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Subscribe to RSSWhat would happen if we found out that we are not alone in the universe? Or, on the flip side, what would happen if we decided that we really were alone? Experts provided updated answers to those age-old questions, from a scientific as well as a religious angle, during a Sunday session at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting. But one of the most intriguing questions had more of a personal spin: What would you ask E.T. if you had the chance?
First, here's some background:
Questions surrounding the possibility of life beyond Earth might get more serious sometime in the next quarter-century or so. Wesley Traub, chief scientist for NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program, predicted that by 2030, five Earth-scale planets would be identified among the 100 closest star systems as worthy of being studied for signs of life. He based that prediction on the most recent lineup of candidates from NASA's planet-hunting Kepler probe.
"About a third of all planets are planets that could have life on them," he said — that is, Earth-size worlds or super-Earths.
Looking for alien life
What would scientists look for when it comes to life detection? Traub speculated that future spacecraft could analyze the atmospheres of alien worlds for signs of high oxygen levels and water vapor. Spectral analysis of the light reflected by those planets might even turn up the chemical signature of chlorophyll or other chemicals indicative of life. But it'd be almost impossible to tell whether the alien organisms are one-celled creatures, six-legged dinosaurs or intelligent species. If they're smart enough to communicate with us, the only way we'd know is through well-known means such as radio signals or laser bursts (or maybe orchestrated blasts from a stellar beacon).
Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, has said that evidence of alien life — either through such direct contact or through long-distance chemical analysis — could become available in a time frame ranging from 2025 to 2035. And he bet his listeners at Sunday's talk that he'd buy them a cup of coffee if E.T. wasn't found in their lifetime. (Will that bet ever pay off? Think about it: You can't take your Starbucks with you.)
So what would society do if life is detected? At Sunday's talk, science historian Owen Gingerich said the first scientific claims for E.T.'s existence would likely be hotly contested, just as the Mars meteorite microfossils have been for the past 15 years. Even if the findings are confirmed, it would take years for the implications to sink in.
Most of the leaders of the world's religions say extraterrestrial life wouldn't shake their faith. But 16th-century theologian Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake after saying so, and even today some believers say E.T.'s existence would make a "mockery" of Christianity. Like it or not, religious institutions and other pillars of society would have to accept (or deny) a paradigm shift at least as big as the shifts sparked by astronomy and biology.
Misanthropic principle
What if life is not detected? It's pretty hard to prove a negative, but suppose future probes analyze the atmospheres of scores of Earth-size planets ... and find nothing worthy of note. Suppose the search for extraterrestrial intelligence continues for a century ... and no messages are received. Howard Smith, a senior astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said the evidence already suggests that intelligent life is extremely rare in the universe, and we're the only sentient beings within a 1,250-light-year radius. (Smith chose that figure because it's about as far as humans could possibly travel during a 100-generation round trip at the speed of light.)
"We are probably alone and will have to solve our own problems," he said at Sunday's talk.
Smith calls this the "misanthropic principle." That term plays off the widely cited anthropic principle — the idea that Earth appears to be so suited for life as we know it not necessarily because God made it that way, but simply because we wouldn't be around to see it if it wasn't.
The way Smith sees it, the misanthropic principle is a good thing. The view that we alone are responsible for our zone of the cosmos should make us feel "blessed," and more careful about not spoiling the good thing we've got here.
"The misanthropic principle is joyous," Smith said. "We should rejoice in our good fortune."
Is it depressing or liberating to think that we're truly the best the universe has to offer, at least in this celestial neck of the woods? Feel free to add your comments below.
Oh, and about the question we started out with: What would you ask E.T. if you had the chance? This came up during the question-and-answer session, and one of the suggestions was along the lines of "Dear E.T.: Do you have a religion?" (That led science writer David Despain to quip in a Twitter comment: "Hello, I'm a Jatravartid. Let me share with you the message of the Great Green Arkleseizure's white handkerchief.")
Personally speaking, I'd rather ask: "How did you do it? How did you survive long enough to get to this point of contact?" If E.T. responds by raising its ray gun, I'd probably have the answer I wasn't hoping to get.
But what would you ask?
More about the search for aliens:
- How would alien life change your life?
- What to do if we find alien life
- Calculate the odds of finding E.T.
- Hawking: Aliens may pose risks to Earth
- Still more about the search from msnbc.com
Join the Cosmic Log community by clicking the "like" button on our Facebook page or by following msnbc.com science editor Alan Boyle as b0yle on Twitter. To learn more about Alan Boyle's book on Pluto and the search for planets, check out the website for "The Case for Pluto."
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Would you be interested in trading your vehicle in on this brand new Ford F450 King Ranch?
Are your politicians a bunch of Phucking criminals like ours???
For lack of fear at appearing redundant as I have not read all the comments as of yet. My question, actually three questions with comments are;
Why all the probing?! I mean...WTF man...whats up with that. With all the high tech stuff you should have you should know how to MRI us or have some super alien high tech gadget that can SCAN us without sticking that thing up our.....well you get my meaning.
And why must you whisk your captives away in order to do your probing? Again, seems a bit violent and unlawful to me and could...you know...start riots, wars...stuff like that.
Why you guys want ta be like that??
I would ask them to help us.
Take me to a peaceful planet, please?
Can you take Obama back now?
“I am sure you're here To Serve Man…..WAIT…it’s a cookbook!”
I think I'll head out to Area 51 and ask him myself. I'll post back later with his response.
You do that.
Are you here to see the premiere of “Battle Los Angeles?” What do you mean we are the bad guys?
