Author: Mohajer Azizi
Scientology; Its Origins and Beliefs (part 25)
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Is Extraterrestrial Life Possible? (Continued)
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Those Who Deny the Existence of Extraterrestrial Life
Some Western scientists and space research organizations deny the possibility of extraterrestrial life and the existence of alien beings. They consider such ideas to be the result of myths and the imagination of certain fantasy-minded people.
Some of the world’s most respected scientific sources, such as Nature journal and the scientific website Scientific American [1], have published articles claiming that the origin and formation of life is extremely difficult. According to them, it is possible that, in the entire universe, only planet Earth has the ability to support life. [2]
Nature, which is considered one of the highest scientific journals in the world, has stated in an article that there is a strong possibility that the whole universe—except for Earth—is empty of life.
Below are parts of that article along with their translations: “The cosmos might be mostly devoid of life. We still have no idea how easy it is for life to arise, and it may be incredibly difficult.”
Translation: “The universe may be mostly empty of life. We still do not know how easy it is for life to form, and it may be extremely hard.”
“There is no doubt that SETI—the search for extraterrestrial intelligence—has received a huge boost from the recent discovery of hundreds of extrasolar planets. Astronomers think there could be billions of Earth-like planets in our galaxy alone. Clearly, there is no lack of habitable real estate out there. Yet because we do not know the process that turned a mix of chemicals into a living cell, with all its great complexity, it is impossible to calculate the probability that life has actually arisen on these planets.”
Translation: “There is no doubt that the recent discovery of hundreds of planets outside our solar system has greatly encouraged the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Astronomers believe that there may be billions of Earth-like planets in our galaxy alone. Clearly, there is no shortage of places where life could exist. However, because we do not know the process by which chemical materials turned into a living cell, with all its great complexity, it is impossible to calculate the chance that life has actually appeared on those planets.”
“Another common argument is that the universe is so vast, there must be life somewhere. But what does that really mean? If we focus on the observable universe, there are probably about 10²³ planets. Yes, that is a huge number. But it is very small compared to the odds against forming even simple living molecules by pure chance. If the path from chemistry to biology is long and complex, it may be that fewer than one in a trillion planets ever produce life.” [3]
Translation: “Another common argument is that because the universe is very large, life must exist somewhere. But what does this really mean? If we look only at the observable universe, there may be around 10 to the power of 23 planets. Yes, this is a very large number. But compared to the extreme difficulty of forming even simple living molecules by chance, this number becomes very small. If the transition from chemistry to biology is long and complex, it is possible that fewer than one planet out of a trillion ever gives rise to life.”
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The Role of Space Organizations in Research on Extraterrestrial Life
In major and developed countries, there are space research organizations that dedicate part of their work to searching for extraterrestrial life or detecting signs of life beyond Earth.
NASA, one of the most well-known space research organizations in the United States, has a special department called the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, also known as the Planetary Protection Office. One of its missions is the “strict prevention of backward contamination of Earth by extraterrestrial life.” For this reason, NASA or people associated with it sometimes speak about extraterrestrial beings and highlight the issue.
Elon Musk, the head of the space research company SpaceX in the United States, once mentioned extraterrestrial beings in a speech and said: “As far as I know, maybe extraterrestrial beings do exist.”
In 2016, the Chinese government published a report presenting details of its space program. According to this document, one of the research goals of the program is the search for extraterrestrial life. This is also one of the goals of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST).
In 2020, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency, announced that the search for extraterrestrial life is one of the main goals of deep-space research. He also said that the existence of simple life on other planets in the solar system is acceptable.
France’s National Center for Space Studies has an office dedicated to the study of “unidentified aerospace phenomena.” This agency maintains a public database with more than 1,600 detailed cases. According to the head of this office, most of these cases have ordinary explanations. However, for about 25 percent of them, an extraterrestrial origin can neither be confirmed nor denied. [4]
Continues…
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References:
[1]. Scientific American, The Cosmos Might Be Mostly Devoid of Life.
[2]. http://bit.ly/2B3tILm
[3]. Nature / Scientific American, Vol. 315, No. 3.
[4]. Persian Wikipedia, “Extraterrestrial Life”.
