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Originally Posted by towny
A common argument is: Life has arisen on Earth against vast odds, BUT the probable number of planetary systems in the universe is even more vast, SO it is likely that life has arisen somewhere else as well.
But this rests on the assumption that life is capable of arising spontaneously.[...]
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True, however...
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some of us look at the universe and see intelligent design. And if that is the case, then there need be no other life of any kind anywhere in the universe, unless that intelligent designer decided there should be.
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Which rests on the assumption that there is some form of "creator" and the logical precursor to that is where did that creator come from, the response is generally that we have to assume that He always existed.
However Occams Razor suggests that if you have two explanations that fit the facts you should pick the one that requires the least number of assumptions. The belief in a creator involves a whole series of extra assumptions, so whilst it is a *possible* hypothesis, it's not, logically, a *probable* hypothesis.
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And as I derive my understanding of that designer from the Bible - which says absolutely nothing about his business elsewhere in the universe
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Because God didn't tell us about it, or because those who wrote it didn't *know* that there were any other worlds elsewhere in the universe?