Humans To Encounter Aliens By 2031: Russian Scientist (POLL)

A top Russian astronomer claimed Monday that humans will encounter extraterrestrial life by 2031.

"Life exists on other planets and we will find it within 20 years," the scientist Andrei Finkelstein said, according to the Interfax News Agency.

The astronomer added that 10 percent of known planets circling suns in the galaxy resemble Earth, making life on such planets highly likely, and that aliens are most likely to resemble humans with two arms, two legs and a head, per Reuters.

Finkelstein made the remarks at the opening of the international symposium called "The Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence" in St. Petersburg, The Voice Of Russia reported. He says he is convinced based on the fundamental laws of life that life exists throughout the universe.

The search for extraterrestrial life has gained momentum in recent months. The Journal of Cosmology ran an article in March from Richard B. Hoover, claiming evidence of alien microfossils were found in a meteor, suggesting extraterrestrial life. NASA made headlines in December when it announced it found a new form of life with a DNA completely alien to everything we know.

The Search For ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute is currently seeking to raise money for its ongoing search, having recently cut back on some of its operations due to lack of funding.

Quick Poll

Do you agree that humans will encounter extraterrestrial life by 2031?

Yes, it's inevitable.

No, not a chance.

Not sure.

Share your vote on Facebook so your friends can take this poll

Comments

[carnivaluv]

05:18 PM on 08/22/2011

Yay Aliens! I just hope they don't hurt us when they do show up.

[DallasDon]

10:15 PM on 08/21/2011

Earth is unique among all the known billions and billions of planets in that it's the only one with life.
We've found evidence of air and water on other planets but no form of life.

I strongly disagree with the scientist in this article that claims other life forms will have a face resembling humans and have two arms and legs.
Very few of the life forms on Earth have anything resembling a human face.

Humans are in fact aliens...... We're made of stardust.

[Christopher Buczkowski]

01:54 PM on 08/22/2011

I was just typing up almost the same thing when I saw your post. I'm curious about his reasoning behind the "resemble us" comment as well, for the same reasons you mentioned.

[Al Schrader]

10:16 PM on 08/06/2011

Zaida: Nope wasn't tiny microbes. I was very curious. So decades ago I started investigating sightings, talking to eye witnesses, etc. 99% were hoaxes, mistakes, etc. But, that 1% is another thing. I figured any time something is seen, they were not there at random. I got more than I wanted. I talked to a witness that said people were pulling to the side of US1 in Aurantia, Florida to observe these lights.
She said were not planes. I went to Aurantia found nothing but swamp. I came back home...I live 3 miles south of Aurantia.

I was in my yard (4pm daylight) when a light or something reflected in my face from the general direction of Aurantia. I looked up, saw nothing. I looked again and there it was. Silver-gray craft about the size of a UPS truck. Hung there in the sky like on a hook - no sound. It made a half a turn. I looked for more and when I glanced back it was gone. It moved so fast I could not see it go. I'm certain it was a warning to leave them alone. It worked. They knew I had talked to a witness and searched Aurantia, then waited a year to show up. That is too intelligent and creepy for me. Was nothing like anything you see in the movies. I don't investigate any more. I never saw the pilot(s) of it. Now, I don't want to. I'm not curious any more...Al-

[DallasDon]

10:19 PM on 08/21/2011

Hello Al...... Just came across your comment here and wanted to thank you for sharing.

I'm going to try to give you an Insightful Badge.... I'm not sure how this works.
Please keep posting,
I hope to read more of your comments :-)

[SpecialTater]

06:19 PM on 08/22/2011

Aw, c'mon. Please keep investigating!

After playing tennis on a clear night, about 6 of my friends and I saw a UFO. It just cut through the air as if it never heard of the word "friction". I have never seen anything fly in such straight lines in the sky. Zip zip zip. I don't care if other people believe me or not. I saw what I saw. So I'm keeping my mind open.

[Zaida Adams]

06:51 AM on 08/03/2011

I'd bet that when extra-terrestial life is found, it'd be tiny microbes swimming in the waters of a planet. I'd love to interact with an advanced race. I look forward to that interaction. Surely an advanced race would have much to teach us. I hope I'm still alive when that day occurs.

