Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Toanswerthisquestionwearegoingtobreakitintothreeparts,the
probabilityofaliensexisting,theprobabilityofthembeingabletocontact
us,andtheprobabilityofthemevolving.Togetherthesepartswilladdress
theentirequestion.
Frank Drakes
interestingapproachtothisquestioninvolvedwritinganequation.This
equationshedslightonmanythingsthatyouneedtotakeintoaccountwhileaddressingthe
questionofalienexistenceinthegalaxy.
Whenyousolvethisequationyoufindthefollowing
So,theprobabilityofaliensexistingislookinggood,ifyou'reoptimistic.
Kardashev Civilizations
In1964,SovietastronomerNikolaiKardashevfirstproposedtheKardashevScale,which
isawayofmeasuringacivilization'sleveloftechnologicaladvancement.Thescalestartsat
TypeIwhicharesimilartowesterncivilization*,withmoreadvancedtechnology,andconsumes
inbetween10^12and10^16wattsofenergy.
*Currentlywearesomewhereinbetween.7and.72asfarastheKardashevscalegoes.
TypeIIcivilizationswouldengageinfeatsofplanetaryengineeringexpanding
throughouttheirentiresolarsystem.Theywould/couldmineandinhabitotherplanetsintheir
solarsystemwithouttravelingoutofit.TheupwardsendofaTypeIIcivilizationcouldpossibly
createaDysonSphere.Aspherethatenclosesastarthatwouldbeabletoharnessalmostall
ofthestarsenergy.
Dyson Sphere:
TypeIIIcivilizationsareahugestepupfromTypeII,TypeIIIwouldbeabletoharness
allofthematerialandenergyofanentiregalaxy(containingabout10^1110^12stars).ATypeII
civilizationconsumes10^12morewattsofenergythanaTypeI,andaTypeIIIhas10^12more
wattsofenergythanaTypeII.TypeIIIwouldofcoursebecapableofspacetravelandwould
haveanadvancedknowledgeoftheuniverse.Theycouldalsoenhancethemselvesbiologically
andmechanically,evencreatingcyborgs.
TypeIVandVcivilizationswouldextendacrossentiregalaxiesandpossiblyourentire
observableuniverse.Theycouldmanipulatespaceandeventime(TypeV).Alsohighlevel
civilizationslikethesecouldcoexistinotherparalleluniverses.Rightnowthisisallspeculation,
butthesecivilizationscouldexistandbeleavingusaloneorstudyingustofindoutmoreabout
theirpast.
Asyoucansee,thereisalotofpotentialforwhatwecandowithtechnology.Itlooksas
thoughwecancommunicatewithmostTypesofcivilizations,aslongaswecantranslatetheir
languagetoours.IfaTypeIII,IV,orVcivilizationexiststheymighthavecreatedafasterwayof
communicationsthanelectromagneticwavelengths,(radiowaves).Anotherpointthatmaymake
contactimpossibleisthattheuniverseisexpandingatanexponentialratemeaningthatthings
willbegettingfurtheraway,andinthefuturewewon'tbeabletoseeanything.
Intelligent Life?
Theprobabilityoflifearisingislow,andourownscientistsstillhavenotfiguredouthowwe
started.HoweverwecanNOTconcludethatthereisotherlifeintheuniverse,butwecan
speculate.Evenifintelligentlifeisnowhereelseintheuniversetheremightstillbesimplelife.
Therecouldonlybesinglecelledorganisms.Forinstancesomebelievethatlifeonearthstarted
fromanasteroidwithcellsonitcrashingontoEarth.Thecellsthenhadrightconditionstolive
andmultiplyandeventuallycreatecomplexlife.
Tardigrades
a.k.aWaterbearsaresmallcreaturesthatsomewhatresembleacaterpillar
butare,whenfullgrown,onlyaboutamillimeterlong.Waterbearscanliveaverylongtime
withoutwaterorairandcansurviveinincrediblycoldtemperatures,suchasinspace.Scientists
arestillstudyinghowtheydothis,butmanytestshaveconfirmedtheirattributes.Somebelieve
thattheyoriginatedonanotherplanet.Tardigradescouldbeevidenceofextraterrestriallife,
howevernonintelligentlife.
Tardigrades