It was not so long ago when some astronomers were postulating that planet formation was relatively rare and that we were unlikely to find many other worlds, if any, if the so-called Goldilocks zone around stars where temperatures are not too hot and not too cold, so that liquid water can exist and life can form. In the ensuing years, astronomers have discovered hundreds of extrasolar planets and now estimates for earth-like planets number in the billions in our galaxy alone. Planets, at least, appear to be quite common. Given the huge numbers of planets involved and the widespread existence of the basic chemicals for life, it would be surprising if life isn't common throughout the galaxy also.
Intelligent life might be relatively rare, but out of the vast numbers of worlds and galaxies in the universe, it would be truly astouding if it only developed on earth. Of course, the distance between stars is so great, here where we sit towards the outer edges of our galaxy, it is not surprising that we are unaware of intelligent life elsewhere. Afterall, on our own planet, great civilizations in the Americas (e.g. Incas, Mayans, Aztecs, etc. )rose and fell while millions of Europeans were completely unaware that those people even existed.
Below I have listed my favorite questions on this board and what I believe the answers are.
Do you die?
Yes ETs do die.
How did you get here?
Thru Consiousness Assisted Technology and Technologically Assisted Consciousness. This enables travel from one point in the universe to another transdimensionally – not subject to the speed of light limitation.
Is there a god?
Absolutely YES.
would have to ask our visitors "how long has our leaders (congress and the president) known of your existence"
Possibly 70 years plus. FDR in the 1940s definitely knew - he conducted an investigation concerning the foo fighters.
and "what took you so long to land"
They have been here many times throughout the history of the planet.
and "if you wanted us to know you exist, why won't you hold steady for a clear photograph?"
Eisenhower dropped the ball on an official meeting in the 50s, but meetings continue without sanction from the US government or the UN. But there is a good photo on CSETI.ORG.
(Who says we aren't the ones visting E.T?)
Great point ! A number of Apollo astronauts that landed on the Moon’s surface spotted ET vehicles.
Actually, I would ask "Where were you on or about the evening of July 8th, 1947?"
Advanced technology was employed (by humans) to force the ETs to crash.
My favorite question is from one poster who obviously has it right:
“Where I can improve most as a human cause I think a gift from an advanced society is something everyone should benefit from, and marvel in, equally.”
I'd ask them if they think a deathstar might be the best solution for the human infestation on this planet.
Just be careful of the "rebel scum" looking to blow it up!
What I would ask?
Will you please give us another chance?...
Can I catch a ride?
What do you want? Why are you here?
Actually, that's probably the most important of all. I might even put it ahead of my question...
If ET came to take over I would say...."well at least we don't have to worry about that deficit anymore."
“If you can stop laughing for one moment I’ll tell you why I am wearing this aluminum foil hat”
Talking to aliens will be like us talking to our dogs, we won't understand a single word unless its's bad dog or good dog. Hopefully they'll give us a treat, like a one way off this crazy thing!!
Okay, here goes.
There is one question that has piqued my curiosity often.
" Mr. ET, do you know what planet liberals came from and when will they EVER be called back home?"
First I would ask if they like chicken,then I would ask,is there a god,what created this vast universe and did we get part of it right.If there technology was a few thousand years ahead of us,they would appear god like,in there ability to interact with the environment around them,it would seem magical to us,making it hard to understand the technology.It would be fantastic.I think one of the reasons people don't buy into the whole ET,UFO, myth, are for one,most are hoaxes,most of the pictures and video are poor at best.I believe 1 or 2 percent are real,people have seen things[myself]that just don't fit into our world,there either observing us,they might be time travelers just passing ,or there maybe from parallel universe,but something isn't adding up and I for one would like to know if were crazy or our minds are putting images and events together.Sure seemed real to me.
“Swamp gas, Contrails, Sun Glare, Flares, Moonlit Reflections, Weather Balloon” that’s what we call you aliens behind your back.
Heh, heh, heh. Enjoyed the humor Coward.
What to ask E.T.?
Which specific earth leaders knew about E.T's and When did they know?
How many E.T's have been captured, tortured or murdered by America and other nations?
If so, Would E.T. support a war crimes trial against those responsible?
How many E.T's craft's have been recovered by specific earth leaders and what earth years did they occur?
Have E.T's prevented accidental ICBM launches which would have caused WW3, if so where and when?
The US Military appears to deliberately go after E.T. craft, harass and fire on them at every occassion they have, isn't that placing all life on earth in direct risk?
How many clusters of humanity exist across the Universe?
Just as a conversational piece, I would ask them for the name of their planet…
“That’s funny; I use to date a girl by the name of Nibiru. She preferred to be called Tyche”
Who is your pick for Best Oscar? What do you mean, "The Lion In Winter"? Oh, I forgot about the delays due to speed-of-light restrictions. Not to mention you guys don't subscribe to TCM.
Angels on the sideline,
Puzzled and amused.
Why did Father* give these humans free will?
Now they're all confused.
Don't these talking monkeys know that Eden has enough to go around?
Plenty in this holy garden, silly monkeys
Where there's one you're bound to divide it right in two.
Angels on the sideline,
Baffled and confused.
Father blessed them all with reason,
And this is what they choose?
Monkey killing monkey killing monkey over pieces of the ground.
Silly monkeys.
Give them thumbs, they forge a blade,
And where there's one they're bound to divide it right in two.
Monkey killing monkey killing monkey over pieces of the ground.
Silly monkeys.
Give them thumbs, they make a club to beat their brother down.
How they've survived so misguided is a mystery.
Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability
To lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here.
Gotta divide it all right in two.
Fight till they die over sun, over sky,
They fight till they die over sea, over air,
They fight till they die over blood, over love,
They fight till they die over words, polarizing.
Angels on the sideline again,
Benched along with patience and reason.
Angels on the sideline again,
Wondering where this tug of war will end.
Gotta divide it all right in two.
Tool: 10,000 Days: Right In Two // Lyrics by Maynard James Keenan.