I believe that life does exist elsewhere but I do not believe that said life is more advanced than we are.
There are around half a billion stars in our galaxy and around a billion galaxies in our observable universe. Cosmologists have stated that there are more stars in our universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches on the Earth. Is our star unique? Are we to believe that life exists around just one of those grains and not around any of the others?
The ingredients for life are to be found everywhere. Observations have found that the early universe was filled with large stars known as blue giant stars. When these stars died they exploded into cataclysmic fireballs known as super nova. The largest of these explosions, called type 1 A, forged the heaviest elements and then expelled them into the cosmos. These early stars did not live for very long, a few million years in some cases. This means that small rocky planets like Earth were, by and large, not being formed in the early universe. The cosmos was instead spending its' energy creating heavy, life giving elements and flooding space with them. This was happening everywhere. The processes that led to creation ie, the big bang, fusion etc occured everywhere. By everywhere, I don't just mean in the space between stars and galaxies, I mean in the very space around you. Cup your hands in front of you now. You're holding onto a piece of space where the big bang happened!
Of course, I accept that just because the universe is very uniform in nature it doesn't necessarily follow that life giving planets exist around every star. Indeed, the odds are against life existing in any point in space. In order to have life you need: (among other things) a planet that can have liquid water on its' surface, a parent star that will remain stable for billions of years, no life destroying asteroid impacts, a moon big enough to hold a stable axis, seasons (if you want ambitious, migratory animals,) and time. The odds against life could be a billion to one. Even so, there are still enough stars in our universe to realistically harbour a billion life giving planets!
Great! But if this is all true then why can't we see anyone else when we look out into space? Why is it all so quiet?
The answer is, in part, the same answer to the question, why doesn't every line of sight end on a star or a point of light? If the universe is so vast then surely the night sky should be filled with stars? So why isn't it? Huh? you tell me that! WHY?!?!?
Ok, OK I'll tell you! The point is that in reality, every line of sight DOES end on a point of light. It's just that, since our universe has been expanding from the start and the space between objects has been growing nonstop the light from these distant objects hasn't had a chance to reach us yet. The speed of light can never out run the expansion of the universe because the expansion rate is always increasing and the speed of light is a constant. Galaxy clusters are bound together by gravity and so the space between them is not expanding but on the largest scale every point is moving away from every other point. This means that no matter where you are in universe you'll always percieve yourself as being in the absolute center. Eventually the most distant objects will disappear beyond the light horizon forever. Does that mean they no longer exist? Well, no it doesn't. It will mean that they'll be lost to us forever but they'll still exist out there somewhere. So, in some sense, there will be potential life out there that we'll never be able to contact, purely because of the rules of physics.
Imagine that you're looking through a telescope at a distant galaxy. The galaxy is near the edge of our universe and as a result it appears primordial, undeveloped and young. You could say something like, "Look, that galaxy is filled with large stars. There is no way that there is life over there, what with all the explosions and such. If I could instantly transport myself from here to that galaxy I would find that it's all pretty chaotic over there. What's more, I'll be able to look back at Earth and see how developed the Milky Way is, how much larger galaxies are over here and how life preserving planets exist in abundance. My new galaxy has a lot of developing to do"
Not quite. That perspective is only true is you look at the galaxy through a telescope. Once you travel through space you cause a flip in the time dynamics of your universe. From your new galaxy, looking back at Earth, you'll see how the past ie, the young galaxy, is now your present and the Earth is now in the past. The implications of this are nothing short of mental illness. Suppose that there really is an alien creature from the edge of our universe looking in our direction through a telescope. He won't see anything interesting. That is, he won't see a fully formed Milky Way galaxy with the Earth inside of it. He won't see that because the light from our planet has not reached him yet. Does that mean we do not exist? Clearly not! If I could instantly transport myself over to the alien I could say to him (with the benefit of knowing the future,) "keep your telescope trained on that part of the sky. Soon, you'll witness the birth of alien life!"
Will that alien life form be more advanced than we are? Unlikely. The perspective of the universe from here on Earth will be the same perspective that the alien would have had. Specifically, the belief that they are in the center of all things. They would have existed for the same amount of time since, as we have seen, time is not a universal constant. It is a matter of perspective and reference. If us and the aliens have been travelling through space at a similar rate of speed then we will both have had the same perspective of relative objects (galaxies.) From our position here on Earth it looks as though they, those galaxies out there are younger than us and have existed for less time than we have. The truth is that they, looking back at us, believe the exact same thing only from their perspective it is they, not us, who have been in existance for the longer time.
We have been here for 5 billion years on this planet and there's little doubt that Mr E.T, if he is out there, will have a similar story to tell.
