I'm inclined to believe that there are other lifeforms in our galaxy (not
to speak of life forms on the billions of other galaxies!) and,
furthermore, that at least one of them is observing us.
However, I cannot think for one minute that it or they would be interested
in interfering in our affairs. If an advanced lifeform wanted to colonise
other planets then it would be simpler for them to re-engineer a lifeless
planet at a younger age than ours rather than to try and turn our
environment into a suitable state for them. It or they would be much more
interested just to observe us as scientific specimens or in case we
happened to intrude into their territory.
By "territory" I mean the discovery of physical laws, entities or methods
that, so far, are totally unknown to us. It is a fairly well-kept "secret"
by astronomers that most of the universe is totally unknown to us and
possibly might always be so. There are three instances:
1. The outer rim of our universe may be expanding at a rate that is faster
than the speed of light, so that information can never get to us. It's
likely that we'll never know;
2. Our universe may be one of an infinite number of universes. It's likely
that we'll never know;
3. Our universe contains about 90% of "something" which is totally unknown
at present. This is something that we may discover in due course -- and
something which another advanced lifeform may have already discovered.
What is this "something"? Assuming that the calculations of astronomers are
approximately correct, it can be easily demonstrated. Our own galaxy and
others are swinging round like cartwheels with fixed spokes. Yet the space
between solar systems is supposed to be (largely) empty space. However, in
this case the galaxy should be spinning like a Catherine Wheel -- the
central part of our galaxy should be spinning much faster than the outer edge.
So galaxies have missing spokes which "glue" the whole galaxy as one
entity. There could be missing mass (so that gravity holds the whole thing
together) or there could be attractive forces hitherto unknown to science,
or there could be a mixture of both. All this unknown "something" is
unobservable to our science so far, but may have been discovered by another
lifeform elsewhere in our galaxy or other galaxies.
If other lifeforms have discovered the laws behind the missing mass/forces
then they might have developed technologies (and observational "platforms")
which we couldn't possibly observe in our turn.
I suppose the conclusion of all the above is to say that it is probably far
too speculative to devote too much thought to the possibility of other
lifeforms -- at least at the present time. Our main purpose should be to
press ahead with our present scientific endeavours -- both in the human
sciences and physics -- in order to hopefully prolong the environment of
this earth and the life of our species and our fascinating and rich ecology.
(There are some who say that, we are destined to become extinct because 99%
of all other species have become extinct in times past. I'm hubristic
enough to believe that we should be selfish enough to avoid a passive fate
if we can possibly do so.)
Keith Hudson
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�Writers used to write because they had something to say; now they write in
order to discover if they have something to say.� John D. Barrow
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Keith Hudson, Bath, England; e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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