[Paul J ONeill]

01:27 AM on 07/26/2011

Well the statistics are in favor of life elsewhere & I agree it's probable & Likely, However, I haven't seen any credible evidence proving it yet.
As an intelligent species, capable of exploration, and discovery, I think we should continue to look to the stars & travel into space...When I say "We" I mean you (LOL) I'm staying here thank you very much !

[samdogdamndog2]

08:42 PM on 07/06/2011

We might find evidence of extraterrestrial life, say, maybe theoretical virus or bacteria fossils in meteorites or in Mars rocks, but, no, we will not find humanoid life anywhere ever. I find this theory so arrogant and yet ignorant that it is almost repulsive. Why would ANY alien life form be even remotely configured like us? Are we so perfect that our configuration is the ultimate in physical makeup? I hardly think so, it is more of the "God made man in his own image" baloney, only now we are making aliens in our own image. Think about it, we are the ONLY creatures (out of countless billions) that are native to this planet that look as we do. Oh, sure, monkeys have a few similarities, but, come on, they do NOT look remotely human. Why would an alien have to have a head, walk upright, have binocular eyes, hands with thumbs, and jointed skeletal systems? WHY??? I'll tell you why, because movies had to use guys in costumes to tell their dumb sci-fi stories and we became used to that. Why wouldn't an alien life form be like a squid? How about a puddle of liquid? Maybe even a plant?

[William R James]

12:59 PM on 07/24/2011

I agree with you for the most part. However it's not unreasonable to assume that most intelligent life forms with technical capabilities would evolve from predators and thus with certain characteristics. Bifocal vision is a good example. An internal skeleton is another. Something like an Octopus might develop a degree on intelligence, but isn't likely to ever discover fire or learn to use it. If you ask what a space alien might have evolved from, it narrows the set of characteristics that they are likely to possess. I doubt they'd look like us, but I do think it's likely we'd share a number of features in function if not closely in appearance.

[Ruthsgardens]

06:11 PM on 07/04/2011

Man has a finite mind.Or is it? Or is it capable of ever expanding? Ezekiel described and wrote down in the Bible what he saw as God and the angels came and left.Daniel in Revelations desribed what he saw."Iron birds filled the skies as grains of sand on the beach." One followed with a drawing of a submarine.Where once a technology was not envisioned,only the outcome was.The abacus became a calculator.Things in the Bible written long ago have come to be. Technologies have been created to make things in the Bible happen after it was written.Elisha and Christ have opened the eyes of others so that they could see the legions of angels there.Many lean toward it being a vision in the minds eye and not what spectrum of light our eyes can see.The Bible speaks of animals being able to see what we cannot.Many see that with our own animals.Can the mind see into another dimension? Or the bodies spirit? Does the spirit leave us when we sleep and return to wake us? Does it leave us at death as ecclesiastus tells us,"When the silver chord parts,the spirit returns to the father from whence it came." The Bible states that a spirit can enter and exit a physical body.Is it also confined to space and time and dimensions?Maybe one day technology can capture a spirit when a body dies.Who knows.

[Zak Smith]

03:33 PM on 07/04/2011

HAHA. Love it!

[CarlIII]

11:19 AM on 07/04/2011

There is little doubt in my mind that using the Drake equation is very accurate. There are hundreds of thousands of planets with life on them. And that's just in our Milky Way galaxy. When you continue calculating, intelligent life capable of transmitting and receiving radio signals. Now that is a much smaller number. Let's say 10 thousand. If they are dispersed around the galaxy then I submit that the vast distances between them would make contact virtually impossible. If we picked up a radio signal from a planet 200 light years away, it would take 200 years for our answer to reach them. It would also mean that the signal was sent to us 200 years ago. Carl Sagan said we live in the Galactic Boondocks. No one knows we are here.

[r henry]

05:28 PM on 07/19/2011

I've always thought it would be really creepy to somehow discover another intelligent life on a planet that is too far away to make any contact with. To just know they're there but not knowing if they know about us and so on. Creepy.

