Perhaps the first place we should look for
intelligent life is here on Earth. The ingredients for life beyond Earth are
scattered across the universe so life in and of itself is probably common, but
intelligent life is most likely very rare; including here on earth.
A number of recent discoveries strongly
suggest that alien life exists, either in our own solar system or beyond. So the
question is no longer “Is there life
beyond Earth?” it’s “Will we ever
find it?”
Life may be common in the universe but intelligent
life may be sporadic at best. So if you’re
a “diehard evolutionist”, being patient for a million or more years might just change
that supposition.
As a reminder, here’s an indication of time
spent regarding the theory of evolution — First: Modern since has concluded
that the earth is 4.54 billion (4,540,000,000) years or so old. During that time the
first Cells with a nucleus is believed to have appeared 2,100 million years ago;
apes & monkeys appeared 40 million years ago; the first beings considered “human”
appeared 2.5 million years ago; Neanderthals appeared 500,000 years ago; and
Modern Humans began wandering about in Africa in the neighborhood of 200,000 years ago.
A $100 Million, 10-year search for
intelligent life in the universe was announced July 20th 2015 by several
scientist . . . Including, from left to right in depiction below, Billionaire Internet investor Yuri Milner,
physicist Stephen Hawking, cosmologist and astrophysicist Martin Rees, SETI
research pioneer Frank Drake, co-founder and CEO of Cosmos Studios Ann Druyan (widow of the astronomer Carl Sagan), and UC
Berkeley astronomy professor Geoff Marcy. They gave
the program a name: “Breakthrough Listen”
The first of the two initiatives announced by
Breakthrough Listen will start the
most powerful search ever undertaken for signs of intelligent life beyond
Earth. The project will survey one (1) million
stars in the Milky Way — only those closest to Earth, and 100 of the closest
galaxies to Earth.
The second initiative of the project will
fund an international competition to design digital messages that could be
transmitted from Earth to extraterrestrial civilizations. The messages should
be “representative of humanity and planet
Earth” which might one day be sent from humanity to all those alien
civilizations. The pool of prizes rewarding the best messages will total $1 Million,
and the competition is open to everyone that thinks they’re intelligent enough
to try. Oh, if you’re wondering, details
on the competition will not be released until a later date.
Interestingly, Hawking, perhaps the most
well-known scientific mind of the group, warned that making contact with aliens
might be a very bad idea, “We don't know
much about aliens, but we know about humans,” he said. “If you look at history, contact between humans and less intelligent organisms
have often been disastrous from their point of view, and encounters between
civilizations with advanced versus primitive technologies have gone badly for
the less advanced. A civilization reading one of our messages could be billions
of years ahead of us. If so, they will be vastly more powerful, and may not see
us as any more valuable than we see bacteria.”
In an obvious attempt to calm fears of an
imminent alien invasion, the program has pledged “not to transmit any message until there has been a global debate at
high levels of science and politics on the risks and rewards of contacting
advanced civilizations”.
Conversely, cosmologist and astrophysicist
Martin Rees one of the world's most eminent astronomers; also a member of
the Breakthrough Listen founding
group does not share Hawking's somewhat alarming concerns, and suggested “they may know we're here already.” Let’s hope he’s right!
Sources:
http://www.space.com/29990-stephen-hawking-intelligent-alien-life-initiative.html