There are around half a billion stars in our galaxy and around a billion galaxies in our observable universe. Cosmologists have stated that there are more stars in our universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches on the Earth. Is our star unique? Are we to believe that life exists around just one of those grains and not around any of the others?
The ingredients for life are to be found everywhere. Observations have found that the early universe was filled with large stars known as blue giant stars. When these stars died they exploded into cataclysmic fireballs known as super nova. The largest of these explosions, called type 1 A, forged the heaviest elements and then expelled them into the cosmos. These early stars did not live for very long, a few million years in some cases. This means that small rocky planets like Earth were, by and large, not being formed in the early universe. The cosmos was instead spending its' energy creating heavy, life giving elements and flooding space with them. This was happening everywhere. The processes that led to creation ie, the big bang, fusion etc occured everywhere. By everywhere, I don't just mean in the space between stars and galaxies, I mean in the very space around you. Cup your hands in front of you now. You're holding onto a piece of space where the big bang happened!
Of course, I accept that just because the universe is very uniform in nature it doesn't necessarily follow that life giving planets exist around every star. Indeed, the odds are against life existing in any point in space. In order to have life you need: (among other things) a planet that can have liquid water on its' surface, a parent star that will remain stable for billions of years, no life destroying asteroid impacts, a moon big enough to hold a stable axis, seasons (if you want ambitious, migratory animals,) and time. The odds against life could be a billion to one. Even so, there are still enough stars in our universe to realistically harbour a billion life giving planets!
Great! But if this is all true then why can't we see anyone else when we look out into space? Why is it all so quiet?
The answer is, in part, the same answer to the question, why doesn't every line of sight end on a star or a point of light? If the universe is so vast then surely the night sky should be filled with stars? So why isn't it? Huh? you tell me that! WHY?!?!?
Ok, OK I'll tell you! The point is that in reality, every line of sight DOES end on a point of light. It's just that, since our universe has been expanding from the start and the space between objects has been growing nonstop the light from these distant objects hasn't had a chance to reach us yet. The speed of light can never out run the expansion of the universe because the expansion rate is always increasing and the speed of light is a constant. Galaxy clusters are bound together by gravity and so the space between them is not expanding but on the largest scale every point is moving away from every other point. This means that no matter where you are in universe you'll always percieve yourself as being in the absolute center. Eventually the most distant objects will disappear beyond the light horizon forever. Does that mean they no longer exist? Well, no it doesn't. It will mean that they'll be lost to us forever but they'll still exist out there somewhere. So, in some sense, there will be potential life out there that we'll never be able to contact, purely because of the rules of physics.
Imagine that you're looking through a telescope at a distant galaxy. The galaxy is near the edge of our universe and as a result it appears primordial, undeveloped and young. You could say something like, "Look, that galaxy is filled with large stars. There is no way that there is life over there, what with all the explosions and such. If I could instantly transport myself from here to that galaxy I would find that it's all pretty chaotic over there. What's more, I'll be able to look back at Earth and see how developed the Milky Way is, how much larger galaxies are over here and how life preserving planets exist in abundance. My new galaxy has a lot of developing to do"
Not quite. That perspective is only true is you look at the galaxy through a telescope. Once you travel through space you cause a flip in the time dynamics of your universe. From your new galaxy, looking back at Earth, you'll see how the past ie, the young galaxy, is now your present and the Earth is now in the past. The implications of this are nothing short of mental illness. Suppose that there really is an alien creature from the edge of our universe looking in our direction through a telescope. He won't see anything interesting. That is, he won't see a fully formed Milky Way galaxy with the Earth inside of it. He won't see that because the light from our planet has not reached him yet. Does that mean we do not exist? Clearly not! If I could instantly transport myself over to the alien I could say to him (with the benefit of knowing the future,) "keep your telescope trained on that part of the sky. Soon, you'll witness the birth of alien life!"
Will that alien life form be more advanced than we are? Unlikely. The perspective of the universe from here on Earth will be the same perspective that the alien would have had. Specifically, the belief that they are in the center of all things. They would have existed for the same amount of time since, as we have seen, time is not a universal constant. It is a matter of perspective and reference. If us and the aliens have been travelling through space at a similar rate of speed then we will both have had the same perspective of relative objects (galaxies.) From our position here on Earth it looks as though they, those galaxies out there are younger than us and have existed for less time than we have. The truth is that they, looking back at us, believe the exact same thing only from their perspective it is they, not us, who have been in existance for the longer time.
We have been here for 5 billion years on this planet and there's little doubt that Mr E.T, if he is out there, will have a similar story to tell.
