EvC Forum: Latest Kepler Data: Lots of Earths

I just don't see why anyone's belief in the idea that there is life on other planets has any connection with the Christian faith. I would assume that a Christian would be just as likely as anyone else to believe that there is life elsewhere, although a Christian would assume that life on other planets would be the creation of the same god that created us.

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	Message 16 by Taz, posted 02-08-2011 12:59 AM		Taz has responded

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Taz

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Message 18 of 24 (603845)
02-08-2011 8:47 AM

Reply to: Message 17 by GDR
02-08-2011 1:51 AM

Creationism 101

The universe is so fine tuned for life on Earth that there must have been a god creating the universe 6,000 years ago and specifically putting life on Earth to worship Him.

Edit.

Those who have been in this debate long enough should recognize what I'm talking about right away.

Edited by Taz, : No reason given.

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Son

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Message 19 of 24 (603858)
02-08-2011 9:57 AM

Reply to: Message 17 by GDR
02-08-2011 1:51 AM

It's not really about christians in general but about creationnists. Most of them argue that only God could have created life because it's so special. Since literalists think man was created in God's image, we are supposed to be special. One planet containing life amongst others that also contain life sound less special than an unique planet with life.

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GDR

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Message 20 of 24 (603861)
02-08-2011 10:27 AM

Reply to: Message 19 by Son
02-08-2011 9:57 AM

Son writes:

One planet containing life amongst others that also contain life sound less special than an unique planet with life.

It would make life on Earth less unique but so what. It seems to me that when you look at the incredible complexity of any living cell life is pretty special no matter what planet it comes from.

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	Message 19 by Son, posted 02-08-2011 9:57 AM		Son has responded

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Son

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Message 21 of 24 (603870)
02-08-2011 1:42 PM

Reply to: Message 20 by GDR
02-08-2011 10:27 AM

GDR writes:

Son writes:

One planet containing life amongst others that also contain life sound less special than an unique planet with life.

It would make life on Earth less unique but so what. It seems to me that when you look at the incredible complexity of any living cell life is pretty special no matter what planet it comes from.

Of course I agree with this, it's just that creationnists don't seem to. I wasn't giving my point of view but explaining why creationists were so adamant about Earth being the only planet with life from what I've seen them write so far.

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kowalskil

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Message 22 of 24 (608521)
03-10-2011 11:05 PM

Reply to: Message 1 by Taq
02-02-2011 5:39 PM

Taq writes:

The Kepler space telescope has now found 68 exoplanet candidates that are Earth sized and 5 of them are in the habitable zone of their parent star. Another 49 planets exist in the habitable zone of their parent star, but are much larger than Earth. However, this doesn't rule out the possibility that moons around these larger planets could have liquid water and environments conducive to life as we know it. NASA press release here:
http://www.nasa.gov/.../kepler/news/kepler_data_release.html

Anyway, what impact do you think this will have with respect to the "Privileged Planet" hypothesis and other arguments based on the Anthropic Principle? Kepler is only able to scan a tiny portion of the stars in our galaxy, so what does this tell us about the population of planets throughout the rest of our galaxy and the distribution of Earth like planets across the entire universe?

Suggested forums: Origin of Life or Cosmology

I do not think that discoveries of other planetary system will have any lasting effect.

Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia)
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Question Reality

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Message 23 of 24 (617457)
05-29-2011 6:17 AM

Reply to: Message 9 by Taz
02-05-2011 2:33 AM

I think you might have a basic misunderstanding on how science works. Science makes a hypothesis based on the present knowledge but is willing to adapt based on new evidence. By changing the view of the universe, science is not moving their "goal post" but looking at new information and changing their theory. By refining our knowledge of habitable planets, we are not damaging the science but instead we are strengthening it. The ability to adapt to new information is a basic different between science and pseudo-science.