Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Is there Life out there?

"Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people." Carl Sagan


It seems to me that it is illogical to entertain the notion the planet Earth bears the only life in our Universe.
We humans have advanced in knowledge to provide an evolving stream of technology that answers questions about the Universe. However, in doing so, many more questions have been found.
Take for instance the concept of the "Known Universe". At one time this consisted of what astronomers now call the "local galaxy cluster'. With advancement in telescopic technology looking deeper into space, we were able to see galaxies farther and farther out. Now we see other galaxy clusters similar to our own and some very different. The characteristics of the physics behind what we find became inexplicable at the time. This created more questions.
To me this is truly a wonder. For it does parallel many ideologies and theologies involving the concept that the more one learns, the more the answers are needed to be found.
In the view of what we know of the Universe today, it is statistically probable that with billions and billions and billions of galaxies, with billions and billions and billions of stars, life exists somewhere, somehow, and in some form.

3 comments:

Desertnut said...

Awesome, Starman!

Starman said...

desertnut; thank you for your comment!

Anonymous said...

It seems that at the same time humans pursue more knowledge, they're curiosity into the existence of other life in our universe diminishes. Or are humans too egotistical to even consider the existence of possibly greater intelligence? If unidentified lights descended into my woods, you could not get me to them fast enough; my curiosity would far outweigh trepidation! I would be in awe!