Many of you might be thinking, "But what about life on other planets? Surely with a trillion trillion planets out there somewhere there is intelligent life!" Yes those are big numbers and it seems intuitive that there would be, and maybe there is. But maybe there isn't. We just don't know.
Let's face it. Most of us who are into reality have watched a lot of science fiction and we are used to the idea that somewhere out there are alien civilizations that are as advanced and probably more advanced than we are. We envision running into them and exchanging technology, forming alliances to explore the universe, maybe even fooling around with their women. But really, are we not biased by wishful thinking?
Most scientists seem to agree the carbon based microbial life is going to be common. Microbes can live in harsh environments, maybe even survive in the cold vacuum of space. But what about advanced life? What about life like us? Are we common or are we rare? The more you look into it the more rare we seem to be.
This planet is like an oasis in an extremely violent universe and it has been relatively stable for the last 4 billion years. And that's even counting mass extinctions. In a billion years the sun will be so hot that it will boil off our oceans and melt the crust. Only the most extreme microbial life will remain if anything remains at all. A billion years seems like a long time, but it took us 4 billion years to evolve us. If evolution were 20% slower we would have been baked before we evolved.
Until we find out otherwise we should act as if we are alone and focus on living in right relationship to reality.
The elements for life have existed in the universe for 10 billion years. That means if it took 4 billion years to create us then it's possible that something else could be 6 billion years ahead of us. Even as big as this galaxy is if there were an advanced civilization it would only take a few hundred million years to completely colonize this galaxy. Advanced life should be everywhere, but it isn't. We have yet to detect any alien electromagnetic signals that would indicate the presence of advanced life.
It may be that advanced life is rare. Maybe one per galaxy. Maybe one in a million galaxies. Maybe we are it. There is a reasonable chance that we are the most advanced life in the universe, and if we blow it then that's it. The universe goes back to being a dumb universe.
If it turn out that we were it then wouldn't it be a shame if we blew it and got wiped out because we cut funding to NASA and some asteroid came along and wiped us out. How pathetic would that be? Until we know differently we should look at ourselves as a rare jewel in the universe and that we should respect humanity as something very precious that we should protect at all costs.
If it turns out that there is advanced life on other planets lets hope that they don't find us and decide to wipe us out. It might not be a good thing for us to encounter a civilization that could maybe turn us into an asteroid belt if they wanted to.
If there were advanced life on other planets then their purpose would be the same as ours - to be the mevhanism for reality to become self aware.
Evolution however is a property of the universe. Any advanced alien civilization would have the same purpose as us. In order to survive they have to live in right relationship to reality as well. A big asteroid would probably take them out as well. The universe evolves life. Life evolves intelligence. Intelligent like needs to always know more. Therefore our purpose for existing and their purpose for existing is the same. It's always evolve or die.
If there was an advanced civilization on another planet then what would their purpose be? What is their role in the universe? It would be exactly the same as our role - to be the mechanism for which reality becomes self aware. They would have a different perspective on it but it would be interesting to find another civilization and compare notes. What could we learn from them? What could they learn from us?
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