Wed 12 Mar 2008 @21:09
True story: A colleague once asked me [out of the blue], “Are you an alien?” While I stood there [slack-jawed, probably] she continued, “I mean, are you from another country?” She never explained why she thought I might be, except for the fact that some people do seem to think I’m from another planet.
Janet’s TITMT question of the week is “What are your thoughts on life outside of Earth? Do you believe in aliens?”
The first thing that comes to mind is not exactly on topic. [I know... hard to believe!] I had the pleasure of seeing Lily Tomlin’s one-woman show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe [written by Jane Wagner]. Through a myriad of characters in hysterically funny and heart-wrenchingly poignant situations we learn:
- Reality is nothing but a collective hunch.
- I’ve always wanted to be somebody, but I see now I should have been more specific.
- If I had known what it would be like to have it all…I might have been willing to settle for less.
- Sometimes I feel like a figment of my own imagination.
And slightly more on topic perhaps:
Arthhur C. Clarke said, “Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” And he echoes Tomlin with, “I don’t pretend we have all the answers. But the questions are certainly worth thinking about.”
Wernher von Braun opined, “Our sun is one of 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Our galaxy is one of billions of galaxies populating the universe. It would be the height of presumption to think that we are the only living things in that enormous immensity.” More current estimates are 250 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy 70 sextillion stars in the visible universe.
I’m not sure whether it was in the book [I have a copy around here somewhere, but I'm too lazy to look it up right now], but in the movie version of Carl Sagan’s Contact his characters summed it up with:
Young Ellie Arroway: Dad, do you think there’s people on other planets?
Ted Arroway: I don’t know, Sparks. But I guess I’d say if it is just us… seems like an awful waste of space.
That is based on a quote from Thomas Carlyle, a 19th century Scottish essayist and historian, “A sad spectacle. If they be inhabited, what a scope for misery and folly. It they be not inhabited, what a waste of space.” Sagan referenced this quote at a symposium on “Life Beyond Earth and the Mind of Man” in 1972.
So, considering the size and complexity of the universe [and theories that we may be only one of many coexisting universes, which I'm not even going to get into here] I have to say that there is certainly life outside of earth and quite likely intelligent life. [Although many days I find scant evidence that there is intelligent life on earth, but that's high school for you.... How ironic that this question comes during the week we are administering the FCAT, Florida's version of the high-stakes testing required by what most people call No Child Left Behind.]
And yet… Even though I believe there is probably intelligent life out there somewhere I do not believe there is any evidence that they have visited or had any kind of contact with earth. We should keep looking though.
[Note: This post made possible by wikipedia and wikiquote. Believe me, if I had to dig through my books, notes, and the library... well, I probably wouldn't have.]
March 13th, 2008 at 17:20
Wackopedia — isn’t it great?
It is, but I verify info with other sources. ~Tim
March 14th, 2008 at 07:52
Good one Tim. I totally agree. In a universe this big and complex we can’t be the only ones out here. I just hope that for the aliens sake they steer clear of us. We don’t like the “aliens” from our own planet and our entertainment is all about the best way to off aliens from other worlds.
Well, yeah. But you say that like it’s a bad thing…. ~Tim
March 14th, 2008 at 11:29
I think there is other life out there. With all the billions of stars, I just don’t feel like there’s no way there can’t be….
I think we’re just WAY too far away to ever meet anyone from another planet, though. I just don’t think the physics would work out.
–snow
We need a new physics, don’t we? ~Tim
March 15th, 2008 at 03:08
Arthur C. Clarke’s take on the question is thought-provoking and his conclusions rather shocking, but I can’t say I find either belief terrifying. It’s like so many other musings or bits of information that have come my way: It has no power to impact my life, so it’s not worth worrying about.
I am in the “we are not alone” camp, simply because I think that’s the more fun philosophy. It opens up possibilities for us to muse on. I love that we sent out Voyager 1 and 2 with the hope (and assumption) that someone outside our solar system would receive our recorded messages.
There’s nothing that says love like a message in a multi-million-dollar bottle! ~Tim
March 15th, 2008 at 14:32
how did you answer the question: “are you an alien?”…here you are waxing on quoting a number of bright minds. all i can think is how did that conversation with the co-worker end.
I told her that I’m from another planet, of course. ~Tim