Extraterrestrial Life Forms

What do you think? Possible? Probable?

Someone else start, I want to see an opinion out there to see what you guys think.

Probable. We don't know the universe very well. We know that we are in the perfect spot in the solar system for life to develop, and it is possible that no other planets in the universe could be in such an ideal location. HOWEVER, but the same token, it could be the case that several planets are in this "life-supporting" range.

What I don't support is spending money attempting to communicate with them. Even by some miracle our messages reached a planet with life, there is nothing that says that they aren't a younger, less-developed form of life than us. They're probably waiting for us to show up in flying saucers and advanced technology, not the other way around.

Agreed. And what makes us think that they will be able to translate our messages?

I'd like to point out that this range is suitable for life ON EARTH, and that other planets/ranges could be suitable for other life forms.

But there are some reasons why life on other planets could be less likely. There is no doubt in my mind that somewhere in the universe, there are beings capable of governing their own movement and/or reacting to stimuli, but there are a few things that need to be discussed before anyone can really discuss extraterrestrial life. Try a bit of research and it should become apparent.

I think that there's so many planets out there that there must be at least one with aliens on it. But I doubt that any of them are any more advanced than we are, there just isnt enough time to evolve that much.

13.7 billion years isn't enough time (according to the Big Bang Theory)? It could be more, if we factor in the Big Bounce Theory, Parallel Dimentions, Time Travel, et cetera.

I think we need to set down a couple of facts before continuing. First of all, how shall we define life?

This is the biological definition (as obtained from Wikipedia):
Since there is no unequivocal definition of life, the current understanding is descriptive, where life is a characteristic of organisms that exhibit all or most of the following phenomena:
1.Homeostasis: Regulation of the internal environment to maintain a constant state; for example, electrolyte concentration or sweating to reduce temperature.
2.Organization: Being structurally composed of one or more cells, which are the basic units of life.
3.Metabolism: Transformation of energy by converting chemicals and energy into cellular components (anabolism) and decomposing organic matter (catabolism). Living things require energy to maintain internal organization (homeostasis) and to produce the other phenomena associated with life.
4.Growth: Maintenance of a higher rate of anabolism than catabolism. A growing organism increases in size in all of its parts, rather than simply accumulating matter.
5.Adaptation: The ability to change over a period of time in response to the environment. This ability is fundamental to the process of evolution and is determined by the organism's heredity as well as the composition of metabolized substances, and external factors present.
6.Response to stimuli: A response can take many forms, from the contraction of a unicellular organism to external chemicals, to complex reactions involving all the senses of multicellular organisms. A response is often expressed by motion, for example, the leaves of a plant turning toward the sun (phototropism) and by chemotaxis.
7.Reproduction: The ability to produce new individual organisms, either asexually from a single parent organism, or sexually from two parent organisms.

That is a very specific definition of life. Personally, I believe that to discuss extraterrestrial life, which may or may not conform to the same guidelines as life on Earth, we need a looser definition.