Alien Life: Does It Exist? Research Paper Example

Introduction

Going strictly by definition, “extraterrestrial life” is synonymous with “alien life”. That is, the former phrase literally translates to “beyond the earth”. If there is anything living not on our planet, it is extraterrestrial and therefore alien to us.

This is a subject that has fascinated people since recorded time. “Human beings have debated for centuries whether…life exists elsewhere in the universe and, with the recent discovery of over four-hundred extrasolar planets, the debate has heated up considerably…” (Kean 273). Primitive cultures documented what they saw in the skies as embodiments of life, if not as gods. It is probable that the connection between stellar activity and happenings on the earth, such moon phases and the tides, led ancient cultures to assume that living forces from beyond were at play. These modes of thinking invariably became intertwined with religious beliefs and, in a very real sense, they still are today.

The idea of alien life existing has as well a wide range of supporters. Fanatics with little education and Nobel Prize winners believe in it, as do exacting scientists and certain fundamentalist preachers. All share the feeling that, whether through divine design or strictly as a scientific proposition, it is just unrealistic to assume that life is limited to our one, small planet in the arm of a relatively minor galaxy, itself set among billions of galaxies.

Hard Evidence

There is, unfortunately, no way around the fact that there is no actual documented evidence of intelligent life from other worlds. Stories of government cover-ups and secret warehouses holding preserved aliens still capture the public imagination, and have as well a good deal of rational support. Nonetheless, it is hard to ignore an inconvenient reality; if alien evidence were in fact being concealed by the government and/or the military for many years, it is not reasonable to suppose that no one has ever been able to successfully access it and release the information. In bare terms, the history of mankind on earth has no precedent wherein a concealment of facts of this magnitude has been successfully carried on perfectly, and for decades. Bluntly, somebody would have spoken out by now, and with real proofs.

That said, evidence of at least primal organic alien life is becoming a far more likely breakthrough every day, thanks to the  remains of meteors and our recent knowledge of the durability of the microbe. Meteor fragments reveal assortments of elements we require for life on earth, and in interesting combinations; clearly this “stuff of life” is traveling great distances, and from somewhere. Then, if we want to speculate on what manner of life could possibly survive such a trip, the microbe’s amazing resilience comes to mind. “Microbiologist Norman Pace believes that… microbes (which exhibit the greatest metabolic diversity and environmental tolerance) provide a good model for thinking about extraterrestrial life” (Bedau, Cleland 118).

Simply put, it’s very hard to kill a microbe. Scientists have claimed to revive dormant microbes dating back thousands of years. More interestingly, dormant microbes recovered from objects used on the moon have “awakened” in laboratories, and all the evidence suggest that our first real contact with life from another world will be in microbe form.

SETI and Sightings

The SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute is both impressive and a little odd. On one hand, it boasts some very respectable scientific credentials behind it. On the other, the SETI website, as well the populist literature is has spawned, has a science fiction aspect to it hard to take seriously.

“The idea behind SETI is straightforward: eavesdrop on wireless communication traffic from civilizations orbiting other stars within our galaxy” (McConnell 3). While it is tempting to be swayed by those distinguished endorsers of the Institute, this basic agenda is difficult to take seriously chiefly because it seems a little greedy, and therefore farfetched. Why, that is, are we so intent on finding intelligent, communicating life when we have yet to encounter an alien variety of the most primitive kind? Even the SETI web site is dramatic, and designed to appeal to an adolescent mentality.

Proponents of SETI, along with other die-hard believers in alien life, often jump to produce eyewitness testimonies and accounts of actual sightings. Many thousands of sightings have been recorded, and many of these from rational, educated sources. The problem, unfortunately, remains the same as that of the cover-up theory: there is no proof. Yes, many disturbing photographs remain unexplainable, but that is a far cry from their serving as evidence of alien life visiting us.

Then: “The number of reported UFO sightings has gone down significantly. Does this mean that the visitors to our planet have suddenly lost interest?” (Boes 57). Sightings within the last few decades have also strangely and appreciably occurred more in the evenings. These two factors alone indicate that sightings, or at least a great many of them, have far more to do with what’s occurring on earth than with anything flying toward us.

Conclusion

From any real scientific standpoint, it is just as irresponsible to assert that intelligent life, or any life, cannot exist away from earth as it is to insist that it must. Both sides require foundations of evidence. Neither actually has any. Pictures of discs circling a mountain, no matter how persuasive, are not proof. Similarly, the complete absence of evidence yet compiled by no means establishes a contrary point.

If, however, we take in what we believe we have as definitive fact about our galaxy and the universe, there is a strong case to be made on the probability of that alien life existing. There are, as far as we can ascertain, literally billions of complex galaxies within the known universe. There is no equation reducing probability after probability, all severely leaning against the chances of such life occurring, that does not result in a number of potentially life-supporting planets within the Milky Way alone fewer than in the hundreds of millions.

Then too does the great question of what may comprise life arise. All our calculations and theories about alien life operate on the assumption that it must be, like our own, carbon based and reliant upon a solar source of heat and light. It was not long ago, however, when the leading biochemical authorities in the world were absolutely certain that life on earth could not survive either above or below certain temperatures. Then the heat vents on the oceans’ abyssal plains were investigated, and thousands of species were discovered thriving in conditions completely toxic to most life on earth or in its waters, and in temperatures hundreds of degrees above what was considered the upper limit for life.

If we are to keep a rational yet open mind about alien life, we must first and foremost acknowledge the limitations of the lives we lead. That is, mankind is forever re-educating itself and setting new boundaries around all sorts of possibilities, only to change the parameters when fresh discoveries prove the impossible. We live in a world, right here on earth, where colonies of bacteria live long lives feasting on radioactive particles in nuclear chambers. Given this one extraordinary fact alone, the possibility for an alien life form of which we cannot even conceive becomes all the more a very reasonable concept.

Works Cited

Bedau, M.A., and Cleland, C.E. The Nature of Life: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives from Philosophy. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print.

Boes, R.H. The Physics of Encounter. Victoria, BC, Canada: Trafford Publishing, 2009. Print.

Kean, L. UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record. New York, NY: Random House, 2010. Print.

McConnell, B. Beyond Contact: A Guide to SETI and Communicating with Alien Civilizations. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly & Associates, Inc., 2001. Print.