The Secret Of Our Success On Planet

Searching For Alternative Life On Earth Might Seem Misconceived, Because There Is Excellent Evidence That Every Kind Of Life So Far Studied Evolved From A Common Ancestor That Lived Billions Of Years Ago. Yet Most Of The Life That Exists On Earth Has Never Been Properly Classified.

In Spite Of The Fact That Religion Looks Backward To Revealed Truth While Science Looks Forward To New Vistas And Discoveries, Both Activities Produce A Sense Of Awe And A Curious Mixture Of Humility And Arrogance In Their Practitioners. All Great Scientists Are Inspired By The Subtlety And Beauty Of The Natural World That They Are Seeking To Understand. Each New Subatomic Particle, Every Unexpected Object, Produces Delight And Wonderment. In Constructing Their Theories, Physicists Are Frequently Guided By Arcane Concepts Of Elegance In The Belief That The Universe Is Intrinsically Beautiful.

I Should Say We Know That There Are Many, Many Other Earths Out There. We're Almost Certain That There Will Be Upwards Of A Billion Earth-like Planets In Our Galaxy Alone, So There Is No Lack Of Real Estate Where Life Might Happen, But What We Don't Know Is How Likely It Is Given The Real Estate, Given A Wonderful Pristine Planet Like Earth How Likely Is It That Life Will Pop Up Inhabited? We Don't Know The Answer To That.

In 1911 The Little Town Of Nakhla In Egypt Was The Scene Of One Of The Most Remarkable Events In Historym When A Chunk Of Rock Fell From The Sky And Killed A Dog. This Is The Only Known Canine Fatality Caused By A Cosmic Object. Improbably Though This Encounter Was Already, Its Truly Extraordinary Nature Was Revealed Only Decades Later When Scientists Found That The Culprit Was Not A Common-or-garden Meteorite, But A Piece Of The Planet Mars.

If We're Thinking About Old Civilizations, Those That Formed A Long Time Ago And There Were Stars And Planets Around Long Before Earth Even Existed, Then These Are Going To Be Towards The Center Of The Galaxy. That Is The Place To Look If You Think There Are Ancient Civilizations That Have Made Beacons Or Some Other Way Of Attracting Our Attention.