Where No Man Has Gone Before “Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying” (A.C. Clarke, n.d.) Since the discovery of the greater universe, mankind has looked to the stars and wondered whether or not other forms of intelligent life were among them. Some say that humanity is alone in the cold void of outer space, claiming that other civilizations would have found Earth by now had they existed in the first place. Others believe that intelligent life is living just a few light years away, waiting for humanity to pay a visit. There are even some individuals that believe that alien life is the cause of human life to form on Earth. Until conclusive evidence is discovered, the debate will
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N. Tyson is one such individual. Tyson (2003) claims “To declare that Earth must be the only planet in the cosmos with life would be inexcusably egocentric of us” (para. 2). This means the absence of alien life in the universe is even less probable than the possibility that alien life does exist in some undiscovered corner of the galaxy, given how large the universe is and how diverse the environments of undiscovered planets could be. Tyson also sites the diversity of life on Earth as possible evidence of the diversity of alien species already in existence given how each form of life on earth has a drastically different appearance and method of survival when compared to another form of life from the same planet. This comparison would also include humans, but there are several different theories as to why humans are so different from every other form of life on …show more content…
10). J. Lott of The Federalist claims that the research of unidentified flying objects is a lost cause. Groups such as SETI sometimes spend billions of dollars on the advancement of telescopes and aerospace technology used to peer into the outer universe. A thirty meter telescope is being constructed in Hawaii that has already cost $141 million before construction has even begun, and NASA alone plans to spend $8.8 billion on the James Webb Space Telescope that is planned to be launched into orbit in the year 2018 (Lott, 2014). Certain individuals, such as Lott, believe spending large amounts of money on those programs is a waste because they never seem to provide definitive evidence of any other forms of life in the universe. individuals such as Lott (2014) typically frown upon these types of research due to the scarcity of evidence they tend to provide, comparing the practice to “oil drilling in that it sometimes hits dry holes or the reservoirs of insight run out. Plenty of promising theories prove dead wrong. Others prove to be of limited utility, given later information” (para. 9). But what if these wells of incite produce more than what has been revealed? What if astronomers actually do know whether or not intelligent alien life does exist elsewhere within the universe, and
N. Tyson is one such individual. Tyson (2003) claims “To declare that Earth must be the only planet in the cosmos with life would be inexcusably egocentric of us” (para. 2). This means the absence of alien life in the universe is even less probable than the possibility that alien life does exist in some undiscovered corner of the galaxy, given how large the universe is and how diverse the environments of undiscovered planets could be. Tyson also sites the diversity of life on Earth as possible evidence of the diversity of alien species already in existence given how each form of life on earth has a drastically different appearance and method of survival when compared to another form of life from the same planet. This comparison would also include humans, but there are several different theories as to why humans are so different from every other form of life on …show more content…
10). J. Lott of The Federalist claims that the research of unidentified flying objects is a lost cause. Groups such as SETI sometimes spend billions of dollars on the advancement of telescopes and aerospace technology used to peer into the outer universe. A thirty meter telescope is being constructed in Hawaii that has already cost $141 million before construction has even begun, and NASA alone plans to spend $8.8 billion on the James Webb Space Telescope that is planned to be launched into orbit in the year 2018 (Lott, 2014). Certain individuals, such as Lott, believe spending large amounts of money on those programs is a waste because they never seem to provide definitive evidence of any other forms of life in the universe. individuals such as Lott (2014) typically frown upon these types of research due to the scarcity of evidence they tend to provide, comparing the practice to “oil drilling in that it sometimes hits dry holes or the reservoirs of insight run out. Plenty of promising theories prove dead wrong. Others prove to be of limited utility, given later information” (para. 9). But what if these wells of incite produce more than what has been revealed? What if astronomers actually do know whether or not intelligent alien life does exist elsewhere within the universe, and