Looking up at the night sky we can see an epic beauty above which is insane and
blow away our minds. But beside this beauty there can be something scary also out there
or maybe not. As C .Clarke said “ We are either alone in this universe or we are not. And both
these ideas are equally scary. I think by know you would have guessed what we are talking about
-Aliens. This concept of extra terrestrial life has played an important role in science fiction,
which have introduced a wide range of theoretical ideas and also many conspiracy theories.
But many of you might be thinking why do we intend to find this extra terrestrial life
and why haven’t we found them? Why search for them because they could have the potential to destroy
us Well we think yes it might be the case but its our human nature and curiosity to find answers
and also it will answer our important question, That are we alone in this universe?
The universe is very vast and has billions of galaxies. These billions of galaxies
have trillions and trillions of planets and many among them are habitable too. So where are they?
The universe should be filled with spaceships and stuffs but where are they? But before that
lets talk about how we look for life in outer project. The Search for extraterrestrial life
abbreviated as SETI is an organisation that looks for life in Outer space.
We use radio astronomy to look for outer life by sending signals out there in space
and receiving and analysing signals. You all might have seen the movie Contact in which
Jodi Foster sits in the desert and listens for signals from space. Well its not like that, all
the analysing is done through complex computers. But why only radio? The aliens could be using some
developed and advanced ways of communication, something like hyper-dimensional communication. It
might be the case but we cannot detect that means of communication. Radio might be low-tech but can
used to send signals to far distances in space. Radio can pass through interstellar dusts that
block most of the light and other signals. A good example of that is the first image of black hole
that was recently revealed by scientist with the help of radio telescopes all around the world.
According to a new analysis from scientists at the University of Nottingham, we don’t have a
lot of alien company.On June 15, two researchers published a paper in the Astrophysical Journal
arguing that the Milky Way – which sports about 250 billion stars – could host as few
as 36 alien societies. That’s a small number, and rather less than the number of races that
have appeared in Star Trek. NASA Kepler space telescope found habitable planets
and based on its data scientist found out that nearly all stars have planets,
probably more than one. Scientist usually determine it by observing if the planet is
in the habitable zone of a star where liquid water can exist and atmosphere like Earth could exist.
In our solar system also we have a habitable planet with water and life and thats our Earth.
But there are other systems also in our solar system with liquid water. Jupiters moon Europa
has a deep ocean below the frozen ice on the surface and life could exist there. We already
know life can develop in extreme environments and evolves and Earth is a good example of that.
So why haven’t we found any life out there? The universe is expanding and also the space.
According to the Hubble law the space between two galaxies is expanding,
every galaxy moves away from the other. So it’s not possible for us to observe other galaxy other
than our galaxy and local group. Also, if there might have been any civilisation million years
ago and dies out, and we receive its signal now, we wouldn’t be able to communicate with them.
Our Milky Way is about 13 Billion years old. Initially it was not suitable for habitation
but after 2- 3 billion years conditions were hospitable for civilisations to exist. Our
planet is about 4.54 Billion years old and many civilisations could have existed before us.
So where are they and what they might look like. Based on the Kardashev scale,
civilisations are of three types. We discussed about the Kardashev scale in our previous video,
so you can go and watch that video. A type one civilisation is the one that has consumed
all the natural resources and energy of its planet. Just so you know we are 0.75
at the scale. A type two civilisation is the one that has used all the energy of its host star,
like the concept of Dyson Sphere. A type three civilisation is the one
that has colonised and used all the natural resources of its galaxy and will be God like
to us. So if there are millions of other habitable planets who have had more time than us to advance,
where are all the aliens? Welcome to the Fermi paradox! No one has an answer to
this. All we have are the best possible explanations to it. Let’s discuss them.
The first one is that there are no signs of higher civilisations because
no higher civilisations exist. For this theory we need to understand the concept of filters.
Filters are form of obstacles that his very hard for life to overcome and can be very scary.
