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Originally Posted by WI Crippler  I'm always pumped for the possibility of discovering other life on other planets/moons. Even if its just dormant microorganisms. I think a discovery of that nature would give the human race the kick in the ass it needs to start thinking about our place in a universe that is most likely abundant with life. No longer would it just be the musings of scientists and sci-fi novelists. As a species I feel it is of uptmost importance that we bend our energies towards space exploration/colonization. If we are content to resign our fate to this planet alone, we are dooming ourselves. |
I think about this all the time. Considering the billions of stars in just our galaxy, and the likelihood that planets have formed around most of them, there really has to be other life, and a lot of it, in our galaxy. On our planet, life has formed everywhere that it can, from the Sahara, to the Antarctic, to the deepest ocean vents. Only makes sense that life has formed everywhere it can across the galaxy, too.
But the problem is, why aren't we aware of life existing other than on Earth? There should be signs, like radio waves, or funny lights out there that we can detect. We should be able to see 'them.' That's the basis of the Fermi Paradox. If life does exist, it should be everywhere. If its not everywhere, it doesn't exist, except for us.
But if life doesn't exist, except for us, there has to be an explanation. Do all civilizations eventually kill themselves off, like we are capable of doing today?
Or, maybe there are enough of these, often enough, to take sectors of the galaxy back to the drawing board every so often:
Binary 'deathstar' has Earth in its sights | COSMOS magazine