Alien Life

We have sprouted up here on planet Earth as one of many species of life; however, the Earth is just a "piece" of the cosmic puzzle of the Universe. What makes the Earth, what makes us, is not just here - it's out there!!! So why do we see alien life (microbial and/or intelligent) as such an impossibility? I am not subscribing to flying saucers, crop circles, that aliens have a face on Mars they constructed, or alien abductions on this page. I am simply exploring the possibilities of other life in the Cosmos.

Mars picture from NASA - the "Face of Mars"

Some of us view aliens as being unlikely because we don't see them in our backyard of the solar system. Our planetary system is but a spec in the vastness of space and could easily be overlooked or not explored by an advanced civilization as of yet. How hard is it to believe in aliens or have the point of view that supports the possibility of other life forms out there in the cosmos (which we have some evidence, ie: Enceladus)? That there is life alive and well and running about on Super-Earths or regular size Earths like ours?

We tend to create things around us (like gods or constellations of mythic heroes) to try to make sense out of the chaos in this life. I think we make many assumptions as we've seen in history - the planets and sun revolves around the Earth, the Milky Way galaxy is the universe, the big bang theory explains our visual observations of objects moving away (red shifting) so that's how we think the Universe was "born" as we were born (to have a beginning and end) - assumptions that have come to be known as wrong as we delve into new territory over time (with the exception of the big bang as of yet). Aliens have not been found so scientifically we put them into the "unknown" or "doubtful" category. The planets beyond the current solar system "8" (was 9 when I was little :) was all we knew about just a few decades ago. Now, we have over 1741 exoplanets confirmed. But, we are now just discovering exoplanets, and Voyager 1 is now exiting our solar system after being launched in 1977 as well. There is so much to learn and we'll never run out of mysteries about this universe that we reside in. Now let's look at some arguments for the presence or lack of life in the universe beyond our own:

The Arguments:

(For the existence) So many worlds, exoplanets, many of which are"Earth-like" in size (1 - 3x size of our planet) have been discovered in recent years. It seems that it would be an awful waste of space for us to be the one and only in the Universe. Perhaps, there are many civilizations that are intelligent although most likely evolved differently than us (different biology). Are they on the other side of the Universe? Could they be in our own galaxy? I would think that they must have some sort of "brain" that can organize and synthesize information. Additionally, they must be creative enough to invent a language or many languages to pass information on and to understand each other. Is the chemistry of the Universe similar enough that humans very similar to us may be existing right this second on another rock cruising around its yellow dwarf star within the habitable zone? Are they water based life and have had similar histories of struggle, reform and possible destruction of the species by technology used unwisely? If there are other civilizations out there, how many of them exist? How many have the technological drive that we have and how do they use their intelligence? What are their values and cultures like?

Moons like Enceladus that have had space probes like Cassini fly by and take a sample have collected data that supports conditions under this moon's ice layer that could support life. We don't know for sure, but it very well could have microbial life. Some animals like fish is interesting to imagine. Our solar system has several ice moons which supports the idea to me that if water is not unique in space, then is water based life like us unique? Furthermore, the molecular structure of water is 2 parts Hydrogen and 1 part Oxygen. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. It seems to me that water forming all over the cosmos is most probable and similar to what we observe here in our own Solar System.

And how about how resilient life is? In 2007 Tardigrades were sent into space on the NASA shuttle Endeavour. Most of the Tardigrades did not only survive a 12 day mission but some of them which were hit hard with radiation came back to life when returning to Earth. These tiny animals survived in space without a suit. Humans cannot do that. Is this the way life came to Earth? Or are we "home grown" beings spawned from the Earth, from simpler microbial creatures that paved the way for humans to come into being?

(Against the existence) Humans and Earth life are the one and only. We have no proof of an advanced civilization that has stopped by and left pyramids made of some "super advanced technology" or something passed down by the generations of these beings ever being here or on the moon or Mars. However, there is the story of the star Sirius and the Dogon tribe. The story about this tribe is that they knew about Sirius' companion star, which is not viewable by the human eye, before telescopes existed. According to the Dogon they were visited by aliens that told them this information.

We are an accident and the Earth is a freak planet with plate tectonics and we just happened to be lucky enough to have evolved and made it this far. Perhaps life does arise on planets but then dies off too soon to have its life "grow" and "evolve." It could be natural selection at work and some organisms don't make the cut and don't get to evolve. Many environmental issues could come into play like having a moon of the correct size and orbit that helps to regulate a planet's wobble like our moon does for Earth. Big brother Jupiter acts like a hockey goalie and has its gravity snatch incoming meteors out of play which could have landed in our backyard instead. To get humans, humanoid or any complex organism of any chemical based biology (water life, methane life, something completely different) a planet needs time and a stable environment for the organisms to survive.

Water is critical for life as well as having the proper amount on a planet and environmental conditions. The amount of water Earth has is 0.03% by mass (Geoff Marcy). If we had too much we would not evolve as we have to become this human form. We'd be swimmers, not walkers. Access to metals from the Earth that allows the becoming of being technological as we have would not have happened with excess water. Too little water and our ecosystems would not have the water as a natural resource.

My spin on this is that we are lucky either way to exist. On one hand we have "us", we are creatures who are capable and self aware, and in time we will rise further through history technologically-socially-creatively hopefully :) So without proof one can only speculate what the truth of the matter is. The other hand (my favorite) is that our biology is not completely unique, that the Earth is just one of many planets that are blue marbles in space, and that the universe is unique! The Earth is but a small atomic part of something much bigger. All that we know and all that we are, will be and have been on planet Earth is just a single voice in an infinite choir of beings (microbial to humans to dinosaurs possibly living in other nooks and crannies of the Universe right now!). That's an interesting idea that all sorts of animals like our prehistoric dinosaurs can be living and evolving on other worlds somewhere possibly bearing similarities to our own. Who knows? There's a lot of galaxies out there and we haven't even completed our learning on the one we currently live in. But, we are working on it and getting better at it.

Other planets, moons, stars, nebula and so many vistas of unknown (to us) are part of the infinite beauty of the Cosmos. It would be very cool if we could share the beauty of our planet and culture with another people. Inevitably the exchange would change both of us. It also may unite the people of Earth more realizing that it just isn't the Earth and "what's outside our window." But, that it is a very large Universe out there, we are not alone and it is all one. Borders and boundaries become something on a map, not limitations as they have been in the past that separate people. To understand that space has no borderlines and there is plenty of it for everyone...To know that we are all made of ancient matter that never dies just transforms...just like every atom in the Universe (law of conservation of matter). It is the same. It is one.