Why is searching for extra-terrestrial life futile?

2 Answers

Is it? An opinion piece with a thought or two on why I believe it isn't futile...

Explanation:

This answer is more of an opinion than solid fact, so please do take that into account when reading the following.

My first thought when looking at your question is "Is it really futile to search for extra-terrestrial life"?

A quick search of "the internet" brings up numerous hits regarding the presence of organic chemicals, the building blocks for life as we know it, being abundant throughout our galaxy at least. In laboratory conditions simulating outer space, DNA and RNA formed using starting chemicals known to be on asteroids. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_interstellar_and_circumstellar_molecules

Is it preposterous then to suppose that life has arisen on other worlds? And that such a search is doomed to failure? I'd argue that, in fact, given the facts in the prior paragraph, that life should be abundant throughout the galaxy. The real quandary is why does it not seem to be.

Noble prize winner Enrico Fermi asked the same question and that has become known as the Fermi Paradox - If there is all this potential for life in the galaxy, and the galaxy is so huge, where is all the life that should be present?

Responding to that paradox has become it's own field of study. There are many ideas being floated as to what is going on (and, in general, none of them end up being a net positive for humanity. For instance, there is one theory that science will always outstrip the power to contain it and leads to the destruction of the species, if not the planet housing them). Here are a few more theories in this link: https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-the-real-reason-why-we-still-haven-t-found-intelligent-life

In the end, I don't believe searching for extra-terrestrial life is futile. I'm certainly not holding my breath on intelligent life being found within my lifetime, but if it ever does happen, I look forward to seeing the Fermi Paradox answered, or at least better answers floated than what we have now.

Jan 13, 2018

I think unwise may be a better adjective than futile, partly for the reasons given by the previous contributor.

Explanation:

There are three main reasons for this:

(i) It is likely to require significant resources, whether we search for simple life in our solar system or complex, intelligent life across our galaxy. Perhaps we have more pressing problems as a species?

(ii) given that having found “them” we wish to communicate with them, and that the galaxy is a very large place, we are bounded by the speed of light so any communication (assuming we can find a common ‘language’ beyond transmitting large prime numbers to each other) is going to be an inter-generational affair.

(iii) in our (albeit limited experience) any meeting between two very different cultures (think indigenous populations of North America and white Europeans) ends very badly for one of those cultures.

I think what I’m trying to say is just because we can does not equate to we should.