The Existence of Intelligent Life
Bertrand Russell wrote, "There are two possibilities. Maybe we are alone. Maybe we are not. Both are equally frightening (Jakosky 1)." The question of life in the universe is one that leaves many in a state of bewilderment. It becomes even more interesting when it leads to another question -- that of intelligent life in the universe. Finding other intelligent civilizations among the interstellar space would greatly affect every aspect of our existence. Conversely, not finding such a civilization would force us to examine the purpose of our own existence.
To help answer the question, astronomers and scientists set up a program in search for extraterrestrial intelligence. This program, or SETI, was set up to verify, by observation that extraterrestrial life does exist. SETI tries to prove this by picking up and analyzing radio signals by means of satellites and advanced computers (Heidmann 116).
The history of the SETI program is quite interesting. It started back in 1959 with the help of two famous Cornell University physicists, Guiseppi Cocconi and Phil Morrison. Both claimed that it would be possible to communicate with other potential extraterrestrial life in space by the use of techniques used in radio astronomy (Heidmann 112). Together, they voiced their belief that if other "alien astronomers" elsewhere in the universe possessed radio telescopes, that it would be possible to converse between the two (Heidmann 112-113).
A young astronomer by the name of Francis Drake agreed with the theories of Cocconi and Morrison. He proposed building a radio receiver in order to listen for waves of sound being transmitted through space. It wasn't until the spring of 1960 that Dra...
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2. Jakosky, Bruce. The Search for Life on Other Planets. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
3. Kahney, Leander. "A Search for Intelligent Searchers." Wired News (1999). 29 January 2000 *http://www.nitehawk.com/rasmit/*.
4. Hipschma, Ron. " The Problem -- Mountains of Data." How SETI @Home Works (1999). 29 January 2000 http://www.nitehawk.com/rasmit/.
5. "Project Omar." SETI Institute. 1999. SETI Institute. 28 January 2000 http://www.seti.org/science/ozma.html.
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7. "The Optical SETI Resource for Planet Earth." The Columbus Optical SETI Observatory. 1999. Columbus Observatory. 27 January 2000 http://www.coseti.org/.
8. Ward, Peter. Interview with Lori Stokes. The Debate Over Life Beyond Earth. MSNBC. 10 Feb. 2000.
To illustrate, the effectiveness of the article, she ends with adding that perhaps there is life on these planets. The author ends the article using a rhetorical appeal of pathos to appeal the audience that believes in extraterrestrial life. The author tries to use professional effective rhetorical elements to persuade the audience into reading the article and becoming interested in the news. Even so, the argument is effective towards bright individuals because it makes one think about what it will be if there was actually life outside of
Fermi’s paradox supports this claim because theoretically there should be species capable of interstellar travel due to the age of the universe. Although we haven’t encountered any life forms from other galaxies it doesn’t mean there aren’t any. Ted Chiang uses an endangered parrot to show that a possible reason for our great silence is due to or erratic and dangerous nature as humans. However, there are still some instances where humans have connected with other species and created special bonds in the
With more and more planets being discovered everyday isn’t it a little narcissistic of us to believe that we are the only planet that can sustain life. With movies like Star Wars, and Star Trek the thought of extraterrestrials are becoming more mainstream. However there are still many people who don’t believe.
Giuseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison published a paper in Nature in September 1959, in which they suggest a probable frequency at which alien civilizations would attempt to communicate: 1.420 GHz. This is the frequency of electromagnetic radiation emitted by neutral Hydrogen during a change of energy state. The frequency is an important physical and astronomical value, would almost certainly be known by any civilization capable of communication, and it requires only relatively simple technology to broadcast at this frequency. As Cocconi and Morrison put it, “It is reasonable to expect that sensitive receivers for this frequency would be made at an early stage of the development of radioastronomy. That would be the expectation of the operators of the assumed source, and the present state of terrestrial instruments indeed justifies the expectation.” In other words, it makes sense that aliens would come to the same conclusion about the 1.420 GHz frequency. If the aliens want to communicate with us...
