DaleB
Final Approach
I was beginning to think the same way, and it's an easy thing to think. On the other hand, if you want to talk about odds and statistics and physics, just look at the numbers involved. The estimate is something like, what -- 250 billion stars in our galaxy alone, and an estimated 100 billion galaxies. Out of all those, the odds of NOT having the exact conditions develop to support our particular type of life seem impossibly tiny. In fact, I'll take it a step further. To believe that our little planet is the only place in the entire universe where life could possibly exist seems, in my tiny, insignificant little human opinion, so conceited as to beggar belief. We have not seen other living beings outside of our own little speck of matter floating in the universe. But to think we're actually the only living creatures in all of creation would be like swimming in the ocean and thinking you're the only person on the planet, simply because you can't see anyone else around you or the fish below you.
This. Bravo. It's sad that so many people having what at first appears to be disparate beliefs will so often resort to name calling and insults. I don't think the beliefs are at all disparate in most cases. I believe there is a higher power than ourselves. I also believe that the scientific community has done a fair job of hypothesizing how we got here. They'll be the first to admit that they don't have all the actual answers yet, and we may or may not ever really fully understand how everything works. The religious community says that certain things are unknowable; they may be right, based solely on our mental capacity and ability to observe and travel. The scientific community says, "We think this is how we came to be". The faith community says, "Some higher power made us and everything in the universe". Are we so arrogant as to think that we can dictate just how a higher power would have done that?
