I'd always thought alien life was inevitable given just how huge the universe is. Given so many planets, I'd be shocked to find out there would be no other life out there, and that would be impossible to prove anyway. In that sense, to me this news feels like a confirmation of an obvious truth.
Of course there's life somewhere out there. We're not really all that special, after all. We're just hardwired to think we are special as a species, and that the Earth is special as a planet, since that makes sense for a species's continued survival as a whole. But we're really just a species on a rock, and there's a lot of other rocks, and some of them probably have species too.
Still, even with other life out there, it still feels like we are alone here on Earth. It could very well be there is life on some ridiculously distant planet that we can interact with on a level beyond the observation of some single-celled organisms, but I really doubt we'll ever meet.
It's kind of like knowing that there is that special perfect soulmate for you out there on the other side of the planet, but you don't know who they are and you'll never meet them. Life wouldn't really seem any different whether or not that person existed.
I'd prefer to find my comfort with someone who I could be with.
2
Tobias 1104~4Y
There are a whole bunch of hypothetical answers to why we're apparently alone in the universe despite the scale of it - I think it's called the Fermi Paradox? - but what I wonder is whether any advanced species end up building virtual worlds to sink into instead of bothering to travel the ludicrous vastness of space for the potential to find something unknown. If we could have all our needs met through some fully immersive, all-senses-catered-to VR experience where we could literally make our wildest dreams come true, why would anyone want to go and explore the stars?
Or maybe they ascend to another plane of existence or something. When they're finished playing Biological Life, they move onto the sequel!
I'm excited about alien life mainly because I'm curious about their biochemistry, how they're built and how they function, and how similar or not to Earth life!
Of course there's life somewhere out there. We're not really all that special, after all. We're just hardwired to think we are special as a species, and that the Earth is special as a planet, since that makes sense for a species's continued survival as a whole. But we're really just a species on a rock, and there's a lot of other rocks, and some of them probably have species too.
Still, even with other life out there, it still feels like we are alone here on Earth. It could very well be there is life on some ridiculously distant planet that we can interact with on a level beyond the observation of some single-celled organisms, but I really doubt we'll ever meet.
It's kind of like knowing that there is that special perfect soulmate for you out there on the other side of the planet, but you don't know who they are and you'll never meet them. Life wouldn't really seem any different whether or not that person existed.
I'd prefer to find my comfort with someone who I could be with.
Or maybe they ascend to another plane of existence or something. When they're finished playing Biological Life, they move onto the sequel!
I'm excited about alien life mainly because I'm curious about their biochemistry, how they're built and how they function, and how similar or not to Earth life!