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| .....but where are they? This is our location in the Milky Way galaxy. |
Have you ever looked up into the night sky and wondered what/who else is out there? Are we alone in the Universe? I have, dozens of times. All of our efforts to answer the question ‘Is there life on other planets?’ are based on finding life that is similar to life as we know it on Earth. That is an extremely arrogant line of research. Where is it written that the Earth type of life form is pervasive, and that this is the only type of life that can exist? All life forms on our planet are carbon-based. So, as exobiologists and xenobiologists go forth in the search for extraterrestrial life, they are most likely going to look for life forms that are made up of the same components as life on earth, because that is all we know. But what evidence do we have that proves all other forms of highly-intelligent life, if they exist, have to be similar to what we know? None. It is quite possible that the conditions required for life forms with which we are familiar may not be required for other forms of life. The universe is widely believed by physicists to be infinite in size, and even if it is not, the number of galaxies we can observe is astoundingly large. Based solely on the sheer vastness of the Universe, it is much more likely that there are many other planets inhabited by highly-intelligent forms of life, than to be so foolish and narcissistic to believe we are alone. Earth, after all, is nothing more than a tiny speck in the Milky Way galaxy (Earth rotates around merely one of at least 200 billion stars in the galaxy), and our galaxy is one of at least 170 billion. So, If only a tiny fraction of planets formed life, and if only a tiny fraction of those planets went on to evolve intelligent life, there is still a high probability that intelligent life exists out there on extraterrestrial planets. This does not mean, however, that they are visiting Earth in UFOs. The vast distances of space make interstellar travel extremely impractical and communications very difficult. For example, if there are intelligent life forms even just a few dozen light years away, using the technology we currently have, they would not be able to discover the intelligent life here on Earth. So, we may remain isolated for a very long time, if not forever.
