Entry 2322, on 2024-02-03 at 20:37:02 (Rating 1, Science)
For the last couple of weeks there has been a scientific debate about the possible discovery of life, by the James Webb Space Telescope, on a planet with the rather catchy name of "K2-18b". The most interesting discovery was of a chemical, dimethyl sulfide, which we have only ever found in the presence of life.
One article wryly notes that the discovery is being reported with the headline "Have we just discovered aliens?", and there is a law known as "Betteridge's law of headlines" which states something like: for any headline which ends with a question mark, the answer is "no"!
Of course, that isn't literally true, but it does make the point that we should be highly skeptical of this possibility. After all, there have been many other similar discoveries which looked as if they might indicate the presence of life, but were due to either misidentification, contamination, or a previously unknown chemical process.
So this blog post isn't about how life has been discovered, but how the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe is an interesting subject in itself, even if it hasn't been found yet. Here is one of my favourite quotes from legendary science fiction writer, Arthur C Clarke: "Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe, or we are not. Both are equally terrifying."
Think about it: if we are the only life in the universe, that is truly awesome. I mean the universe is pretty big (maybe even infinite) and has existed for a long time (also possibly infinitely, according to some theories) and if the only life, and maybe the only "intelligence", is here on Earth, that is utterly astonishing. But if there is life elsewhere, and almost certainly intelligence as well, that is also an incredible thing.
So which is more scary: knowing that we are all alone in this vast universe, or knowing that there might be other intelligent species, and civilisations, out there waiting to be discovered? Both are amazing and very consequential.
If we really are the only intelligent life in this vast universe then surely we have a responsibility to make the most of that exalted position, and we sure don't seem to be doing a very good job of that so far! You might ask who do we owe this responsibility to? Well, if you are religious, you might say to your god, but I would say to ourselves.
If there are many planets orbiting most stars, and hundreds of billions of stars in each galaxy, and hundreds of billions (or trillions) of galaxies in the visible universe alone, and who knows how many (again, maybe an infinite number) in the rest of the universe, then there are clearly many opportunities for life to evolve elsewhere. If it hasn't, then it must be unbelievably difficult for it to get started, making it so much more valuable when it does.
But if it has, then there is life on other planets, and almost certainly intelligent life too. How amazing is that? When can we meet these other cultures? When can we even confirm that they exist? How would that affect religion and philosophy? Would most people even care? Well, probably not, but the more intelligent, thoughtful, and philosophical amongst us probably would.
The lack of convincing evidence of extraterrestrial life so far, despite several attempts at finding it, is somewhat puzzling, although there are many perfectly respectable scientific reasons for this failure. It certainly seems as if life does not get started easily, and if it does get started, it might not advance to being intelligent enough to develop technology we could detect.
But surely it is just a matter of time. I believe it is inevitable that we will discover life some time, probably in the next hundred years, and extraterrestrial intelligence within a similar timeframe. In fact, it might be easier to find the evidence of technology rather than life itself.
So yeah, I think it will happen, but I'm not sure it has happened yet.
Comment 1 by OJB on 2024-02-03 at 20:42:25:
On a related matter, just checking through my list of Arthur C Clarke quotes, and found this one: "I'm sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It's just been too intelligent to come here."
Comment 2 by Dad on 2024-02-05 at 11:11:57:
You ask to who do we owe this responsibility. One of your replies is to God. In John 14.3 Jesus says I go to prepare a place for you. So out there somewhere there will eventually be life. In the meantime I doubt it exists.
Comment 3 by OJB on 2024-02-05 at 11:47:04:
Yes, well as a "science-y" person, I don't take the religious view too seriously, but if a responsibility to God causes people to make good decisions, then I'm fine with that.
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