Philosophy
Final Paper for Philosophy 309
The possibility that extraterrestrial messages are being sent to us and we are unable to decipher them seems to me to be almost certain. The probability that there are other life forms in the universe is also seemingly certain. Knowing the billions upon billions stars and planets in the universe the odds surely must be in favor of life on other planets. Are we as humans so rare as to be 1 in billions of billions? Also given then the known age of the universe (our human fact) can we believe that we are the most evolved life form? I believe there is other life forms more evolved than ours on planets in the universe somewhere.The possibility that they’re trying to contact us is to me more remote than ‘If’ they exist. They’re there they just don’t want to talk to us, why should they, to them we’re primitive.
There has been no contact from distant planets or galaxies letting us know they (other beings) are there.This must certainly be proof that they don’t exist, or that they haven’t evolved as far and aren’t as intelligent as earthlings. We are sure if they were contacting us emitting signals we would hear them.We could decipher them. Do we believe we can understand every form of communication? We have certainly by the level of evolution we have reached come to the apex of our ability of the ability to receive and recognize signals and we would certainly immediately understand their language. They must certainly be using a form or signal we can receive. Probably FM or a good T.V. signal we should be able to get nothing to complex. What evolved life form would use any other signal. Many years ago when we were first discovering the inner workings of the brain we (humans) said that the glial cells in the brain, which out number neurons nine to one, didn’t communicate. We had decided what cells did what and that was that. Yet recently we discovered that they (Glial) communicate via chemical reaction not electrical impulse like neurons. Glial send signals using calcium they do communicate. If we cannot decipher signals in our own body how can be so arrogant to believe that we can decode signals from life forms more advanced than ours. It is highly likely we can’t detect or even decode these signals. The countless possible ways they could be trying must be near the number of stars and planets, billions and billions. Their appearance may take a form we see each day and don’t even know it is a signal; they (these aliens) stare at us in disbelief. How can we not see their signals in the wind, or lightning? How would we know what form it could take? Do they make the same mistake as us, how could we not recognize their signal. In our human arrogance we assume it would be in a form as advanced as ours. Not more advanced, or if it is we could surely decode it.
It would seem far more probable that these extraterrestrials are trying in vain to contact us, scratching their bald green heads wondering why we don’t understand their most rudimentary signals. They’re sending us their signals in what may seem to them to be something as simple as our Morse code. In a frequency everyone could understand, they think. How can we be unable to receive and decode their signal? Certainly we’re smart enough. Or are we? I believe they may send us signals if they want to. If they did we probably couldn’t understand them.
As we search for other life we look for all the things that support our life heat light similar sources of food, surely they (other life forms couldn’t survive without it, and must have the same type food as us, we know this for sure. There must be water life can’t exist without it. Again something we know. The truth is we don’t know, life can exist without water maybe not life as we know it but we don’t know all life forms. It would seem like an episode of twilight zone but is there a possibility of other dimensions? Surely science may tell us no, but then contradict these findings later. I doubt it is in the realm human mind to comprehend all the possibilities. We always bound our limits of existence to what we know now, in life form and how they would communicate. Nothing can be outside these limits we know this also. I believe it is important that if we hope to ever decode and signal that may stray our way, we must stretch the limits. Their existence is most probably outside this limit, the area outside this boundary is far bigger unproven methods of communication, unproven life forms and when life could possibly exist. We shouldn’t rule out these areas, no more than we were able to reason about infinity several hundred years ago, are we able to reason about these possibilities now.
If we are the only life form in billions of billions of planetary systems then this would seem to support a more religious centered belief.If we are so rare then possibly there must be a creator, a god if that’s so.I’m not necessarily suggesting this, but imagine how remote the chance is that we’re alone here. I doubt most people believe we are. It’s more likely the signs are all around us and we don’t see them.