just a thing or two I’d like to add…..recent developments in organic chemistry seem to indicate that the simple, first step building block aminoacids and proteins are essentially constructed in comets and asteroids. The basic compounds of these are basically everywhere floating about the accretion disc of a star. Invariably, they get collected in the dirty snowballs we call comets. After solar ignition, the periodic freeze-thaw as the comet orbits forces the basic ingredients of those aminos together in a process called ice sequestration. Not at all unlike the fusion of elements in the cores of stars. What this means is that the raw ingredients for life literally rain down on every surface in a mature solar system like our own.

Also, theres a rather reasonably acceptable theory that our planets water comes from what was locked in the mineral structures of every rock that eventually accreted to our earth, and was forced out by the formation of our dense iron core.

Take into account the vast breadth of life that we have discovered her on our planet, mainly extremophile bacteria, and it becomes evident that basic, multicellular life is a freakin inevitability for any planet withing the goldilocks range of habitability, and that’s just our particular brand of carbon based life. Whether these planets (some of which have actually been discovered) have the necessary variables to produce intelligent life is moot. Eventually it will happen. The likelihood of billions of civilizations having risen, flourished, and flamed out massively is far more likely in my mind than attaining enlightenment and technological prowess, but probability demands that it could’ve happened, when you’re dealing with numbers on the order of billions and trillions.

As to people being concerned with any aliens that would come all the way here to steal our water, gold, trees, bodies, and yay, even souls……well, think in capitalist terms. water is abundant…..gold, though rare, would generally be of the same concentration everywhere. trees (as above) may be growing in some form or another, on millions of planets uninhabited by angry little apes that can split the atom. An alien civilization would literally have to pass on thousands of planets bearing any of the raw materials they are searching for, in far more easily obtainable situation, to try and wrest ours from our cold dead hands. Far simpler to take wntire asteroids n comets apart that penetrate our atmosphere for our relatively depleted and poisoned resources.

Our souls? who’d want those?

aw crap, i rambled.

Classic.