the biggest conundrum outside the questions on how our universe came to be is whether we're alone
in our solar system our galaxy or even the entire universe at large for the last 50 years scientists
have held out the hope that maybe just maybe humankind is not the only biological life existing
in the universe the rare earth hypothesis might just be the answer we've all been looking for
especially since it opens a new door to understanding the state of our universe
but what is this rare earth hypothesis initially people have been led to think
that the circumstances of our existence are common and replicable we can trace signs of this
ideology to the push to find organic matter on a planet like mars we are constantly trying to prove
that we are not solitary beings in the cosmos wells not being a general belief there were a few
sections of scientists who surmised that it's possible that we could be the only life forms in
our entire universe this small fraction of researchers are the core idealists behind
the rare earth hypothesis which remains to be proven or disproven as further studies and
deliberations continue the chief riddle we'd be happy to have astronomers answer for us is this
do other planets like earth exist in any other solar systems in our universe and do they harbor
life welcome to fact nominal and for today's video you'll find out what the rare earth hypothesis is
in just how rare our existence truly is how many solar systems have earth-like planets
earth is the densest planet in our solar system and the only planet with the supernatural ability
to sustain life well we know this because we live on it and until proven otherwise
the idea of aliens will remain pure fiction using the body of data accumulated on what
makes the earth such a good fit for mankind scientists are digging deep in the universe for
any similitude of a planet within and outside our solar system that be similar to earth
or even better our earth is a combination of rocks overflowing with water and a large proportion of
organic matter accumulated over billions of years its atmosphere bears a couple of qualitative
elements that ensures that we don't choke to death on the very air that sustains us if a planet were
to show up on our radar bearing roughly 60 to 70 similarity in atmospheric slash organic matter
composition as our dear mother earth we'll most likely be happy to jump on it and consider it a
potentially worthy place to call our new home no offense to the ongoing global expedition to mars
but truthfully resembles more a planet that's run out of time and lost all organic life
what we really need is a planet just like our world untainted and accommodating as you know
scientists are using highly advanced telescopes and spacecraft technologies to continuously
search out and find new exoplanets an exoplanet is any planet that exists outside of our solar system
the ultimate prize would be to locate an earth-like body existing outside of our
solar system so far there have been over 5 000 exoplanets found with just around 1 or roughly
55 of those planets even potentially earth-like exoplanets are judged on certain qualities
with an emphasis on size proximity to their stars and their atmospheres these metrics are
what they use to distinguish planets that appear similar to earth we're not sure that the size of
a planet matters as much as the other two factors but we know that the planet must be strategically
positioned away from the core of its solar system enough to be considered a possibly
conducive place for human life in 2013 scientists determined that about 40 billion planets in our
galaxy are similar in size to the earth some of these planets possess their own satellites like
our moon when observed by telescope these planets appear like stars revolving around one another
each solar system possesses different numbers of planets orbiting at sun the stars in these
solar systems don't have to be exactly like ours but suggestions are pointing to a range between
something like red dwarf stars and huge old balls of fiery gases like our sun as interesting as the
possibility of an earth-like planet sounds we mustn't forget that even the closest earth-like
planets are still light years away from us at a minimum the one sure way to determine if these
exoplanets are habitable would be to actually visit them but that's nearly impossible scientists
are drawing their conclusions of the planets being life-friendly based on the fact that they're small
and rocky and not gas giants and can retain liquid water on their surface the nearest of these earth
wannabes is kepler-452b now called earth 2.0 it fits the bill because it's filled with gases
and revolves around an identical sun to ours the atmosphere possesses cloud-like formations
and there's evidence pointing to the existence of active volcanoes on the planet it's believed that
even if it cannot sustain life its atmosphere could be modified to do just that our obsession
with other life forms is seen as one of the main reasons we're pushing to go beyond the confines of
our solar system it's quite evident in today's pop culture and social culture is portrayed on modern
media platforms humanity is sold on the concept of life forms other than us existing in the universe
hollywood releases new movies or tv shows about aliens and distant planets seemingly every other
week but all we have are suppositions and it feels right to humbly admit that all efforts to locate
other life forms have failed woefully but why the fermi paradox offers an explanation for this
it tries to explain the discrepancy between the expected existence of alien signals which from
one point of view should be everywhere and the universe's apparent lack of extraterrestrial
signals or life forms other than our own the paradox aims to debunk suggestions that
other life forms might actually be trying to avoid contact with us this has led to different opinions
and some people say that maybe the civilizations of highly intelligent life forms are short-lived
and they probably existed for a while until they went extinct others have even said that although
they exist there are various yet to be deciphered reasons why humans can't see any evidence of
their existence in the midst of all this the rare earthers posit that the only rational explanation
is the concept of rarity of life outside of our solar system these scientists published
their calculations based on astrobiological knowledge they postulated that there's a 53 to 99
chance that we're the only civilization in our galaxy and a 39 to 85 percent chance
that we're the only ones in the entire universe these calculations shock the whole space community
and many obviously had something to say about it elon musk tweeted this is why we must preserve the
light of consciousness by becoming a space-faring civilization and extending life to other planets
because basically we don't have any competition and also because we obviously shouldn't keep all
our eggs in one basket however these kinds of figures are viewed by some as narrow-minded or
even completely false they say that nothing can be deemed absolute as mankind has yet to develop
the right tools to journey light years into space to truly for ourselves see if other civilizations
exist what does the rare earth hypothesis mean it simply suggests that the emergence of complex
multicellular life on earth and subsequently intelligence required an improbable combination of
astrophysical and geological events and circumstances these events and conditions
can only happen on the off chance we exist based on some probable phenomenon that's extraordinarily
unlikely to ever repeat itself this statement is supported by scientists like peter ward and david
brownlee carl sagan frank drake and others seem to have a counter-argument for this hypothesis
they stated that the earth is a typical rocky planet located in a non-exceptional region of a
common barred spiral galaxy given the mediocrity of these circumstances there should be nothing
that stops life from growing on planets similar to ours neither of these argumentative standpoints
can be proven or disproven at present and there will still be many more experts holding forth on
the subject coming up with different conclusions of their own to support their viewpoint and
seeing as we currently lack the ability to find a definitive answer to this controversial argument
barring we come across some alien life it seems that the rare earth hypothesis will continue to
be debated for a long time to come the verdict the age-long question of humanity's aloneness in
the universe doesn't seem like it'll be answered in our lifetime currently we simply don't have
the tools to ascertain or determine this fact the rare earth hypothesis will undoubtedly go
through many reviews in the future people will continue to support or oppose this argument but