'Alien life inevitably exists due to universal laws - we'll soon discover it'

RT spoke with Andrey Finkelstein, Director of the Institute of Applied Astronomy about the scientific reasoning behind his controversial statement that in 20 years humanity will discover aliens and they are likely to look much like humans.
RT: Mr. Finkelstein, thank you for being with us tonight. You have promised that in twenty years' time you will have discovered life on other planets. Are we actually talking about aliens, or merely some bacteria?
Andrey Finkelstein: We are talking life forms, of course. What particular form such life could be is a separate question. Where there is life, intelligence and civilization are a possibility. But discovering life is of primary importance.
RT: In what form?
AF: What I'm going to tell you is a paradox. The form will definitely be well-known to us. In my opinion, and I believe experts generally agree on this, life and intelligence, should they exist elsewhere at all, should be highly human-like.
You see, essentially, the origins of life follow the same pattern, just as it is with atoms, molecules or macromolecules. There are fundamental laws of physics that apply invariably in each case. These laws have been thoroughly researched and explained. Now all you need is the right environment that would enable a process like that to start.
For example, an atom of hydrogen that originates in a galaxy located millions of parsecs away from us -- that is hundreds of millions of light years away -- is absolutely identical to a hydrogen atom that originates in our Solar System. Because fundamental laws are universal.
And it's the same with the fundamental laws that govern the origins of life, including the fundamental laws of evolution. These are universal, so all living things should have the same composition, and living organisms should look like the ones we encounter on Earth.
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[SuperArcher1968]

Hello.I am a defender of this solar system.Friends of mine are on the way.I am in pursuit of some flying objects that arrived here the other week.I've been observering certain events that have been going on this planet for quite sometime.Sorry I'M late.However there has been much discussions behind closed doors.Don't worry about the cosmos.They are fine.

[MrNordicstyle]

they have find life on titan and europe

[theforestero]

Time is always over exaggerated by it's current residents...maybe what evolves from us will encounter alien life more concretely ..but humans have some evolution to go through....

[MrSumbody69]

@edgarssk i never said chemistry laws weren't universal. And that is wonderful news, i cant wait to see the results from that probe. But i am not going to get my hopes up for something like that. When the shuttle is launched i will have my eyes and ears glued to any info on that. I only stated that he is talking about absolutely without a doubt *before he knows for sure* that we will find life outside our own planet in our solar system. That is a bold guess, and is kind of taking a chance.

[edgarssk]

@MrSumbody69

Physics and chemistry laws are universal!

If You think that 20 years from know we won't find proof for any life form then I have bad news for You because NASA is launching Europa Jupiter System Mission in 2020! :)

[MrSumbody69]

@MrSumbody69 due to not being able to type out my whole opinion on the matter, i left out the fact that one day in the future *i dont believe 20 years or so* we will find absolute proof of life on other planets/solar systems. But i dont think its right for a scientist to talk in absolutes like that based on theory. Its not unprofessional, but more of a faith based statement then fact. I still believe all this will happen just not as soon as he claimed.

[MrSumbody69]

@edgarssk first of all i agreed with the scientist, on some points but a theory is just that a theory. Its not law and as far as we know with our own evidence there is no other life out there besides us *that is not to say i don't think there is no life out there*. As to the periodic table of elements what the hell does that have to do with anything we discussed. And again what does frog and human muscle tissue have to do with anything?

[edgarssk]

@MrSumbody69

Actually this man has very valid and logical points and if you care so much about generalization then look again at the periodic table. Also tell me the difference between let's say some frog muscle fibers and human muscle fibers?

[MrSumbody69]

@BluntmanAnKronik all i am saying is speaking in absolutes is ignorant and arrogant. No acientist no matter how smart or how much information he has can be absolutely sure about a theory like that. No matter how unlikely a situation is there is always at least a extremely small chance that it can happen. And yes i do think we should fix our own earth first *or at least lessen the damage* before we worry about things like life in other solar systems.

[BluntmanAnKronik]

@MrSumbody69 the reason they are searching for something like us is b.c we already know we exist ... sure you can find extra terrestrial life in some other type of planet but that would just take way too loong to look for anything soo starting with life in the goldilocks zone is a good starting point