We Are All The Same Lonely On Earth

We are not alone?

“The worst thing in life is to end up with people that make you feel all alone.” — Robin William

In the last century, ET (extraterrestrial intelligence) was once a popular theme across all works except, sadly, the research fields. Whatever the scientists had to say, if any, was quickly swallowed up by the aviators in “Stranger in a Strange Land” or “Star Wars”. The outer space discoveries threw more questions than answers. The pop culture deliberately kept astronomers out of the crew as they would more likely end up shackling the imagination.

It’s never to say pop culture has no impact on science, though, looking at SpaceX and Iris Recognition. It even influences mass cognition. The public had come to believe that although life was not everywhere in the universe, the Earth was one of the lucky planets to host it.

Then the first exoplanet was discovered in 1992. It wildly pushed the boundary of “life community”, so to speak. We are now aware, only in the galaxy alone, there are billions of exoplanets. This certainly stokes the scientists way more than Isaac Asimov’s novels did. A voice arose amidst astronomers to echo the foundation of Space Imaginarium, “life may exist in the universe.” Those challenging it were considered “swimming against the current”. Some alien abduction stories were dug out and studied under the telescope of space civilization. UFO news jumped to the headlines periodically.

It seems in no time the debate has slid from “whether” to “what”. A common hypothesis is that the most essential form of life is the microbe. Given the fact that microbe has been around for over 3.5 billion years, human being, in comparison, is an utter modern invention on Earth. This guess has gained followers among Astrobiologists. They dive into the atmosphere around the exoplanets, look for hints of Bacteroid organisms.

Some have taken one step ahead by talking about, seriously, the human temperament of ET. As the cosmic thinker, Stephen Hawking, put it, “Meeting an advanced civilization could be like Native Americans encountering Columbus. That didn’t turn out so well.”

“One day we might receive a signal back from a planet like Gliese 832c. If extraterrestrials call, do not answer, at least not without careful consideration,” he warned.

It seems, not only we are not alone, but also it can be a crowded neighborhood. Only the neighbors haven’t knocked yet.

Okay, a little bit of science

“The great tragedy of science — the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.” — Thomas Huxley

Before the “call-answer” game starts, two things must happen first. Unlike life on Earth that proves life is possible at least once, neither of the two has a precedent.

First, life evolution must be, relatively, easy progress. Over the past decades, scientists focused on the secret of abiogenesis — the life formed by nonliving substances. So far the results are still behind the creation story in Genesis. Some labs have formed biomolecules, e.g. Amino acids, with precursor gases. But it’s millions of miles away from creating life. Evolution, whether cosmic or microbe, is not easy at all.

Some argue that time will make all these limits look trifling. Then they find themselves facing another obstacle: none of the exoplanets owns a habitable zone. Studies show that most of the stars can’t create photosynthesis which is essential for plant growth. The first step of the evolution is energy supply. Without energy, it won’t start off.

Secondly, interstellar travel must be possible. For some astronomers, it is more gloomy a task than Genesis. Genesis has happened once, be it in a scientific sense or religion. Interstellar, however, having happened countless times, is all in fantasies. Imagine we jump on a spaceship today and head to the nearest star, Proxima Centauri. The one-way trip is about 6300 years.

As per the interstellar fleet maneuvered by the smart aliens, it’s like we put a glorious cape to our aviator — a double hypothesis. Light speed is the fastest move we can master, though we are at a fraction of it at this stage. Even one day we were sitting in a light-speed train, the shortest distance between two stars is four light-years. Heading to the other side of the galaxy? Get packed for 100k light-years nonstop.

“Technologically possible” doesn’t mean “possible”

“ The only limits you have are the limits you believe.” — Wayne Dyer.

“500 years ago the best scientists wouldn’t imagine the telephone.”

“The only limits you have are the limits you believe.”

“Why ETs have to resemble humans, have physics that we have?”

……

The sci-fi fans have enough to argue about. They believe we will invent some technology that is far beyond our cognition at this stage. Some space predictions, like the warping of spacetime, the wormholes, have gained more traction in the recent decade than the past century put together. But they are still hypotheses nonetheless. If they were one day proven to be theoretically possible, we can’t be sure that they are practically possible. Unicore and mermaid can exist in theory, but it’s another thing if they really exist.

The black hole? The magic tube where we dive in at one side and show up at the other? To save time, let me share this fact: even though this was possible, the nearest black hole is 1500 light-years from us.

Let’s face it. It’s not important to figure out whether the smart life beyond the galaxy exists. Because we will never find them, nor will they find us. Let’s huddle together on this lonely planet, as it might be the only one with life in the entire universe.

“Humans are almost always lonely.” — Frank Herbert “Dune”.

Yes, the loneliness is chilling and…infinite, but you are not more lonely than anyone else on Earth. So a shoutout to those struck by loneliness,

You are not alone!

It’s like a bustling party. A moment hits you when the louder the music, the more lonely you feel. But looking around, there are many more lonely souls behind the cheerful faces. You are lonely, but you are not alone.