Trillions of habitable planets, those that can sustain liquid water, exists in the universe. From looking at the number of habitable planets that exist, there should be other life forms in the universe and out of these life forms, there should be intelligent civilizations. When looking for alien civilizations, researchers look at the planetary bodies within our local group. Everything outside the local group is unreachable because the universe is always expanding.1 “If only 0.1% of those planets harbored life, there would be 1 million planets with life in the Milky Way.”1 The Fermi Paradox questions why humans have not yet come in contact with alien civilizations. This question was first asked by physicist Enrico Fermi. While having a conversation …show more content…
According to the Kardashev Scale, there are three types of civilizations. Type One civilizations are able to access all available energy on its planet; Type Two civilizations are able to gather and use energy from its star; and Type Three civilizations rules over its galaxy, dictates and watch over other life forms.3 Humans are currently in the process of becoming a Type One civilization, meaning that if extraterrestrial societies exist, it is very likely that they are far more advance than us. This leads to one of the possible solutions to the Fermi Paradox. The technology we are using may not be advanced enough or are not the right kind to communicate with extraterrestrials. Alien life might be more different than we can understand. They could be out there looking for us but we are undetectable because of our primitive technology. For example, “imagine sitting at a house with a Morse code transmitter, you’d keep sending messages but nobody would answer.”3 There is also uncertainties about how far technology can advance. We could be at its limit or we could be very primitive in terms of its possibilities. If human technology is already close to the limit of technological advancement, then perhaps the reason we haven’t came in contact with extraterrestrials is because a visit is impossible. Spaceships have to travel at a speed lower than the
There is a cultural assumption that there are many alien civilizations in the universe. However, what do we really know about extraterrestrial life? With recent findings of water on Mars and the discovery of Trappist-1, there could be hope for extraterrestrial life out in the universe. Even though the water on Mars is frozen under the polar ice caps and Trappist-1 could be far from finding any alien life, there are still many articles supporting the research and looking forward to finding additional news. In the article “Could the TRAPPSIT-1 worlds harbor alien life?’ written by Liz Fuller-Wright, she reports the announcement of astronomers that they found a miniature solar system of seven Earth-sized planets. Furthermore, the argument is effective towards bright individuals because it makes one think about what it will be if there was actually life outside of Earth.
(Gato-Rivera, 2005) Additionally, there were many solutions to the Fermi paradox, the most popular non-expansionist being that interstellar travel is not possible because the technology level has not yet been reached by the civilization. Another solution theorizes advanced civilization have little interest in expanding beyond their region in the galaxy. Dissimilarly, another solution states that technologically advanced civilizations annihilate themselves or disappear by natural causes before getting a chance to spread through the large regions of the galaxy. (Gato-Rivera, 2005) Whereas, the most popular expansionist solution is that advanced civilization might have ethics code which prevent them from interfering with human life. Another solution is the advanced civilization ignores earth due to the fact of our low primitive level because the civilizations would be millions of years ahead of human capabilities. (Gato-Rivera,2005) These are some of the few solutions that researchers have come up with supporting the Fermi
Finding life in our solar system could potentially answer the questions humanity has been asking for thousands of years. Sarah Seager, a professor at MIT, mentioned some of these thought provoking questions, “why are we here? Why does our universe exist? How did Earth form and evolve? How and why did life originate and populate our planet?” Answers to these questions could give humanity a deeper understanding of who we are and what our place in the universe is. Steven Dick believes that humanity has “… deep psychological yearnings for companionship, superior wisdom, or ‘an ineradicable desire to see the skies filled with life’.” Those opposed may argue that a biological universe will have little effect on humanity’s understanding of our place in the universe because a biological universe simply does not exist. One may argue that life is exceedingly complex and the odds of conditions being just right for the production and the sustainment of life are slim. Our civilization may have managed to beat the odds, but many its unlikely to for this to occur elsewhere in our solar system. The proof to back this argument is the N =1 equation. The only solid evidence we have proves that only one planet has beaten these insurmountable odds and produced life. While this argument makes logical sense, relying solely on evidence we have at the moment, takes our focus away from the
In the “The Great Silence” Ted Chiang creates a thought experiment that helps the reader understand a possible answer to Fermi’s paradox. Fermi’s paradox poses two questions the first is why haven’t we encountered extraterrestrial life if there are billions of stars in the universe like the sun that are capable of sustaining life. Second, the universe has existed long enough for interstellar travel to be possible, but why hasn’t anything contacted us yet?
