Aging Capriciously

Here is my answer to the second of the 12 greatest mysteries of all time.  Is there other intelligent life in the universe?  No!  How do I come to this conclusion?  It is certainly not a conclusion that most rational people would agree with.  I am not going to resort to semantics and say that “no intelligent beings have yet been found.”  That would simply be dodging the bullet.  Although, a strong case could be made that human beings found on the 3^rd planet from the sun in this solar system we call the Milky Way are anything but sentient.  Sentient being defined as:  (See Wikitionary)   (Click on The Universe Song by Monty Python)

1. Conscious or self-aware.
2. Experiencing sensation, thinking, thought, or feeling.
3. (chiefly in science fiction) Possessing human-like knowledge and intelligence.

Nevertheless, despite our history of war, degradation, inhumanity, prejudice, racism, sexism, elitism, discrimination, cruelty and too many other horrors to the earth to cover in one small blog, I will concede that human beings are intelligent.  (I will exclude all Right Wing talk show hosts from this inclusion, most Tea Party advocates and many Republicans.)  

The usual argument given by those favoring the view that “other’ life in the universe must exist revolves around the shear odds that other life could not exist.  For instance according to one source:

Astronomers estimate that the observable universe has more than 100 billion galaxies. Our own Milky Way is home to around 300 billion stars, but it’s not representative of galaxies in general. www.skyandtelescope.com

Thus, if you multiply the number of stars we have in our galaxy times the number of other galaxies we can observe, (assuming the same amount of stars in each galaxy) you would have 3 to the 22 power as the number of total stars and remember that this is the number that is observable.  30,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars where there might be other planets circling around and harboring the possibility of life as we know it or even some other types of intelligent thinking rational life.  If the possibility of other life were even 1 in a million, these odds would mean that at least 30,000,000,000,000,000 other stars would have the possibility of life existing somewhere in their solar system.  The odds would seem to greatly favor the possibility of other sentient life existing.  So why do I say the answer is NO!  Well, consider this.

Let us say for the sake of argument that life does exist on at least 3,000,000 other planets.  This is a small number given the odds that we started with.  Furthermore, let us assume a bell shaped curve of intelligence around these places where other intelligent life exists. Thus, some are going to be less intelligent then we are, some the same and some more intelligent.  A normal distribution would suggest that on approximately 90,000 other planets, we can find life forms more intelligent than we are.  Furthermore, let us assume that on ten percent or 9,000 of these planets they have developed more advanced forms of space travel.  Perhaps, they have developed faster than light engines, warp drives or the ability to use worm holes to travel light years in a split second.  Assuming they are more intelligent and more developed then we are, it does not see much of a stretch to assume they have some form of advanced space travel available.  Which of course, begs the question?  If only ten percent of them or 9000 other sentient beings have advanced space travel, why have we not met any of them yet? 

You might argue (as many have) that we have repeatedly been visited by beings from other planets or even that human beings are routinely abducted by space aliens.  However, the majority of scientific evidence does not support this contention.  We are therefore left with the single overwhelming conclusion that no one else has a form of space travel that can traverse vast light years in a reasonable time.  If we accept that more intelligent beings than we are must exist, then this conclusion is absurd; particularly, if our argument is based on the “odds’ that other intelligent life must exist.

Thus, my conclusion is that other intelligent life does not exist.  Somehow, we are alone in the stars.  This is the greater mystery, I think.  Why?  Why us?  Why in the billions of galaxies and the billions of stars and the trillions of planets, has this planet alone spawned life?  Is there some greater sentience that we cannot comprehend who decided to create this sandbox for us to play in?  Are we some type of living experiment or laboratory for creation?  Did something want to see what happens when you put a bunch of sentient beings together?   How long would it take for us to kill each other, or perhaps destroy the planet?  Think of how much fun, it must be watching human beings on a daily basis.  Anyone looking at the absurdity of life on this third planet from the sun would either be extremely appalled or alternately amused by the daily mayhem we inflict on each other.  If a much greater intelligence does exist, perhaps we are simply a fish bowl for their entertainment.  A bowl that they have stocked with stars, planets and plenty of objects to keep us from being bored.

Time for Questions:

Do you think there is other intelligent life in the universe? Why or why not?  How come they have not visited us before?  Have you ever met an alien?  Do you think they might be living among us right now?

Life is just beginning.  

Or is it?