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Comment by ZanyProgrammer | Hacker News Reader

Isn't the discussion about extraterrestrial life pretty much entirely speculation?

Perhaps you can fill me in on that subject ? I googled it a while back, totaly unable to find out if " physical drag seining " has ever been done in space. Small samples are taken from Moon, Mars, etc. How about drifting micro-organisms in space itself? I know this isn't "/R/askscience", but there you go

This is why Europa exploration is important. If we discover life there, there is a good chance life is common in the universe. Just add water and you get life.

I guess in the same way the Higgs Boson was speculation, or string theory is speculation. It is a valuable hypothesis that is not proven yet.

IANAP, but I think the hypothesis is more that it's incredibly likely that life exists.

We have no evidence that it does, only that Earth-like conditions are not unique.

A serious question: why are earth-like conditions suggestive of extraterrestrial life and not, say, extraterrestrial McDonalds? The observed frequency is identical so far.

I think the answer must be a bias towards believing in some essential specialness or uniqueness of life, which isn't supported scientifically.

No, because intelligent life exists outside of Earth. It is a matter of time until we find it. Just like it's a matter of time until religion is no more.

So, speculation, then.

You used zero evidence in your statement, just a couple of beliefs.

I believe, too, but I'm not willing to assert it as fact.

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