Over a 1950 summer lunch at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the great physicist Enrico Fermi asked his colleagues an unexpected question – “Don’t you ever wonder where everybody is?” Laughter went around the table as everyone immediately knew that he was talking about extraterrestrial intelligence [1]. If life arises fairly commonly, as Fermi believed, it follows that there should be advanced civilizations with the desire to visit and colonize Earth close enough to do so. However, there is no incontrovertible evidence of aliens on Earth, either now or in the past. This is called the Fermi Paradox. The lack of observational evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence is known as the ‘Great Silence.’[13]
It is commonly accepted that the possibility of aliens existing is feasible, among the scientific community. Drake’s Equation and The Fermi Paradox are two well-known products of humanities’ view towards extraterrestrial life. Drake’s Equation is an equation written by Dr. Frank Drake to determine the odds of intelligent life and to figure out the number of civilizations in the Milky Way that seek to communicate with each other (Howell). The Fermi Paradox is the contradiction between there being a high probability of alien life and it’s the lack of contact with Earth (Krauthammer). The existence of aliens poses many questions for the future of the human race. The questions of where, what, and why are the foremost concerns posed when describing
The existence of life – Aliens, beyond our planet has been a controversial topic for several centuries, and is a debatable issue even today in the 21st century. What is our topic you may ask? Aliens, Do, Exist. According to theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking, it would be improbable for life not to exist somewhere other than Earth. This is a bold claim, but there is evidence to support this statement. The evidence we seek is in the many Alien occurrences we have experienced throughout human history.
It is true that we have no evidence of intelligent life beyond earth, but to
One of the most controversial arguments of this day, are aliens real or they just a hoax. We all always wonder if really do exist, and to the people who don't believe that they exist I will try my best to change your minds a little that there is living life forms on planets or galaxies. In fact, Mars actually has ice or water scattered around the Martian planet. The famous hidden and heavily guarded place in the U.S is the Nevada Test and Training Range and Groom Lake, aka “Area 51”, has been in suspicion of keeping top secret things from the Roswell UFO Incident that happened in 1947. Well we all know the CIA will snag those things up and hide them, instead of showing the curious world if we are really the only ones that occupy this plant or even this whole universe. With great numbers of stars covering our solar system or universe, life is possible. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know if other planets went through the same stages that our earth is going through in this heavily planet and star populated universe.
Many times regular objects have been mistaken for UFOs, such as the famous Roswell encounter when a crashed weather balloon was thought to be the remains of an extraterrestrial spacecraft in Roswell, New Mexico (History.com Staff, 2009). At the 2012 London olympics, a Goodyear blimp was even mistaken as a UFO above the stadium, and it was hired to be there (Nelson, 2012). From blurry UFO photos to wild accusations of little green men probing people’s minds for experimentation, the theorization of alien life from space has been repeatedly critiqued and
Baum et al. further point out that ETI could harm us intentionally as they could attack us out of selfishness or out of a more altruistic desire to protect the galaxy from us or harm us unintentionally as they might give us a biological or computer disease that our defences cannot handle (p.2122-2125). While there is some justification for this point of view but there are reasons to believe that extraterrestrials would be cooperative, ETI being more intelligent and intellectual beings would tend to choose cooperative options as a non-cooperative measure is a risky strategy and can hinder the evolutionary process ( Baum et al., 2011, p.2119) .Searching for life beyond the confines of our very own planet, Earth, has been an ongoing obsession by astronomers and merely detecting the existence of ETI can be beneficial because it will be such a monumental discovery - arguably the most important discovery in human history (Baum et al., 2011, p.2118; SETI, n.d., p.109). If ETI cooperates with us, then they might be of assistance to many of humanity’s biggest challenges such as poverty, global warming, and enlighten us to the truth of our existence.
Do aliens exist? For eons, mankind has pondered over this peculiar question and a revealing truth has yet to be answered. However, one thing is known for sure, the discovery of intelligent alien life outside of Earth would provide support to prove and/or disprove fundamental beliefs that have been held for centuries. In any case, the discovery would serve as a cornerstone for humanity to make the quantum leap in understanding the purpose of our existence. Based on numerous examples, it is impossible to deny the existence of extraterrestrial life outside of Earth. Reportings of sightings, ancient civilizations beliefs, and scientific proof from scientists and astronomers are all key factors that contribute to this statement.
Not only that, but our population has been growing at an extremely alarming rate. At our current rate, our species may not be able to survive for much longer. This is where space exploration comes in. With the recent discovery of water on Mars, and the finding of Kepler-78b, it is possible that mankind can prolong our existence. The possibility of interstellar travel seems to be an option, or even a necessity, if we wish to continue living.
Many people who live on Earth are close minded to what is really out there in the universe. They cannot even begin to fathom the vastness of it and how Earth is just a tiny little speck compared to everything else out there. From the planets to the stars and out towards the edge of the unknown, we can only see what science provides us with. From this, we know that we are nothing but a tiny planet located in a solar system of millions in a galaxy of many more in the universe.
The argument suggesting life existing on other Earth-like planets has been present since man first looked into space and questioned his own existence and the existence of others like him. Today there are many theories on the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, but only one theory goes beyond them and into an even larger realm. The contents of this theory, known as the “multiverse” theory, suggest that humans on Earth live within one universe of many others that reside within a primordial vacuum containing many other universes (Jenkins and Perez). Each of these universes possesses potentially different natural constants and physical laws that govern them differently, thus calling forth some logical questions. First, what is the likelihood such universes even exist, and second, how can we test the constants and laws that still result in the possibility of intelligent life in other universes? Moreover, what implications does this theory have on the ideology that this universe is designed specifically for human beings?