Must there be life on other worlds?

The SETI (search for extraterrestrial life) folks have decided that they're going about the search for alien life in the wrong way. They've been listening to distant star systems for steady radio signals which would theoretically would indicate intelligence. Yet a newer view is that intelligent life would sent out short, powerful bursts of radio energy based on the idea that other smart fellows would be sending out those rather than the steady, lower powered energies we've been looking for. It's really quite interesting. The sad thing is that it will almost certainly lead to nothing.

I will go on the record as saying that I don't believe that there is other intelligent life, indeed that there is not any life at all, elsewhere in the galaxy. That is not etched in stone, for if the universe is huge and expanding as we're told then other life is admittedly not out of the question. Still, that old saw, that with the sprawling and expanding nature of the universe there must be intelligent life besides our own, isn't really that impressive of an argument. Space and time do not necessarily mean that other life forms can or must have developed.

For starters, our immediate experience is that nothing else is there. We've found no hard and fast evidence of life in the local planets and solar systems; it would be more logical to assume that the more worlds without life, the less likely that there are in fact others with it. Further, why is it so outlandish to think that maybe, just maybe, we were touched by the Divine for a very singular purpose? Perhaps, only perhaps, we will allow, the rest of creation is there simply for our marvel, to appreciate the immensity of the Supreme Being? And there is certainly no law of physics which states there must be life elsewhere.

Yet if there is, it isn't as though such a discovery would alter what should be our proper view of things. If there are intelligent aliens, they would have been created by the same God. They would face the same issues which we do: seeing to their needs, their daily bread, and considering their responsibilities to their fellow creatures and to whomever else they may find. In short, SETI is interesting as an academic device. But would any discoveries it may make be, shall we say (we do so love puns), Earth shattering?

Of course not. So keep looking, if that's you life's work, and I will readily concede my error if proved wrong. But don't make it too much of a mission. There's an awful lot here on our world which could be as rewarding. Indeed, if you want to get to know others, there's plenty of them around here for your entertainment.

LIfe on Other Worlds: Not Important to Us

NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, announced during a panel discussion yesterday in Washington that it finds it highly unlikely that we're alone in the universe and that further, it expects that life will be found on another planet within the next two decades. The Hubble, Spritzer, and Kepler space telescopes will see to that.

Maybe be, maybe no. Further, what type of life might be found is a good question to ask. Will it be sentient, bacterial, or something else, perhaps even something we might not expect? Will it be good or bad, if self aware? To that last question, it is certainly more than fair to apply the same moral standards to other thinking lives as we do (or ought to do anyway) with ours. There's no special reason to believe that alien life would be benevolent, or even intellectually superior to life on Earth. Despite our favorite science fictions, it could well be vile and depraved.

How will the telescopes find life? Probably through detecting microscopic traces of something, not unlike how many planets have been discovered through 'wobbles' making their across distant stars which would indicate an object passing between our scopes and a sun. But even more, will we be able to make contact with these creatures (and we use the term creatures only to indicate there are created beings and not to pass a moral judgment on them) if we find them? What real value will the discovery of other life in other solar systems or galaxies, not to speak of other universes, have?

Not that much that we can imagine. Should the new found (to us) life be sentient and self aware, it will almost surely face the same problems we do. Should it be less than that then we don't actually have much to brag or wonder over, do we? And as we'll very likely never ever make contact, it won't make a dime's worth of difference to us just the same.

We do wonder if it's all worth the effort, except as an academic curiosity. As such, the whole issue has little meaning and will have little effect of humanity. We are coming to the belief that our tax dollars would be spent better, and more wisely, on us rather than some remote speck in the distance.

Life on Other Planets

We have reached the point, it seems, when almost every day an astronomer from somewhere has found a new planet. Most of them appear to be gas giants along the lines of Jupiter and Saturn in our own solar system. Yet there are some which, even from as far away as they are to us, might be Earth like enough to sustain life as we know it. That is, sentient life, beings who are as self aware as ourselves.

That these are exciting discoveries cannot be disputed. But where we have an issue about them is in the interpretation over how finding other life in the galaxy would shake our core beliefs here on our own good Earth. It has been said that we would have to completely rethink our philosophies, and even our religion, should there be other life forms similar to ours somewhere else in the universe.

Why? Would not the same God have created them too? Why would they not be as subject to sin and failure, the whole universe being imperfect, as we are? Further, why should we presume that the challenges they face aren't any different from ours? Getting food and shelter, worrying about how the kids are growing up; why should alien daily life be so much different than ours?

The best guess is that they would still have personal, political, and social struggles akin to ours. Granted, they may be superior or inferior to us in myriad ways and forms, but there is simply no reason to think that the cultures of another world would be, at their core, significantly different from ours. The whole science fiction array which we have been exposed to over the years, the presumption that they would be either smarter and better than us, or have greater technology and be a conquering race with it, is most likely exactly that: presumption and fantasy for the sake of exciting books and movies. We have no real reason to believe that even their science would not be all that different from ours, even if a little ahead of or behind our discoveries. Would the laws of physics be different elsewhere in creation?

So while finding Earth-like planets is certainly exciting, it should not change our outlook on the relationship between God and Man. It only means that He has seen fit to share Himself more generally than some may have thought. There would still be the animal desires competing with the spiritual appetite of those people. There would still be the happiness along with the drudgery of daily life. If we do ever find sentient life beyond our world, they will almost certainly be like us, at least in temperament if not in appearance. That may not be particularly exciting, once the veneer of newness wears off. Many of our scientists don't seem to want anything less than the fantastic. That speaks only of their prejudices, and we can learn from that without even venturing to Alpha Centauri.

Another Earth?

SPACE.com reports that circling a nearby star (or, more precisely, a three star system) is a planet with potentially earth-like conditions, particularly that it might have water. Its orbit is right in the area which would allow water to be liquid, rather than burn off (if too close to a star) or freeze (if too far away). Apparently there are at least two other so-called 'Super Earths' which have also been detected.

That these are exciting discoveries cannot be disputed. But where I have an issue about them is in the interpretation over how finding other life in the galaxy would shake our core beliefs here on our own good Earth. It has been said that we would have to completely rethink our philosophies, and even our religion.

Why? Would not the same God have created them too? Why would they not be as subject to sin and failure, the whole universe being imperfect, as we are? Further, why should we presume that the challenges they face aren't any different from ours? Getting food and shelter, worrying about how the kids are growing up; why should alien daily life of necessity (as the science fiction authors seem to believe) be so much different than ours?

The best guess is that they would still have personal, political, and social struggles akin to ours. Granted, they may be superior or inferior to us in myriad ways and forms, but there is simply no reason to think that the cultures of another world would be, at their core, any different from ours.

So while finding Earth-like planets is certainly exciting, it should not change our outlook on the relationship between God and Man. It only means that He has seen fit to share Himself more generally than some may have thought. There would still be conservative and liberal viewpoints vying for attention, and their conservatives would still be as right as our liberals are wrong.

In short, the discovery cannot really been seen as, uh, earth shattering. Interesting, even fascinating, but not a blow to any rational view of life, the universe, and everything. Kept in that context, it's simply good science at work. To interpret any more than that from the new finding would, however, require a foolish leap of faith.