{"id":135330,"date":"2021-09-07T07:43:24","date_gmt":"2021-09-07T12:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/?post_type=ftm_question&p=135330"},"modified":"2022-02-07T06:55:58","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T11:55:58","slug":"are-we-alone-in-the-universe","status":"publish","type":"ftm_question","link":"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/questions\/are-we-alone-in-the-universe\/","title":{"rendered":"Are we alone in the universe?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n <\/a>\n
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\n \n Hard Science <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n We are effectively alone in the universe <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
It does not matter if intelligent life exists elsewhere. We will never find each other.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n
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\n \n Hard Science <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n The biology of aliens: How much do we know? <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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“The real danger to a deer in the forest is not the hunter with a gigantic rifle. He’s not the main danger to a deer in the forest. The main danger to a deer in the forest is the developer. The guy that’s going to pave the forest and perhaps destroy whole ecosystems.”<\/p> <\/div>\n

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“In other words, the aliens don’t have to be evil in order to be dangerous to us. They might not care. They just may not care about us and in the process pave us over. And so I think that is a potential problem. We could be in the way of a very advanced civilization that simply is not evil but simply views us as we would view squirrels and deer in the forest. So, personally I think that we should not advertise our existence when we go into outer space. For the most part however, I do think they are going to be peaceful.”<\/span>
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\n \n \"ergodicity\" <\/picture>\n <\/figure>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n
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\n \n Will aliens look like us? The answer involves ergodicity and the predictability of evolution <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
In movies and TV shows, aliens look like pointy-eared humans. Is this realistic? If evolution is predictable, then it very well might be.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n
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\n \"UFO\" <\/figure>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n
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\n \n If UFOs are alien spaceships, how did they get here? <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n
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\n \"life <\/figure>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n
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\n \n What is life like elsewhere in the Universe? <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n<\/div>\n\n
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“Ergodicity<\/mark> is about the links between the micro and macroscopic worlds, specifically how understanding randomness in the former can allow us to predict order in the latter. Ergodicity is what allows there to be ‘laws’ of physics for large collections of abiotic matter.”
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So, is evolution ergodic? […] For many researchers, the answer is an emphatic no. Stuart Kauffman, for example, makes the absence of ergodicity in evolution the central point of a lot of his work on life. For Kauffman, the most important aspect of evolution is its path dependence, its history. <\/span>Run the history of the Earth over again and you would get something different.<\/b> As Kauffman puts it: <\/span>\u201cEven more profoundly, the evolution of life in our biosphere is profoundly \u2018non-ergodic\u2019 and historical. The universe will not create all possible life forms. Non-ergodicity gives us history.”<\/span><\/p>

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The existence of extraterrestrial life<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\n \n Finding aliens: Is there a \u2018theory of everything\u2019 for life? <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n \n Sara Walker <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Sara Walker is an astrobiologist and theoretical physicist interested in the origin of life and how to find life on other worlds. Walker is the deputy director of the Beyond[…]<\/div>\n
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“There’s this assumption that we make that because we are alive, we actually recognize life when we see it,…”<\/p> <\/div>\n

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“…or we understand what life is, and I think that’s actually a really flawed viewpoint. We really need a more general definition for life that doesn’t depend on the specific chemistry that life on Earth uses but is more characteristic of what life is as a process that organizes chemistry and does all of the wonderful things that we associate with living matter.”
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\n \n Astronomer calculates the odds of intelligent alien life emerging <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n
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\n \n If we do find alien life, what kind will it be? <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n
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\n \n Surprising Science <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n Are we alone in the universe? New Drake equation suggests yes <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n <\/a>\n
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Exoplanets<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\n \n False positive: Exoplanets could have lots of oxygen but no life <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Oxygen is thought to be a biomarker for extraterrestrial life, but there are at least three different ways that a lifeless planet can produce it.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n
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\n \n New study darkens hope for Earth-like planets <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n
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\n \n 10 of the strangest exoplanets in the universe <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n
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\n \n 35% of all known exoplanets are ‘water worlds’, researchers find <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n<\/div>\n\n
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\n \n There may be 300 million habitable planets in our galaxy <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n
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\n \n Scientists identify 24 planets potentially better suited for life than Earth <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n
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\n \n A Periodic Table of All the Exoplanets Found So Far <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n <\/a>\n
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Aliens & Humanity<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\n \n A big lesson from the \u2018Oumuamua alienware controversy <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Scientists should be cautious when expressing an opinion based on little more than speculation.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n
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“Now some people say that we should not try to make contact with them because they could be potentially dangerous.”<\/p> <\/div>\n

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“For the most part, I think they’re going to be peaceful because they’ll be thousands of years ahead of us, but we cannot take the chance. So I personally believe that we should not try to advertise our existence to alien life in outer space because of the fact that we don’t know their intentions.”<\/span>
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\n \n \"\" <\/picture>\n <\/figure>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n
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\n \n My UFO experience <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n
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\n \n Aliens are a mirror to humanity <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n
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\n \n Less-advanced alien civilizations may be nearby \u2014 but we’re not looking for them <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Will we ever find life elsewhere in the universe?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":136317,"template":"","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAre we alone in the universe? - Big Think<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/questions\/are-we-alone-in-the-universe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are we alone in the universe?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Will we ever find life elsewhere in the universe?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/questions\/are-we-alone-in-the-universe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Big Think\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BigThinkdotcom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-07T11:55:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Aliens-biology-How-much-do-we-know.jpg?resize=1200,630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bigthink\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Are we alone in the universe? 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