To Be or Not to Be…Alien?

You’ve seen all the movies, read all the books, heard all the horror stories – but the question still remains, “Do aliens really exist?”

Though there hasn’t been a definite “Yes!”, scientists and civilians alike have always leant towards the possibility. Given the millions of stars and galaxies hovering in our universe, there are millions of chances for other forms of life. However, it wasn’t until very recently that scientists had any proof of the existence of other planets. In April 2006, NASA announced their discovery of over 150 planets outside our known eight. On his program released in May this year, Stephen Hawking, one of the most famous theoretical physicists and cosmologists of our time, revealed the discovery of an additional 450+ planets.

The following question would be, “What physical form would extra terrestrial life take?” Illustrators around the world have created a thick portfolio of images depicting what they think an alien would look like. If we look back to the life that lived on Earth over 4 billion years ago, organisms were merely microbes living under harsh conditions in every niche the Earth provided. If microbes and bacteria could survive under extreme temperatures, pressure, light concentrations and malnutrition, surely similar life forms would do the same on another planet?

Here, the definition of ‘life’ needs to be clarified. Scientists have come up with their own definitions, “Life is something that creates its own destiny” or “Life is the product of promiscuous chemicals”, but the general criteria for life include the ability to:

• Replicate/reproduce.

• Inherit characteristics from the parental generation.

• Maintain homeostasis, organising bodily functions.

• Metabolise, utilising energy from a primary source.

Basic elements required for life such as carbon and nitrogen have been found in comets and meteorites that have landed on Earth. These elements are extremely important to the maintenance of life. If it’s possible for comets to land on Earth, why couldn’t there be an equal possibility on other planets? Chief Scientist at NASA, James Gavin, states, “We have to be careful not to let our own arrogance of experience drive how we look for things otherwise we’ll miss the forest for the trees”. This means that we need to prevent narrowing our minds to the idea that life will always follow the strict proposed definitions and criteria mentioned above.

What’s interesting to consider is, to what degree would extra-terrestrial life influence ‘Earthlings’? How would we respond to it and would their presence have a positive, mutual or negative impact? Hawking regards extra terrestrial life in a negative light, imagining they would, “travel in spaceships, having used up all resources from their home planets and become nomads…with the power of taking energy from an entire star” – images often depicted in movies, comic books and TV shows. Meeting a higher consumer of planetary assets than humans could lead to a disastrous battle for resources and (worst case scenario) lead to the Earth’s extinction. We are already destroying the Earth by using resources more rapidly than the Earth can produce them; added competition could quicken our expected doom.

Should we risk learning more about space than we know now? Is it worth continuing our explorations for something that may not even exist? Should we not pour the money spend on the search for life into underwater exploration instead? Or into developing country sustainability projects? These questions are a sample from the ongoing debate about government expenditure on space explorations. There is no denying that space explorations have indirectly improved our quality of life, providing us with improved computer systems and weather forecasting capabilities and the ability to use solar energy, but is the information we learn enough to cover the cost of retrieving it?

So far, extraterrestrial life has not been proven to exist. However, scientists have been collecting more and more evidence to suggest that it does. Discovering new life could add pieces to the historical puzzle of the universe. Alternatively, it can negatively impact us if the costs for retrieving this knowledge (financially, physically and physiologically) outweighs the benefits of it.