Discovering Alien Life Will Change Nothing
There has been a great move to demote the Earth and humankind from central importance. Copernicus showed that the Earth is not the center of the universe. The Earth revolves around the Sun and so do the other planets. The Moon revolves around the Earth, but other planets have more moons. The Sun is a very ordinary star, not even at the center of its own galaxy, but about 30 000 light-years from the center in one of the spiral arms. The Milky Way galaxy is but one member of a local cluster of galaxies. The Andromeda galaxy, another member of the local group, is comparable in size to the Milky Way. There are billions of galaxies and clusters of galaxies spread throughout the known universe.
Some people have concluded from all this that the Earth is like an insignificant grain of sand lost in an immense ocean. It may be small in comparison to the giant planets, to the galaxy, and to the universe, but is it insignificant? To us it will always be significant. It is our home.
It is true that we are not at the center of things. “Man is the measure of all things” was the pagan creed of the first of the sophists, Protagoras (Greek philosopher, about 480 BCE–about 411 BCE). Plato refuted the doctrine, but it dies hard.
“If we can’t be the center, then nobody will be,” is an angry but all too human response. Soon astronomers may refine planet detection methods enough to find Earth-sized planets. Most of these will probably be in systems that rogue giant planets disrupt, but perhaps a few will be part of a tranquil arrangement like the one we have in our solar system. When enough extra-solar systems are found, we can assess the probability that a star might have an Earth-like planet, rich in the chemical variety needed for life, free of catastrophic disturbances. Even if the probability is one chance in a million, people will immediately multiply the probability by the number of stars in our galaxy, 100 000 million. They will then conclude, for example, that there are 100 000 Earth-like planets in our galaxy. Some people have already decided that life inevitably arises wherever conditions are suitable for it. Once again they will claim that the Earth is hardly unique or significant.
When that happens, nothing in the dialogue about the origin of life will change. If alien life or even alien intelligence is found in other parts of the universe, the Darwinists will of course say that Mother Nature got creative and made it without divine help. The panspermia advocates will say that the same advanced civilization that sowed life on Earth planted the other life there also. Some people will continue to search for a kind of life, not based on atoms, which designed our life. Bible believers will identify that life as God, and will say He made life and intelligent organisms on other planets, too.
If it is really true that the Earth is the only planet with life or intelligence in the universe, then the Earth has tremendous importance. If there is atom-based intelligence elsewhere in the universe, there still may be unhappy reasons that make the Earth unique. Ours might be the only planet with conflicts, war, or even death. In that case the great interstellar distances may be a kind of quarantine until the inhabitants of Earth improve their relationships with each other. On the other hand, if extraterrestrials come to attack us, they are just as bad as we are.
Some people have concluded from all this that the Earth is like an insignificant grain of sand lost in an immense ocean. It may be small in comparison to the giant planets, to the galaxy, and to the universe, but is it insignificant? To us it will always be significant. It is our home.
It is true that we are not at the center of things. “Man is the measure of all things” was the pagan creed of the first of the sophists, Protagoras (Greek philosopher, about 480 BCE–about 411 BCE). Plato refuted the doctrine, but it dies hard.
“If we can’t be the center, then nobody will be,” is an angry but all too human response. Soon astronomers may refine planet detection methods enough to find Earth-sized planets. Most of these will probably be in systems that rogue giant planets disrupt, but perhaps a few will be part of a tranquil arrangement like the one we have in our solar system. When enough extra-solar systems are found, we can assess the probability that a star might have an Earth-like planet, rich in the chemical variety needed for life, free of catastrophic disturbances. Even if the probability is one chance in a million, people will immediately multiply the probability by the number of stars in our galaxy, 100 000 million. They will then conclude, for example, that there are 100 000 Earth-like planets in our galaxy. Some people have already decided that life inevitably arises wherever conditions are suitable for it. Once again they will claim that the Earth is hardly unique or significant.
When that happens, nothing in the dialogue about the origin of life will change. If alien life or even alien intelligence is found in other parts of the universe, the Darwinists will of course say that Mother Nature got creative and made it without divine help. The panspermia advocates will say that the same advanced civilization that sowed life on Earth planted the other life there also. Some people will continue to search for a kind of life, not based on atoms, which designed our life. Bible believers will identify that life as God, and will say He made life and intelligent organisms on other planets, too.
If it is really true that the Earth is the only planet with life or intelligence in the universe, then the Earth has tremendous importance. If there is atom-based intelligence elsewhere in the universe, there still may be unhappy reasons that make the Earth unique. Ours might be the only planet with conflicts, war, or even death. In that case the great interstellar distances may be a kind of quarantine until the inhabitants of Earth improve their relationships with each other. On the other hand, if extraterrestrials come to attack us, they are just as bad as we are.
