“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” - Arthur C. Clarke
For the past several decades, a popular question occasionally comes to our minds out of nowhere. This specific question is one of the most fascinating, intriguing, and most mysterious ever asked.
Are we alone?
The loneliness it’s regarding is our apparent loneliness in the universe. Yes, there’s been “alien sightings” but none have ever been proven. After all, it seems like everyone who tries to record UFOs seems to pick the worst camera they own. Anyways, back to the question. It may sound like a simple question on paper, but once you really start putting thought into it, it won’t leave your mind. When you look at the stars at night, is there something looking back, possibly even pondering the same question as you? Is there a galactic civilization that’s a million times more powerful than humanity ever hopes to be out there, roaming from star system to star system? Could there be life in our very own solar system that we are completely oblivious to? Nobody, unfortunately, has a definite answer to these questions, and it’s unlikely that we’ll get an answer anytime soon. There’s a fascinating subject, however, that is likely to get you wondering more about this weird lil’ question.
The Fermi Paradox.
This paradox is pretty easy to understand, but it will probably make you feel a little bit... lonely. So first, we can trace back to the beginning of the Universe, 13.7 billion years ago. Now, think of that insane amount of time. That period of time is more than enough for life to develop. Here on Earth, life began sometime around 3.8 billion years ago. Now we are here billions of years later, launching spacecrafts to other planets, quickly advancing in technology, and getting closer and closer to global peace. So, with that huge amount of time for life to form, and the mind boggling size of our own galaxy (around 100 billion stars!), we should be seeing so many alien civilizations all over the place... so where are they? Why is the Universe so silent? Well, there’s many more factors in play that limit our communication with other possible civilizations and even more factors in play for the development of life on other planets. Let’s take a look.
1. Life is Rare and Strange
First off, there’s the insane amount of ingredients that must be perfectly working together in order for life to be on other planets. The planet must have a decent and consistent temperature, be the right size, have a strong magnetic field to block harmful radiation from its star, etc. Without these factors together for our planet, we wouldn’t be alive to ask this question in the first place. There’s also the question of what life would be like on other planets. It’s most likely going to be nothing like life on Earth, and probably not the little green men with big heads that we think of as aliens. They could have completely different senses because they developed in a completely different setting. How would we communicate if they didn’t have the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch? Are there forms of life that we simply cannot sense for the same reason? It’s kind of scary, if you ask me.
2. The Size of our Galaxy
While there are somewhere around 100 billion stars in our own galaxy, the distances between these stars are mind-bogglingly huge. The closest star system to the Sun, Alpha Centauri, is 4.367 light years away, about 25.6 trillion miles! Using the Helios 2 spacecraft as a basis, which is considered the fastest manmade object ever (reaching 150,000 miles per hour!), it would take more than 19,000 years to reach the distant star. It would be immensely difficult to make contact between star systems, which could explain why we likely haven’t been visited.
3. Communication Difficulties
Here on Earth, we have various forms of communication that seem to work well for us. Radio signals are one form of communication we use which has purposely and accidentally been blasted off into space. On November 16, 1974, we blasted a very powerful message into space in Puerto Rico with the purpose of hopefully coming into contact with alien life. This radio signal was sent towards the M13 star cluster, about 23,000 light years away (compare that to Alpha Centauri!). Radio signals travel at the speed of light, about 186,282 miles per second! So, because that signal is traveling at light speed, it will take 23,000 years to finally reach the star cluster, and only so far it has traveled almost 43 light years. In 23,000 years, if there is intelligent life in the M13 star cluster, it might receive the radio signal and excitedly send one back... which will also take another 23,000 years to reach us. It’s pretty difficult to communicate between these huge distances, let alone travel them. We have been listening for radio signals from extraterrestrials in outer space since 1960, but we haven’t received anything. Perhaps aliens have discovered new and more efficient forms of communication that we have yet to discover and detect, or maybe they don’t send signals at all. Well... with all of this communication trouble, how about we try sending astronauts to close star systems at the speed of light? It would only take a little more than 4 years to get to Alpha Centauri! Unfortunately, our current understanding of physics states that traveling at light speed is impossible. Man, this article is depressing. I also included a little picture of how far our radio signals (the little blue dot) have been transmitted into space compared to our galaxy.
