Nothing divides space geeks like the question of extraterrestrial life. SETI boffin Seth Shostak is an avowed believer, even though he concedes there’s no compelling evidence to support the assertion so far. George Dvorsky is very interested in the Fermi Paradox, too, but much more willing to pick holes in accepted philosophy.
We’re still looking, of course – but we could do with more telescopes in space to help us locate and image exoplanets, and we’re still not entirely certain of how the universe itself came to be.
Well we could be surrounded by hundreds of millions of alien civilizations – why should the earth be unique? Why should animals and planets only exist on our planet? Why if all the elements in the periodic table is found throughout the universe should life be unique to our planet, one among trillions? Lets hope we are alone in the universe – because if life exists elsewhere, a battle for survival and war will exist too.
Big questions, Nasdaq, and all the more worth asking for it. If that’s your philosophical cup of tea, I heartily recommend the Sentient Developments blog – George Dvorsky talks about this sort of thing all the time, and he’s a smart cookie too.