It is true that we have no evidence of intelligent life beyond earth, but to
26. Oparine., 1967. The Current State of the Problem of the Origin of Life and Its Future Perspectives. Biogenesis, p. 19.
Every discovered culture has stories of beings arriving from the sky, and traces of life mimicking ours have been found on Mars. So many mysteries have been linked to sightings of unnatural objects and foreign bodies that science is still attempting to figure out. Moreover, as our technology continues to advance, the world steps closer to the conclusion that life exists beyond our planet.
Since the beginning of human fascination with outer space, the question “Is there life on other planets?” has existed and has waited to be answered. Early astronomers looking to find life on other planets were brutally punished by the Catholic Church. For years, people saw these astronomers as heretics for going against the church and undesirable, but today there might be evidence that supports these astronomers. Today, we find that people are still split between believing in alien life or not. People devoted to a religion tend to disagree with the possibility of life anywhere but Earth as it goes against their beliefs. However, with the increase of realistic movies about aliens and very convincing theories, many young people are beginning to believe that life on other planets does not seem so radical after all. Each day, scientists find more and more predictive evidence that leads most of them to believe that there is life on other planets.
In the Bible it tells that God created the earth and the life forms in it. If God created the earth and other planets that can support other life forms, such as aliens, it would have stated that God created these planets. By not stating in the Bible, humans have evidence that there is no other lifeforms.
The signal was traced back to the Sagittarius Constellation, nearly 5000 light years away. This signal remains a mystery to this date in the absence of in-depth investigations. It is likely that our existing technologies may be incapable to interpret the signals transmitted by aliens. What we recognise as noise in our radars every day and ignore may simply be signals from billions of different extraterrestrial intelligence. Einstein, who figured out significant facts about our universe also 1 thought we are not alone in the cosmos.1 Einstein believed that Expensive Organisations like SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) were making a fool of themselves as he felt other intelligent civilisations will most likely communicate through a way which we have not discovered yet, rather than use radio waves. Another reason we may not have been contacted us is because we have not contacted them. We are expecting them to contact us but not contacting them which I feel is inexcusably egocentric. If every civilisation expected another to contact them, is anyone going to be
A major question that piques the interest of many astrobiologists is the topic of whether our life is the only life out “there”. Many astrobiologists ask “What if life as we know it is really not the only life out there?” (MacLeod
Human beings have always wondered whether we are alone in the universe in that we have human life on our planet. We have also wondered whether life exists in other places in the universe. So far, at least, it doesn’t look like it. But we are searching for it. Life will exist only if there is water.
Are we alone in the universe? Is anything or anybody out there? These are age old questions, asked from people of all ages and races. But the first questions we need to ask are if it is even possible? Are there any other planets out there that are habitable? What does a planet need to be habitable? Without a habitable planet life cannot sustain in the universe, the search for life in the universe has been long and hard with no results proving life to exist outside of earth. The most predominant searchers of those at the SETI Institute or Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence Institute, a privately funded organization, that uses various methods to search for electromagnetic transmissions, the assumed method of contact, from distant planets. With information about planets habitability and possibly locations in space SETI would be greatly benefitted; they are challenged now by searching for transmissions without any knowledge of direction, spectrum, or method of use (SETI). If possible directions were known one less assumption would have to be made and we could one step closer to finding life in the universe.
...t is that human reasoning abilities have allowed mankind to develop a virtual telescope far beyond the reach of our newest space viewing technologies. With this theory, humans come closer to realizing our place within the multiverse and the uniqueness of our own universe. The conflicting ideas, though difficult to prove one way or another, provide an impetus that will stimulate further research into this field, opening new doors and potentially useful technologies that could further humans’ understanding of everything on which our knowledge rests.
Newitz , A. (2010). Five creatures That Prove Life Could Exist On Other Planet(Or In Space). Retrieved 2011, December 16, from,