4. Obstacles
It’s taken relatively an amazingly short time for humanity to get as advanced as it is today. We have developed better medical technology, invented amazing forms of communication allowing you to send Twitter rants all around the world and watch Netflix series at a the click of a button, developed a much better understanding of the Universe, etc. We have definitely come a long way. The key point I’m trying to drive home here is that we have passed difficulties and obstacles against all odds, whether it be disease and disasters that had extinction staring us right in the eyes. However, that’s not to say that we have obstacles that are yet to be passed. Some catastrophic event could be coming soon, but we just aren’t prepared enough to deal with it; extinction could possibly happen at any time. That could be the case for some alien civilizations. They probably became very advanced and sophisticated just like us, preparing to set sail into the Universe. However, something unfortunately could have killed all of them off, whether it be disease or a giant asteroid. There could have been a huge number of ancient alien civilizations before us that are long gone, but we will never know about them. How are we any different? We could just become one more extinct civilization that almost made it, but forgot to prepare for something or just wasn’t advanced enough to deal with it. (That probably won’t happen anytime soon, don’t worry.)
This article most likely made you feel pretty depressed and/or lonely. However, you shouldn't lose hope so quickly. Think of all the things we haven’t discovered yet, think of all the questions we haven’t even asked yet. There is so much we don’t know, and that’s what should be the most motivating thing ever. Don’t be afraid of the unknown, embrace it. There could be life in Alpha Centauri, and we’re only a few technological steps away. Life could be able to form and prosper in so many more ways than we think, also. After all, we have built our predictions for alien life with our conditions here on Earth. Who’s to say they need to develop in the same ways? The New York Times in 1936 said a rocket would never be able to leave Earth’s atmosphere. Only 6 years later, the V2 Missile from Germany became the first manmade object to reach above the atmosphere and into space. One of the Wright Brothers predicted that humanity wouldn’t fly for another 50 years in 1901. Only 2 years later, they managed to successfully get a plane off the ground and fly, defying all odds. We simply cannot predict the future well enough. Who knows, we could discover how to travel the speed of light... or even faster? We will most likely be inhabiting Mars in our lifetimes, possibly in the 2030s. Obviously, technology is rapidly advancing, and we simply cannot predict where it will go next. So in conclusion, despite all odds against us, first contact could be sooner than we think and we could be traveling amongst the stars in no time.
For the past several decades, a popular question occasionally comes to our minds out of nowhere. This specific question is one of the most fascinating, intriguing, and most mysterious ever asked.
Are we alone?
The loneliness it’s regarding is our apparent loneliness in the universe. Yes, there’s been “alien sightings” but none have ever been proven. After all, it seems like everyone who tries to record UFOs seems to pick the worst camera they own. Anyways, back to the question. It may sound like a simple question on paper, but once you really start putting thought into it, it won’t leave your mind. When you look at the stars at night, is there something looking back, possibly even pondering the same question as you? Is there a galactic civilization that’s a million times more powerful than humanity ever hopes to be out there, roaming from star system to star system? Could there be life in our very own solar system that we are completely oblivious to? Nobody, unfortunately, has a definite answer to these questions, and it’s unlikely that we’ll get an answer anytime soon. There’s a fascinating subject, however, that is likely to get you wondering more about this weird lil’ question.
The Fermi Paradox.
This paradox is pretty easy to understand, but it will probably make you feel a little bit... lonely. So first, we can trace back to the beginning of the Universe, 13.7 billion years ago. Now, think of that insane amount of time. That period of time is more than enough for life to develop. Here on Earth, life began sometime around 3.8 billion years ago. Now we are here billions of years later, launching spacecrafts to other planets, quickly advancing in technology, and getting closer and closer to global peace. So, with that huge amount of time for life to form, and the mind boggling size of our own galaxy (around 100 billion stars!), we should be seeing so many alien civilizations all over the place... so where are they? Why is the Universe so silent? Well, there’s many more factors in play that limit our communication with other possible civilizations and even more factors in play for the development of life on other planets. Let’s take a look.
1. Life is Rare and Strange
First off, there’s the insane amount of ingredients that must be perfectly working together in order for life to be on other planets. The planet must have a decent and consistent temperature, be the right size, have a strong magnetic field to block harmful radiation from its star, etc. Without these factors together for our planet, we wouldn’t be alive to ask this question in the first place. There’s also the question of what life would be like on other planets. It’s most likely going to be nothing like life on Earth, and probably not the little green men with big heads that we think of as aliens. They could have completely different senses because they developed in a completely different setting. How would we communicate if they didn’t have the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch? Are there forms of life that we simply cannot sense for the same reason? It’s kind of scary, if you ask me.
