G is for Goldilocks - Gliese 581g could be habitable

Not necessarily. Bad ideology can inhibit/prevent technological and/or social progress.

Imagine, for example, if all the inhabitants of Gleise 581g were Muslims.

Very true.....they would probably stone the dude who invented the wheel.

Seriously though, I think discovering intelligent beings and learning all about them would be incredibly fascinating. It would no doubt be the greatest discovery ever.

Keep it out of Techforge please.

Uh, in this case it's a scientific observation. If you pretend otherwise you are merely being politically correct, in which case YOU need to keep it out of Techforge.

Until around the 1st millennium Muslim scholars were some of the brightest lights, so if it was filled with Muslims who avoided regressing they'd probably be pretty advanced.

Okay I'm convinced......that we need to keep this Tech, and not go down the Rd Room path, no matter how tempting.

So....what if they the 581Gitians developed....a super conveyor belt!

As Ecky pointed out, that wasn't always the case. Remember as well that Christianity was strongest in Europe during the dark ages.

If you want to have a discussion in the Red Room on the influence different religions have on the societies around them and the degree to which they promote or impede scientific progress then I think it would be interesting and invite you to present your case.

Well, rather than starting a whole new thread on it I'll just invite anyone interested to read Guns, Germs and Steel. The author presents the case about bad ideology bringing down civilizations far better than I could.

I claim dominion over this planet in the name of the Robotech Masters' Empire.

We could find out more, if there was some way to measure the amount of carbon there is on the planet.

No math in the...

Oh, wait, this is Techforge.

Never mind!

The tidal locking does have me speculating that we've found another Venus instead of a potential Earth. Consider's Venus's rotational period -- it's longer that its orbital period (and in retrograde, but that's not really relevant). Even with a red dwarf star, this planet could be dealing with a run-away greenhouse effect.

There'd be a joke tied to that, but this isn't the Red Room.

No such thing as 'bad' ideology, merely inappropriate ones.

Ants work well in a collective, humans don't, so collective (rather than co-operative) ideologies don't work so well for us, but for any intelligent species with a more ant-like mentality they would.

If there is life out there, we ought to be prepared for it having a radically different worldview from us. You need only look at the disparate societies imperial Europe encountered during it's expansion across the globe, and that's the same species on the same planet.

Yeah, but what are the odds that 1 planet could produce trillions of life forms and another planet with similar conditions have none?

I know I'm an optimist in this regard, but I can't help it.

You realize you're asking that question of a creationist, correct?

Great question, and good point.

My only counter would be, "What would be the point of life on other plantets?"

God has a backup plan in case we fail?

Anyone who believes the universe was created solely to be a home for humans has not truly grasped how mind bogglingly huge the universe is.

That isn't to say there is definitely extra-terrestrial life, although I think it is incredibly likely. If anything though the existence of a God of some sort would make the existence of aliens more likely in my view.

I figured the big problem you'd have with religions is that you don't believe in God.

Or, they believe in a God that inspired some writings that strongly suggest this to be the case.

Interesting take. Why exactly? I'm curious.

IIRC God gave us dominion over the Earth. God never mentioned us having dominion over any other planet.

Anyway it's irrelevant. Anyone who doesn't believe that there is life out somewhere in our our galaxy or hell our universe is a fucking moron. I don't care what religion they are from.

I just want to point out that apparently it's stupid to believe in an unproven God, but also stupid to NOT believe in hitherto undetected and unproven alien life.

Anyway, no more from me on THAT angle here, I don't want to derail.

Not really about stupidity, but what's likely.

Is it likely that an omnipotent being created this universe and added life to only one small insignificant planet in one small corner of that universe?

Is it likely that regardless of whether or not an omnipotent being created the universe, of all the planets out there, there's got to be some other planet with some sort of life on it - regardless of whether or not that life is sentient or intelligent?

Yeah, wake me up when there is even this miniscule level of evidence that suggests god exists.

EDIT: I lured myself back in. Now I am back out!