Why do scientists say that there’s a huge possibility that intelligent life exists outside our planet?

Question

What made them say that? Where was the probability from?

In: Mathematics

Answer 1

Statistics says that it’s almost certainly true, that’s all:

* There are probably around 10,000,000,000,000 planets in our galaxy. There are probably around 2,000,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe. That means that there are probably somewhere around 20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 planets in the universe.
* If the chances of intelligent life appearing on a planet are only, say, 1 in a trillion, that would mean that there are probably around 20,000,000,000 planets in the universe with intelligent life.

The universe is far bigger than you’re able to imagine. Things that are ridiculously unlikely will happen *all the time* on a scale that large.