Duncelor

I don't "believe" in aliens, UFOs; I remain skeptical regarding the accounts and evidence, but I am also open minded. (I don't really like the term "believe in," mind you; like when someone once asked me if I believed in evolution...well, no, there's nothing to believe in: you either accept the data or you don't accept it. Belief has nothing to do with it.)

Expanding on what someone already stated, it is simply not possible that humans are the only uber-self-aware, technological species in the entire universe (thinking we are is arrogance and homocentricity at its worst).

Other species of life obviously exist in the universe, especilly when most scientists agree that if the elements necessary for life are present, then life will take place (but we can't find them sitting here, speculating and hypothesizing. Mars is our best bet--a fulled manned mission there will put an end to this "are we alone in the universe?" rubbish, I think). We've found life on Earth thriving in the harshest possible environments (in the black, cold depths of the deepest oceans; in Antartica; on the tops of mountians) and we've see some types of life survive things that would destroy "higher" beings like ourselves.

The problem is we're infantile and ignorant as a species; we see things only in the context of ourselves (we're self-centered) and incorrectly believe that life on other planets must follow the same glorious path that we have. And thanks to a few thousand years of religion, we have a superiority complex, judging all other life as either intelligent or unintelligent. We also tend to believe that creating civilizations and massive infrastructures with technological advances is part of evolving as a species, when it isn't (even scientists, in using calculations for seeking out extraterrestrial life--see the Drake equation, are baised and limited in their scope, as well as concepts of life and the ability to both travel across huge areas of space and send signals or transmissions over vast distances). How we've come to become domesticated, possessing such large brains which assist us in manipulating our environment, detaching us from the natural web of life here on this planet is open to debate, but it will remain unknown until we encounter another species which has undergone something similar.

For all we know, there are no original species on Earth; it could be that life began here from a few microbes or bacteria embedded within a meteor or something, perhaps crashing down, billions of years ago, before our atmosphere was fully formed (in which case we're all aliens). It's quite possible. (A species of virus, for example, could drift through space, dormant, for eons before finding the right place to "become alive.") It's more than possible; it's very probable.

But our species of young, xenophobic hairless apes will never really know for sure until we get off our asses and do some exploring. Until then, we're just blowing smoke up each other's pant legs.