2. The Size of our Galaxy
While there are somewhere around 100 billion stars in our own galaxy, the distances between these stars are mind-bogglingly huge. The closest star system to the Sun, Alpha Centauri, is 4.367 light years away, about 25.6 trillion miles! Using the Helios 2 spacecraft as a basis, which is considered the fastest manmade object ever (reaching 150,000 miles per hour!), it would take more than 19,000 years to reach the distant star. It would be immensely difficult to make contact between star systems, which could explain why we likely haven’t been visited.
3. Communication Difficulties
Here on Earth, we have various forms of communication that seem to work well for us. Radio signals are one form of communication we use which has purposely and accidentally been blasted off into space. On November 16, 1974, we blasted a very powerful message into space in Puerto Rico with the purpose of hopefully coming into contact with alien life. This radio signal was sent towards the M13 star cluster, about 23,000 light years away (compare that to Alpha Centauri!). Radio signals travel at the speed of light, about 186,282 miles per second! So, because that signal is traveling at light speed, it will take 23,000 years to finally reach the star cluster, and only so far it has traveled almost 43 light years. In 23,000 years, if there is intelligent life in the M13 star cluster, it might receive the radio signal and excitedly send one back... which will also take another 23,000 years to reach us. It’s pretty difficult to communicate between these huge distances, let alone travel them. We have been listening for radio signals from extraterrestrials in outer space since 1960, but we haven’t received anything. Perhaps aliens have discovered new and more efficient forms of communication that we have yet to discover and detect, or maybe they don’t send signals at all. Well... with all of this communication trouble, how about we try sending astronauts to close star systems at the speed of light? It would only take a little more than 4 years to get to Alpha Centauri! Unfortunately, our current understanding of physics states that traveling at light speed is impossible. Man, this article is depressing. I also included a little picture of how far our radio signals (the little blue dot) have been transmitted into space compared to our galaxy.
4. Obstacles
It’s taken relatively an amazingly short time for humanity to get as advanced as it is today. We have developed better medical technology, invented amazing forms of communication allowing you to send Twitter rants all around the world and watch Netflix series at a the click of a button, developed a much better understanding of the Universe, etc. We have definitely come a long way. The key point I’m trying to drive home here is that we have passed difficulties and obstacles against all odds, whether it be disease and disasters that had extinction staring us right in the eyes. However, that’s not to say that we have obstacles that are yet to be passed. Some catastrophic event could be coming soon, but we just aren’t prepared enough to deal with it; extinction could possibly happen at any time. That could be the case for some alien civilizations. They probably became very advanced and sophisticated just like us, preparing to set sail into the Universe. However, something unfortunately could have killed all of them off, whether it be disease or a giant asteroid. There could have been a huge number of ancient alien civilizations before us that are long gone, but we will never know about them. How are we any different? We could just become one more extinct civilization that almost made it, but forgot to prepare for something or just wasn’t advanced enough to deal with it. (That probably won’t happen anytime soon, don’t worry.)
This article most likely made you feel pretty depressed and/or lonely. However, you shouldn't lose hope so quickly. Think of all the things we haven’t discovered yet, think of all the questions we haven’t even asked yet. There is so much we don’t know, and that’s what should be the most motivating thing ever. Don’t be afraid of the unknown, embrace it. There could be life in Alpha Centauri, and we’re only a few technological steps away. Life could be able to form and prosper in so many more ways than we think, also. After all, we have built our predictions for alien life with our conditions here on Earth. Who’s to say they need to develop in the same ways? The New York Times in 1936 said a rocket would never be able to leave Earth’s atmosphere. Only 6 years later, the V2 Missile from Germany became the first manmade object to reach above the atmosphere and into space. One of the Wright Brothers predicted that humanity wouldn’t fly for another 50 years in 1901. Only 2 years later, they managed to successfully get a plane off the ground and fly, defying all odds. We simply cannot predict the future well enough. Who knows, we could discover how to travel the speed of light... or even faster? We will most likely be inhabiting Mars in our lifetimes, possibly in the 2030s. Obviously, technology is rapidly advancing, and we simply cannot predict where it will go next. So in conclusion, despite all odds against us, first contact could be sooner than we think and we could be traveling amongst the stars in no time.