[SpecialTater]

06:20 PM on 08/22/2011

It's like alien voyeurism. Just try to keep your clothes on as much as you can from now on. They're looking at you, kid.

[Waveskiboy]

11:21 PM on 07/03/2011

That's a Saturday! I hope they don't expect to stay the weekend!

[lannetteramos]

11:37 PM on 07/04/2011

funny! they should at least brings some sleeping bags and pillows.

[LMPE]

10:10 PM on 06/30/2011

But we've already encountered aliens. How else do we describe Newt Gingrich?

[SpecialTater]

06:21 PM on 08/22/2011

He's no alien. He's some type of lizard.

[Obsidi8n]

08:48 PM on 06/30/2011

Probable that life exists elsewhere, Not probable that we will be able to contact them, meet them, or maybe even discover them.. Technology can only do so much.

[RichieB]

10:30 PM on 07/01/2011

Technology is constantly evolving. Look at the advancements over the last 100 years. If we go that far in the next 100 years, we can't even image what new technologies we will have.

[samdogdamndog2]

08:46 PM on 07/06/2011

And "life" might mean moss, bacteria, or something that has evolved past a use for a physical body. Why it has to look like us is beyond me. We are the only things on this crowded ball of life that looks like us, why would something from another world remotely resemble us?

[rsttho557949]

07:35 PM on 06/30/2011

WE are going to encunter UFO's the same way we were supposed to greet Harry Houdini back from the grave. Ain't never gonna happen. Why? Because the Bible told me so in Psalm 115:16, The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord's but the earth He has given to the children of men."

Now the Aztecs and Mayans did encounter U.F.O's, but they were not from outer space. Read The Emissary by R. St. Thomas (Amazon.com) and find out what U.F.O's they did encounter.

[Allosaur2010]

11:29 AM on 07/04/2011

It doesn't say there that the Lord didn't put other critters in the heavens. The Lord can do what He wants to.

Also, didn't Jesus say he had other sheep who were not of this fold?

[rsttho557949]

09:13 PM on 07/05/2011

We have already encountered UFO's but they were not from outer space! I call them Unfriendly Fiendish Opponents! Said another way: Demons! Yes, the Lord can can do what He wants, but the story of the Bible is about The Trinity, angel and demons, the Devil and mankind. If there were ET's, He would have told us. Also, the flock that was not in Jesus' fold are human beings that hate Him and are doing everything in their power to keep others - including non-believers- from Him. These are the one's that tell others that the Bible is flawed/corrupt, that Jesus is a myth, just a man, Jewish rebel/rabbi and that there are many roads that lead to the same God.

[samdogdamndog2]

08:47 PM on 07/06/2011

Thank you, Torquemada, now don't you have some Jews to torture?

[Quackers Web]

06:27 PM on 06/30/2011

It's going to be a meeting with self-replicating alien machines capable of traveling in the extremes of space. Protein life is too ephemeral to survive deep space travel for extended periods of time subject to exposure to radiation in all frequencies, energies, and mass. The evolution to metal, plastics, and silicon on Earth is a key development in Earth's ecology. If Earth's stockpiles of metals, plastics, and silicon continue to increase, it is likely to attract alien machines searching for building materials already refined for quick ingestion and assimilation. Waste processing facilities will be the first to know when the alien machines come knocking. "Welcome, Transformer Overlords"

[loncowber]

05:08 AM on 06/30/2011

"claiming evidence of alien microfossils were found in a meteor, suggesting extraterrestrial life"
Please fact check this claim. Not that someone might have printed this verbatim (doubtful) but look at what was found and what was really thought about it by the scientific community as a whole. This was not thought to be alien life. There are natural shapes that form when rock cools and this is what everybody understood was almost certainly what they found. The idea was left open. Kind of like the existence of God. Knowing this and leaving it out it sensationalist and irresponsible.

"NASA made headlines in December when it announced it found a new form of life with a DNA completely alien to everything we know."

Use of the word alien here is tabloid sensationalism along with leaving out the facts, but if you include them it becomes very boring very fast.

Quoting one scientists claims that disagree with all other scientific knowledge is no different than the climate deniers doing the same. You are no better or worse than them.