Aliens Among Us

A Personal Interest

I would like to consider the possibility of visits from other-world creatures, in order to present some thoughts about the social and economic implications for us. Look, I have to find some reasonable argument for their existence, or else my essay comes to an abrupt halt.

The earth is about 4.5 billion years old. The universe is at least 14 billion years old. There could be some planets with the conditions for life potential that are far older than the earth. Let us also assume a relatively early start for complex life there. With these not wildly unreasonable assumptions (I hope), advanced intelligent life on those planets could have had an additional billion years or more in which to develop.

There is a downside to this speculation. "Human" life that started far in advance of ours could be extinct by this time. Secondly, those creatures might not have bothered with a planet that possessed only the most primitive life forms, if that much. Further, if space aliens are trying to communicate with us at this time, their methods of communication could well be totally unrecognizable by us. ("The Probability of Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life". Ernst Mayr. In: "Extraterrestrials". Edited by Edward Regis Jr. 1985).

Still, it is possible that someday we might find ourselves in contact with one or more civilizations out there. Human life developed on earth against all odds, and might do so on a few of the planets elsewhere.

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