Are we alone in the Universe?

 

Good Day People. Today's Post is a controversy I enjoy debating. This 9 year old kid has pretty much outlined my essay. Take the time to watch a couple minutes of his "lecture", not only will you be entertained, but you can't deny his logic. Many people I talk to about this subject are skeptical. I have no doubt that other life forms exist. I believe there are hundreds of thousands of earth like planets with "people" living in all manner of ways. Oh sure, roll your eyes, but how many millions of people have faith in things that have no definitive scientific basis? There is at least a lot scientific data that leads us to believe that there might be more out in the universe, much more.

Two top astronomers told Congress today that it would be “bizarre if we are alone” and asked for continued funding to detect extraterrestrial life. Dan Werthimer, director of the SETI Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley (SETI is short of “Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence”) also told the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology that he thinks the possibility of microbial life on other planets is close to 100 percent. Werthimer and his colleague Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute  were on Capitol Hill to discuss the need for continued funding for the search for life in the universe. And they were bullish about the prospects that there is life in outer space.

“It would be bizarre if we are alone,” Werthimer told the committee.

“If you extrapolate on the planets they discovered, there are a trillion planets in the galaxy. That’s a lot of places for life,” Shostak argued. “We know that the majority of stars have planets,” but what “fraction of stars has planets that are more like the earth? It might be one in five.”

“It would be a cramped mind that didn’t wonder what other life is out there,” Werthimer said.

Shostak and Werthimer said there are going to be lots of different stages of life in the universe and there could be “a lot of advanced civilizations” as well.

The Mysterious Aboriginal Rock Art of the Wandjinas – Extraterrestrial or Not

One of the most intriguing and perplexing legends of the Australian Aboriginal people is that of the Wandjinas, the supreme spirit beings and creators of the land and people.  The land of the Wandjina is a vast area of about 200,000 square kilometres of lands, waters, sea and islands in the Kimberley region of north-western Australia with continuous culture dating back at least 60,000 years but probably much older. Here, traditional Aboriginal law and culture are still active and alive.

The Worora, Ngarinyin and Wunumbul people are the three Wandjina tribes – these tribal groups are the custodians of the oldest known figurative art which is scattered throughout the Kimberley.

Perhaps what is most interesting about their figurative art painted on rocks and in caves is the way in which they have represented the Wandjinas - white faces, devoid of a mouth, large black eyes, and a head surrounded by a halo or some type of helmet.

The ancient paintings have received all manner of interpretations from stylized representations of people or even owls, to ancient astronaut theories which suggest that extraterrestrial beings visited Earth tens of thousands of years ago and had direct contact with the inhabitants. Some believe that the extraterrestrials even played a direct role in creation, which is reflected not only in the Dreamtime stories of the Aboriginals but also the myths and legends of many ancient civilizations around the world.

This I find interesting on many levels. Have we had contact already, or is the "Dreamtime" a real connection to other worlds? Here is some other interesting discovery's. Astrobiologists discovered organisms that don't need sunlight to exist. In fact, extremophiles may help us understand what an alien might look like. Extremophiles (organisms able to survive in extreme environments) are a core research element for astrobiologists. Such organisms include biota which are able to survive several kilometers below the ocean's surface near hydrothermal ventsand microbes that thrive in highly acidic environments.^[58] It is now known that extremophiles thrive in ice, boiling water, acid, the water core of nuclear reactors, salt crystals, toxic waste and in a range of other extreme habitats that were previously thought to be inhospitable for life. Could this mean that a life form on another planet may be able to survive -400 degree temperatures, or breathe chemicals toxic to humans?

The author at a scientific gathering

The size and age of the universe incline us to believe that many technologically advanced civilizations must exist. However, this belief seems logically inconsistent with our lack of observational evidence to support it. Either (1) the initial assumption is incorrect and technologically advanced intelligent life is much rarer than we believe, or (2) our current observations are incomplete and we simply have not detected them yet, or (3) our search methodologies are flawed and we are not searching for the correct indicators. I believe 2 and 3 are correct. In our lifetimes alone there have been many significant discovery's. We now have a rover on Mars sending us pictures and data. How cool is that! For some of us, our tax money is well spent on space exploration. I agree that Humanity has greater issues to deal with than scientific exploration, but we must keep pushing the boundary's of science and learning for a better understanding of our world and how to make it a better place to live. When we finally receive contact from another world, you can say you read it here first! 

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