Aliens: Are They Out There?
The first important item to discuss when debating the issue of whether or not life exists in the universe other than on Earth is how alien life is defined. Some people focus on the idea that alien life will be intelligent, perhaps even more intelligent than our own. However, even a discovery of much smaller forms of life, imagine something roughly equivalent to the moss, bacteria, or ants that live on Earth would be a stunning discovery. Considering the size and vast variety of star systems in the universe or even our galaxy alone, it seems likely that alien life exists.
Skeptics about alien life may argue that “the universe appears to be silent – at least when it comes to any detectable signs of alien civilizations, either at present in our galaxy or their remnants from the last couple of billion years” (Brin para. 1). They may also argue that if Earth had been visited by aliens, they would have left behind some remnants that would cause “huge and visible” changes to our planet (Brin para. 2).
Despite this apparent silence, Dan Werthiner of the Space Sciences Lab at the University of California at Berkley and his colleague Mary Kate Morris of the Viral and Rickettsian Disease Laboratory of the California Department of Health Services are serious researchers who believe that “earthlings will soon discover ET” (39). Their theory is based upon the idea that “At about five billion years old, our solar system is middle-aged; some stars are twice our age and may harbor very advanced civilizations” (39).
Perhaps aliens have never visited Earth, and renowned Physicist Stephen Hawking gives an example of what he believes it would be like if aliens did land on Earth, saying, “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans” (Salla para. 9). While this is a very dire outlook on a confrontation with intelligent alien life, other people believe that evidence of life beyond Earth will be a more benign yet still fascinating discovery. For example, Naturalist Dana Wilde believes that “The best hope right now for finding extraterrestrial life is in our own solar system — not intelligent life, but more likely microbial life, or signs of ancient microbes now extinct” (para. 7).
Either a discovery of microbial life or intelligent extraterrestrials would be exciting discoveries. While the discovery of microbes seems almost imminent with the Mars land rover landing soon and explorations into the moons of Jupiter, the support of researchers like Werthiner and Morris as well as highly respected names like Hawking for the existence of intelligent alien life forms makes the eventual discovery of or visitation by such life seem less like a tabloid story and much more like real science.
References
Brin, David (19 Jul. 2012). “Where Are The Extraterrestrials? The People Speak” Science 2.0. Retrieved from http://www.science20.com/brinstorming/
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Salla, Michael (26 Apr. 2010). “Stephen Hawking launches exopolitics debate.” Examiner.com. Retrieved from http://www.examiner.com/article/stephen-hawking-launches-exopolitics-debate
Werthimer, Dan & Morris, Mary Kate (2004). “Are We Alone? The Search for Extraterrestrial Civilizations.” Leonardo 37.1: 39.
Wilde, Dana (28 Jul. 2012). “The Search for Extraterrestrial Life.” Bangor Daily News. Retrieved from http://bangordailynews.com/2012/07/28/living/the-search-for-extraterrestrial-life/
