Is There Intelligent Life On Other Planets?

Image of planet earth and, farther away, another blue planet

Aliens seem to be ever closer in making contact with Earth...  or at least that's what Sci-Fi movies tell us. So is there intelligent life on other planets? It's been an ongoing debate for decades from early science fiction novels like War of the Worlds back in 1898 or the invention of SETI in 1983 to search for extraterrestrial life.

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More recently, there's also been a surge of Earth-like planet discoveries specifically of 7 exoplanets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. But despite all this, are we any closer to this monumental event or are we destined to be alone in this vast universe?

High Probability​

Let's first look at some really common sense probability. Our planet Earth revolves around the Sun and about 9 other planets within our Solar System.

Now the Sun is a star and there are billions of stars within our known universe all with their own solar systems and planets.

And this estimate is based upon our current technology and understanding of how the universe works. Looking at just those numbers alone, it's simply unfathomable that we would be the only intelligent living lifeforms in this entire universe of billions of planets.

Humans are Specks in Time​

As much as we'd like to think that human civilization is advanced, we're practically sub-atomic particles when compared to the age of the universe. Based upon research on the Big Bang theory, our universe was created about 15 billion years ago. And of that 15 billion, the Earth is 4.5 billion years old and humans have existed for only 200,000 years.

Intelligent human civilization has been around for about 10,000 years as we transitioned from our primitive hunter-gatherer ancestors. When we take that time into account, it's apparent that the term "advanced" is quite an overstatement.

There's been many theories predicting that truly advanced, older alien civilizations would view us more as ants than as equals if contact were made. Even if we look at our own history, humans of the 21st century would seem alien to cavemen in the prehistoric era.​

Earth is Not Ready​

Considering our primordial place in the universe, it's arguable that the people of Earth are simply not ready for a close encounter of the alien kind.

However, as we make more discoveries of Earth-like habitats, maybe our next journey will be colonizing on different planets versus being visited on our own.

Natural resources and space are limited on Earth leading to an eventual migration elsewhere. Ironically, when we do develop the technologies for interstellar travel, we would have essentially become the aliens from another world.​