS swale has been gretting. The rest of the story is immaterial for the purpose of this post, but suffice it to say that there are LDS out there (including me) who are perfectly willing to entertain the possibility of non-humaniform intelligences.