until we have some data is it is little more than speculation bereft of any evidence.

We can infer a fair bit, I think. There will be a limit to the kind of things that living forms can be made of. Not necessarily carbon, but similar. For example, not aluminium, that would then give something about the ‘strength’ of the living tissue, which would give a limit to the size of the being, dependent on the gravity of the planet on which they live, which in itself is estimable.

So, not entirely groundless speculation, but a bit like a big Fermi task

deadkenny – Member

One report quotes someone saying they think they’ll discover life there within 10 years. Yeah, we can’t even discover life on Mars, which is a hell of a lot closer.

Do you think the difficulty of finding things is all about how far away they are? Would it, frinstance, be easier to find my car keys on my desk, 1 foot away, or in my coat pocket, 10 feet away?

The OP’s link is not responding.

THEY’RE HERE…………

it’s informed speculation, based on lots of knowledge

As i said no one has any knowledge of exo biology as we have not found any yet therefore its, as i said, speculation – it has no evidence. LITERALLY.

Biology is constrained by chemistry

True but exo biology is still biology and not chemistry.

To dismiss this discovery because it’s also associated with speculation is.

There is a difference between finding a number of habitable planet and searching for signs of life on it and making statements about what the life will be like on it. We dont know as exobiology is as yet an unknown science.
I have no issue with SETI in general and assume [ scale/drake equation] means there is probably life but there – its an educated guess and speculative even though I can explain why.

I think with what the life is like, as CM notes, we may be able to put limits on it – as we can with say what type of planets are habitable but beyond that we cannot actually say anythign meaningful about it as we require data.

We can infer a fair bit, I think.

Indeed we can speculate

speculation
?sp?kj??le??n/Submit
noun
1.
the forming of a theory or conjecture without firm evidence.

We just dont know. its not really knowable till we encounter it.

As i said no one has any knowledge of exo biology as we have not found any yet therefore its, as i said, speculation – it has no evidence. LITERALLY.

So what’s your point?

No-one’s claiming to know, so I don’t know who you’re arguing with.

that is speculation as I keep saying [ I though we were debating not arguing BTW I am not trying to be arsey]
I think CM raises better points [ I missed your first reply on this page apologies] that it is speculation within known or assumed limits rather than wild stabs in the dark speculation- I dont think its that helpful – well we know it cannot be bigger than Wales is hardly to tell us anything meaningful about exo life.

Perhaps we may need better words like complete guess, informed speculation wild theory etc

that is speculation as I keep saying

Yes it is – but that doesn’t make it worthless. They have announced it because they think it is cool and that other peopel will enjoy hearing about it.

I dont think its that helpful – well we know it cannot be bigger than Wales is hardly to tell us anything meaningful about exo life.

Well from a scientific process standpoint, this kind of speculation is important because it gets the ideas out there and people discussing it. And through these discussions we learn about what might be possible, and what probably isn’t. Then we have a much better idea how to look for it.

It’s a theoretical science, for sure – but theoretical sciences do have value.

Correct me if I’m wrong but the light that they have seen from these planets is already 40 years old. So what they have seen is what these planets were doing 40 years ago. So they may already have been sucked into a blackhole!!!

Its crazy really when you think about it. Its like looking back in time.

Chemistry is going to be the same everywhere in the universe.

From experience does that mean sitting in a lecture theatre for 4 years and occasionally breaking very expensive lab equipment, whilst trying to show off to the class ‘hottie’? If so, I welcome my alien overlords.