The True Disbeliever

I understand the statistical argument for extraterrestrial life:

"We know that life exists on Earth; there are probably megazillions of Earth-like planets in the universe; therefore, there are almost certainly many other life-bearing planets". (Incidentally, although Earth is an Earth-like planet, I am not aware that any new life is being created here now.)

But so far no one has given an informed probability for extraterrestrial life, which can easily be explained by our uncertainty as to the number of Earth-like planets. But if there are a mere one billion Earth-like planets in the universe, how do we calculate the probable number of life-bearing planets? Under what circumstances does life come into being? What is life anyway?

If the universe is teeming with extraterrestrial life, why hasn't ET landed on the White House lawn with an invitation to join the Galactic Union (GU)? My own answer: an action is motivated by emotional mental processes that establish the desirability of that action. If Earth-like planets are commonplace, why would any intelligent ET go out of its way to get here? I grew up on science fiction, too, but it is just fiction based on Earthling experience.

Furthermore, we have no tangible evidence that life exists anywhere but here. You can draw an infinite number of lines through a single point, just as you can imagine an infinite number of other worlds like ours.

Exactly what do we know about life on other planets? Nothing.

Eugene Paul