The biological universe is the idea that our solar system contains life other than ourselves. A question many ask is, “are we alone in this universe?” Formulas, like The Drake Equation, and arguments, like the Fermi’s paradox, have been proposed help use deduce whether our universe is a biological one. The Drake Equation puts forth high probabilities of extraterrestrial life. However, there are skeptics who believe there is only one planet where life can exist, and this planet is the one that discover us. Whether or not life outside of Earth exist, the exploration of the biological universe is beneficial to humanity’s understanding of our place in the universe. The Drake equation is a formula that is used to predict “the number of active communicative Steven Dick, author of The Biological Universe and Cosmos & Culture, argued that the Drake Equation is cosmic evolution made concrete. This is because the Drake Equation incorporates similar complexities to ones of the cosmic evolution while mirroring it astronomically, biologically, and socially. In his book, Cosmos & Culture, Dick states the definition of complexity as, “…a state of intricacy, complication, variety, or involvement, as in the interconnected parts of a system.” The idea of the cosmic evolution is complex because it has produced a variety of heavenly bodies and objects that are interconnected in our solar system. The Drake equation is complex because, like stated by Dick in The Biological Universe, “Each of [the Drake Equation’s] disparate elements – individually uncertain and collectively devoid of meaning in any observational sense – represented one of a series of steps…” These steps mentioned in Dick’s quote refers to the astronomical, biological, and social evolution that both the Drake equation and the cosmic evolution follow. R*, fP, and ne represent astronomy in that these variables could be measured by studying the planets and stars. fL, fI and fc represent biology in that life is involved. L represents social evolution in that it characterizes how long a society survives as a technological and 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
Charles Lyell was a British lawyer and one the smartest geologist known in his time. He was known as the author of the Principles of Geology, which helped popularize the theories and concepts of uniformitarianism. The Principles of Geology was the first book written by Lyell and explained the changes of the earth’s surface. He used the research and information in the book as his proof to determine that the earth was over 6,000 years old. The central argument in his book was “the present is the key to the past”, this meant that to find out what happened in the past you had to look at what was happening now. It explained that changes which happened in the past, were happening in the present, and will happen in the future. Lyell’s book was later published into three volumes from 1830-1833. After the publication, it gave him credentials as an important geological theorist. His book later influenced a young Charles Darwin. Lyell’s influential book led Darwin to follow his principles and they later became friends. Darwin began to explore the changes that happen on the earth and develop his theories of evolution, though Charles did not completely endorse Darwin’s theory of evolution. Lyell was a devout Christian and Darwin’s theory of evolution did not line up with his Lyell’s beliefs with natural selection. Darwin continued his research and beliefs of his own and became a scientist working with his theories of evolution.
Sire, James W. The universe next door: a basic worldview catalog. 3rd ed. Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1997.
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]
For over a hundred years now a battle has been raging over the origin of the Universe and man. Soldiers of Science have drawn the battle lines with each side using various scientific and non - scientific theories as their weapons.
“Life is an empirical concept whose various definitions and phenomenological characterizations depend on historical frameworks.”2 In general, life is the energy that keeps organisms going on this earth and can be traced back through the history of the world. This would be the theoretic definition of life, but there is also a biological view of life that suggests that life is based around Darwinian evolution and the presence of genetic material. Life is an entity that is very much capable of evolution as it is shown in the organisms on earth. The type of Darwinian evolution that it is also exposed to is natural selection since it has needed to continuously find new ways in order to grow more complex and survive on this earth.2 (9) Life also needed the presence of genetic material, like DNA and RNA, in order to occur in this world. DNA and RNA are absolutely necessary to the ...
Have you ever looked up in the sky and wondered if there is life elsewhere in the universe? Have you ever looked at a photograph of Mars and wondered if there really was ever life on it? People have a wide variety of opinions regarding these questions and with good reason. As far back as the broadcast of H. G. Well's novel, "The War of the Worlds", the world has been fascinated with the possibilities of what Mars may hold. Over time, the majority of people have come to realize that there is no way that life can currently be on Mars. Those who are uncertain think there may be microscopic bacteria underground.
Overall we can get a pretty good insight on how or Solar System was formed, yes there are still certain aspects of it that are hard to make sense of, as well as debates over which theory is correct, such as Core Accretion vs. Disk Instability, but overall I feel it is pretty amazing what we have learned about the nature of system and look forward to future discoveries.
Scott ensures to immediately cut that idea and replace it with the concept of common ancestors. This is because most people who deny the theory of evolution view it as a linear process even though it does not really work that way. As the book progresses it shifts into the spectrum of creationism and explaining the various creation myths, as well as the continuum of creationism and evolution which shows the degree of literal Biblical interpretation and how it corresponds with evolution, if at all. Scott also clarifies that the position of most people is not a “God did it” mindset, but it is closer to a mentality that God works through natural
The Fermi Paradox criticizes the blatant contradiction between the absence of evidence and the high probability rates estimated by the Drake Equation (Schilling & MacRobert, 2009). It states that according to the many propositions supporting the existence of extraterrestrial life, the Earth should have, by the present day, already been visited by them (Schilling & MacRobert, 2009). The Fermi Paradox is based on first-hand observations and is thus, more scientifically reliable and valid criticism of the Drake Equation. Consequently, the equation is widely obsolete due to the lack of any genuine evidence demonstrating any sign of extraterrestrial
On the other hand, believers in science take a completely different approach in explaining the origin of the universe. Although there is more than one theory, the most popular today is the concept of the big ba...
Should we as humans expect to find intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe? There are many reasons for and against this concept, but first we should trace just how our terrestrial life started.
What is the meaning of life? How does it affect the way I think? A reader might ask themselves this question at least once, if not multiple times, over the course of their life. This question is the beginning of exploration into philosophy. A reader might believe there is a God or that aliens exist and this too is a form of a philosophy. First a person must understand philosophy, then looking specifically into two forms such as Realism and Idealism, and finally different forms of educational philosophy.
While this idea may seem straight out of a science fiction movie, some evidence suggests that an extraterrestrial origin of life may not be such impossible idea.
Throughout history there have been many attempts to explain this conundrum but as more is learned about the universe it has become clear that it is a very premature assumption to conclude that humanity
Since the dawn of intelligent man, humanity has speculated about the origins of the universe.