Alien Life

The only philosophy I see in this topic is what it means for our view of ourselves and our place in the universe.  Many people have the firm belief that we are special beings, unique in all of existence, the only "intelligent" species.  For believers, the fact that we have no proof of any other worlds full of living things means that their god(s) have created us and us alone, and we are the special snowflakes of all of creation.  Of course, there are also believers who are open to and even excited about the idea of extraterrestrial life, saying it would prove the glory and power of their god.  Non-believers are in a similar position in terms of accepting or not the possibilities of alien life.  We might be anomalies in the universe, or nature might be so fruitful as to have other species somewhere, the like of which we have never dreamed of.  Alternatively, they could be very much like us.  In fact, some experts warn of this exact thing, since the traits that have lead humanity to the top of the food chain would logically also be found in successful species from other worlds, assuming they have had to adapt to similar conditions as we have.  What traits would those be?  Well, creativity, sociability and cooperativeness are often considered human traits, and necessary for our cultural advancement.  However, we are also aggressive, warlike, competitive.  We discriminate and divide our species, sometimes in ways that seem almost arbitrary in their uselessness or outdatedness.  An extraterrestrial that comes in contact with us will probably have traveled on its own here, thus showing a higher level of technology than we have.  We know what happens when we run into civilizations with less technology.  There might be attempts to create agreements and partnerships, especially if we have some resources the aliens need, but in all likelihood there will be conflict and perhaps conquest.  We worry enough about cultural differences in our own species; do we really think we could deal with a truly alien culture?

The Leader agreed that aliens we might run into are probably aggressive, much as we are.  He was somewhat more interested in the search for alien life and the science driving in than in the ramifications of its discovery.  He distinguished between finding proof of life outside our world and actually meeting representatives of that life, also making the point that they would likely consider us savages compared to themselves.  He linked two podcasts in his blurb, summing them up as asking what the point of searching only for life was, since we gain nothing from the mere knowledge that something exists.  Even if we were to meet an alien life form, how could we communicate?  Can we assume that they would use language in the way we do?  On the other hand, we may find evidence of an alien civilization on another planet, but one which has not advanced enough to have developed technology to contact us.  They may not even know we have come across them, depending on what technology we are using at that point.  A further possibility is that we discover the remains of a civilization, one which flourished in the past but by the time we come to it has been long gone.  Even on our own planet we find archaeological sites for which we have no explanations.  For those who doubt any other intelligent life could exist, he said that the fact we do exist means the probabilities are greater than zero.  The probability of making contact is another issue, nevertheless.  Going back to language and communication, we have no way of knowing how their perception could function.  Human beings have a rather limited range of perception of light and sound; many other species just on earth are far superior to us in those areas.  It may be that the narrowing of focus gives us other advantages and forces us to be more creative, hence an alien species would be similarly limited, but what if they are operating in a different level?  Furthermore, we have to take distance into account.  In the neighborhood of our world, we simply have not found any evidence of advanced lifeforms, so if they exist at all, they are probably far away.  If we have trouble getting to them, we can assume they also have trouble getting to us.  Some mentioned wormholes as methods of transportation, but the Leader was unconvinced, saying there is simply no empirical evidence of them working in that way.  Of course, we do know that life in a general sense exists off of the earth, since viruses and bacteria can survive on comets and meteors.  The Leader was impressed by their hardiness, labeling them "genius" lifeforms.  He closed by saying the universe is too big for there to be no other life; so big, in fact, that it does not even matter.  Why should we worry about getting to other planets or have their citizens come here, when it is bad enough getting home from our meeting place?

The Returned Participant was hopeful that we would be accepting of alien life, and thought its existence to be the more likely thing.  Those who doubt have a provincial point of view.  Although we normally think of encountering intelligent life, we should remember that even unicellular organisms are alive.  She also pointed out the lack of evidence for highly evolved life and civilizations on other planets, saying we have only theories and science fiction.  Still, we are always making new discoveries and reevaluating what we already know.

The Deep Thinker was more optimistic about the character and intentions of possible interplanetary travelers, theorizing that the advances in technology they have made could only be possible if they have also found a way to tone down or even do away with aggression and violence.  The meeting could be the most important event in human history, if we are prepared to take advice from the aliens on peace and appreciation of life.  It would be a great opportunity to rethink our place in the universe.  As for distance, it was the Deep Thinker who first brought up the wormholes, and he also mentioned communication through radio waves.

The Educator insisted too that we cannot be the only forms of intelligent life in the universe.  We may be rare examples, lucky enough to have planets with the resources we have, but with the quantity of potential fertile worlds in the universe the probability should lie with others existing.  Some experts say that carbon and water must exist for there to be life, but these building blocks are being identified in many places we had not found them before.  She also wondered about communication, but reminded us that verbal language is not the only way even humans communicate; images and music can also play a role in transmitting ideas.  We might not have the right technology to receive and interpret messages sent by other civilizations, even if they are sending them to us.  For that matter, some people propose that gods in most mythologies were actual beings, but aliens.  The Educator mentioned the miracles of Jesus as an indicator that he was not like other people; perhaps he was an alien with different abilities, or just better technology.

An Occasional Attendee reminded us that humans live in a wide variety of conditions on earth, so there is no reason to think other life forms might not adapt to harsh conditions on other worlds.  Our planet also supports a broad spectrum of life forms.  As for communication, we should be patient, remembering that our technology has changed radically in the span of just a few decades.  We could catch up to a more advanced civilization, or a lesser one could catch up to us.  She was also cautious, however, echoing the sentiment that aliens will likely not be interested in us, but in something we have.

Another reason to question how we choose to be or to have.