One question we humans find ourselves asking a lot is this: “What is the meaning of life?” One of my favorite topics of conversation is the philosophy of our existence or theology of why we exist. The reason I find it so interesting is that there is never one good answer, and rarely ever a bad one either. We all have a little existential creativity tickling our brains now and again, making everyone’s opinion valuable. Sometimes our beliefs change, due to science or increased experience in life, a switch of attitude or anything else in between.
I have heard answers to the above question ranging from the romantic: “to find love,” “to explore the universe,” “to be happy”; the more cynical: “shut up and don’t worry about it,” “what if there just is no meaning to life”; and the hopeful: “to find other life,” and my personal favorite, “to leave an impression.” Some people find it necessary to limit our existence to just planet Earth, suggesting if we haven’t already found life out there, and life hasn’t found us, there's a reason for it. Perhaps we’re far too immature as a species to be allowed the key to exploration. Like Star Trek’s first rule, do not interfere with the development of a primitive species. If you help a bird out of its shell, the bird will grow up weak and die young. Same with us. We must fix our problems ourselves.
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But when you put everything into perspective, the age-old wonder if humans are alone becomes harder to agree with. Within our solar system are one star and eight planets, only one of which can preserve life, though Mars once had water, meaning it once had life. If our galaxy has about 100 billion stars, and each star has over one and a half planets, then the number of alien worlds jumps to over 160 billion planets…in our galaxy alone. Trying to look at that many planets is like trying to study every sand particle on Earth’s beaches. It's not possible.
Astronomers are still search, though. Of the few observed, they have found promising leads for potential worlds of similar nature to Earth. For example, in April 2014, a planet called Kepler 186f was discovered within its star's habitable zone while also being close to the same size as Earth. The only problem is our limitation with technology. The planet is 500 light-years away, much too far for even the best telescopes in the world. Even if the possibility existed for traveling alongside the fastest particle in the universe, it would take too long to get there: 500 years too long.
Unfortunately, this is the other side of the coin. Science points overwhelmingly to the possibility of a mutual existence with other intelligent life in our universe, but also tells us it’ll be nearly impossible for us to reach so far out. Space is just too big. Even if a planet could be physically seen with moving life, we’d be unable to get there unless we somehow broke physics and found a wormhole, or something. Assuming Newton was right, as he has been for a good while now, we will be forever stuck within the realm of our little bubble in the Milky Way.
As Arthur C. Clarke once said, “Two possibilities exist: we’re either alone in this universe or we’re not. Both are equally terrifying.”
And that brings us back to the start. If we can’t expand our physical presence a meaningful distance, then what is our place in this universe? What is our purpose, if one even exists? Does other intelligent life make our own more or less meaningful? And is it enough for you to leave an impression that’s limited to what you know is a nearly infinite universe of possibilities? It’s both incredibly exciting and terrifying to think we may one day answer a question that has no real solution.
What is our place in this universe, especially if we’re not alone?
