What’s Really Out There?…I’m Hoping For Burt Reynolds Cyborgs

When most people think of aliens, our minds either shift to world dominating critters like in “Independence Day”, or government conspiracies like Roswell. These mind sets have led to entertaining movies, and a hefty tourism budget for Roswell, New Mexico; but none have really substantiated any proof of existence beyond Earth. SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), is trying to rid us of these whimsical thoughts, and make extra-terrestrial life an actual possibility.

The bold text on SETI’s “About Us” sums up what they’re about, “The mission of the SETI Institute is to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe.”

One visit to their site and my cynicism of the study of alien life is fading. The skepticism of alien life is still there, but it’s a breath of fresh air to see a more scientific approach to research of life beyond our planet. SETI stands behind their research by way of a field called, “astrobiology”. The best way to describe astrobiology, is that it’s the study of life in the universe. Unlike UFO hunters, astrobiologists are trying to determine the origins of life, what kinds of environments can sustain life, and even inter-planetary questions, like how did life start on Earth?

SETI substantiates their belief in life outside Earth mostly from a mathematical standpoint. Again, on SETI’s “About Us” page, their answer to a FAQ listing about why they think there is life out there, explains their beliefs, “There are roughly 400 billion other stars in our Galaxy, and nearly 100 billion other galaxies. It would be extraordinary if we were the only thinking beings in all these enormous realms”

While I will always be skeptical on “human-like” life in outer space, I definitely believe it’s important to study life in general. Understanding where we come from, and what else is out there can do nothing but good (unless there really are Burt Reynolds like war mongering cyborgs). For a very interesting read on what kind of life might be in outer space, Alan Boyle of MSNBC has written a very interesting article.