These are walls that life has to overcome to reach a type 3 civilisation. It might be that we have
already passed all the filters and we are rare. Maybe it might be that its more complex and hard
for life to sustain than it appears. Or it can be that all the Filters are ahead of us and we would
have to overcome them to prevail. It can be life exists at every point on our level, but it gets
destroyed when it reaches a certain threshold. And we are screwed if these filters are ahead of us.
Another idea is that there might be scary predator civilisations out there
and are smart enough to not broadcast their location and remain discreet. Well this would
mean that we are noobs and are riding our own existence. This also explains why we haven’t found
any signals in SETI. Because as Stephen Hawking said, if they visit us, the outcome would be the
same as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans.”
The scientists at SETI believe that the aliens might be more advanced than us and not only
technologically but altruistically, they will be kind and caring and have a pure selfless Altruism.
Really? It might not be the case. Because in nature there are two kinds of altruism. Let’s
take a example of a squirrel that has the duty to guard its scurry. And when a predator chases them
we can hear a squirrel shout out a warning from a tree that would mean RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! It docent
knows any better but understands that the predator is dangerous for them. In shouting the warring it
puts itself at risk and reveals its position. Why would it do that? Well, its trying to prevent its
offsprings and genetic information. If it docent gives a warning and all are eaten by a predator
its the end of their clan. Nature has its inbuilt mechanism in which everyone protects their genetic
information, just as we do for our children. The other kind of altruism is the reciprocal altruism,
in which I do something for you and you something in return
and much of the world works like this. But could it work over interstellar distances?
We don’t know that, but we should be a bit careful about provoking contact a bit too early.
Another idea is that there is a Godlike and very advance type 3 civilisation out there
that monitors the galaxy and once any civilisation reaches a certain level of intelligence
it destroys it. Maybe they passed all the filters and reached an advanced state of intelligence
and prevents other civilisations to contest them.
They would think about us just like viruses that starts and spreads.
Or it could be that they are observing us and once we reach a certain level of intelligence
then they make contact with us. We might be in a tightly-regulated galaxy, and our Earth is treated
like part of a vast and protected national park. This is known as the ‘Zoo Hypothesis’.
We cannot notice them as they are far smarter than us and have a rule to when contact with us.
Another idea is one of the least discussed idea in this paradox. There a lot of ideas that exist
in Fermi paradox but this idea has a certain level of optimism to it. The SETI has always
been looked down upon by the world. Earlier it was established like an organisation like NASA
until Congress cut down its fundings and now it mainly relies on donations. The scientists at SETI
haven’t had much resources to observe the outer space and that’s true. If we look at the milky
way we have observed only a very tiny space of our galaxy and that is represented in this picture.
So we haven’t observed much of the universe and our galaxy. Its just like going to a beach and
taking water in your beaker and saying that there are no sharks in the ocean because there are no
sharks in my beaker! We haven’t sampled much of the universe. Life can even occur in extreme
environments. We all humans are made up of stars and there are more stars in this universe than
grains of sands on beaches. The universe is vast and life could easily exist. There are trillions
of galaxy and unimaginable number of planets. Life could possibly be forming everywhere,
we don’t know much about life. Even scientists haven’t figured completely how life formed on
Earth. But we have seen life form on Earth in even the craziest of places where a normal person would
think, How the hell did you get there!!Almost every end of the Earths surface is teeming with
life. So its highly probable that life might exist out there, we just don’t have enough resources.
One last convincing idea is that we might be alone in this entire universe. This
thought is also scary! What if we are all that matters? Whats so special about us
that we are the only life in the universe? Are we the only ones looking out in a hope to find life?
Do we have to share this with anyone else? And if that’s the case
we have to prevent life in this universe and it’s our responsibility to sustain
and maintain life. We would have to become the first type 3 civilisation in this universe
and advance ourselves. Though humans have always considered themselves as special but
this idea is disturbing. We may be completely alone in this infinite empty void of space.
So what do you think about life in outer space? Does it exists? Or Are we really alone?
Comment your views and questions in the comment section below
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