We are not alone....

[zebra50]

Astronomers estimate that there are 17 billion Earth-sized planets out there....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20942440

I think I am now prepared to believe in extra-terrestrial life!

 

[MagnetoSound]

Stands to reason, really ...

 

[Autophase]

I have come full circle with my belief in large form intelligent extra terrestrial life, in the sense that I used to "believe" there is/was/could be large form intelligent extra terrestrial life in our observable universe at the same time as our selves, now I know the odds involved in this being possible and the even shorter odds that life on this planet came to be, logic tells me that it is highly unlikely. We are talking the kind of numbers that even when multiplied by 17 billion potential planets, dont come anywhere near to anything remotely likely.

I have pretty much only read popular science books for the last 12 years of my life, some books which you might like if you are interested are:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stardust-Penguin-Press-Science-Gribbin/dp/0140283781/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357649297&sr=1-10
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Reason-Why-Miracle-Earth/dp/0141047968/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357649232&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alone-Universe-Why-Planet-Unique/dp/1118147979/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357649297&sr=1-11

If you read stardust you will learn a little known fact about Venus, in that it too had an ozone layer, and could have supported life, however its gravity was not strong enough to retain such an atmosphere and it dissapated, leaving it unable to support life. Aside from that I reccomend stardust to everyone who is remotely interested in space, life or physics. I have even recommended it to the Johvas whitnesses who came-a-knockin' last year. The book really leaves no doubt in your mind as to how our solar system came to be, starting only with the Hydrogen & Helium that was around after the big bang.

 

[okgb]

Yeah , but how many of them have a  " Recording industry " ? 
well I'm not even sure we do either , but you know audio and all that .

 

[JohnRoberts]

Maybe we can tax them...?

JR

 

[Ethan]

"Perhaps we are not interesting to [aliens]. We think we are so great that they will want to visit us, but maybe we are too primitive for them. After all, if we see an anthill, do we go down to the ants and say 'I bring you beads. I bring you trinkets. Take me to your leader.'? Some of us may even have the urge to just step on them."
-Dr. Michio Kaku

 

[MagnetoSound]

I think they're scared of us, so they keep away.

 

[sr1200]

Space germs!!!! 
And perhaps they should start looking for intelligent life here on Earth... has anyone turned on MTV lately?!  It doesn't get better... it really just keeps getting worse.

 

[Kingston]

A long way to go if we ever want to visit our (probable) intergalactic brethren.

In the meanwhile, here's a very good tour of the cutting edge of living in space: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doN4t5NKW-k

[edit]

Actually the word is intragalactic.

 

[Kingston]

"Perhaps we are not interesting to [aliens]. We think we are so great that they will want to visit us, but maybe we are too primitive for them. After all, if we see an anthill, do we go down to the ants and say 'I bring you beads. I bring you trinkets. Take me to your leader.'? Some of us may even have the urge to just step on them."
-Dr. Michio Kaku

Relatively primitive, yes. But that quote from Dr. Kaku is not all that insightful. After all we've still no clear idea how ants actually function and there are many ongoing studies on the subject - some of them asking the ants quite specifically to "take us to [their] leader".

 

[Speedskater]

Most of those planets are too far away to even reach by radio.  If any one of those planets is civilized, it could have been a billion years ago or could happen a billion years from now.