Rare Earth

I have to admit. I'm a dork. I'm a nerd. There is just no way around that. No way whatsoever. It's something that over time I have come to embrace. Something that I've finally come to love. Being a nerd I've always been interested in science fiction. Either reading the novels or watching the movies and tv shows. Yes I did grow up a Star Trek Fan. Yes I am looking forward to the new movie.

Seeing all that alien life has led me to the greatest question of all time, are we alone? I will unequivocably say NO. I do not think we are alone. I've come across that so called Rare Earth hypothesis when reading about life on other planets. That has to be the lamest idea I've ever heard. Ok not lame but the most ignorant idea I've ever heard. The Rare Earth people basically say this, our planet is a rarity in this galaxy. There is no way other planets have the necessary conditions to allow life to develop. We are the fortunate planet in this galaxy.

Really? Do they know more about the galaxy than the rest of us? If so, please share this insider information with us. I'm sure NASA would love to see what the Rare Earth people know. Honestly, how much does humanity know about the galaxy? Maybe about 5-10% in our little corner of the Milky Way. We have not sent any human explorers outside of our solar system, let alone outside of our corner. Who are the Rare Earth people to say we are alone? I know just as much about the galaxy as they do.

How much do we know about other planets in our galaxy? So far only 344 exo planets have been discovered. 344. That is it. Let us look at what we know about our galaxy. Let us use the law of averages to do this. There are millions of stars in the Milky Way. Around those millions of stars circle hundreds of thousands of planets. Of those hundreds of thousands of planets perhaps tens of thousands could support some form of life.

I understand I said thousands of planets could support some form of life. But we really do not know anything about this galaxy and the formation of life. We have only our one planet as a template. That is hardly enough to make an educated guess on.

We know something about 344 out of hundreds of thousands of planets. How can someone say we are unique? How can they say we are alone? The conditions on this planet that led to life could be unique to our planet. Other life could arise under different conditions not found on Earth.

As for the God argument. We don't fully understand or comprehend how God works. How are we to make the assumption that He made Earth unique? Perhaps He made life on other planets too. Perhaps He wanted us to grow and learn at our own pace. We know what outside influence can do to a civilization. The Native Americans and Aborigines are but two examples. This could be but one reason why we have not discovered other intelligent civilizations. Our Creator wanted us to develop on our own. He did not want us to meet other civilizations until we are at the right stage in our development. That, I think is an argument for another day. What is the right stage in development? Or maybe another question is, when is the right stage in development? Perhaps we are already there. Perhaps we almost there.

I end with this: until we have explored our galaxy in full, and by explore I mean sending out humans, no one can say that the Rare Earth hypothesis is true. The Rare Earth hypothesis only serves to further our need as humans to feel superior. Heaven help the first non-technologically advanced civilization we encounter.