Are We Alone in the Universe? - Essay Sample

Introduction

The cosmos is a huge place, which first had a high concentration of mass and energy, something that triggered it to explode (Tarter, 2006). It continues to expand every second and it is so big that the earth is only an atom in it hence from this argument, it is hard to answer the question of whether we are alone in the universe or not. There many possible means to answer this question since most scenarios are consigned in storytelling. As a result of climate change, scientists are developing innovations to search and discover the existence of extraterrestrial life and the expeditions of the unknown. Through astronomy, they are able to study life in the planetary including visiting other planets in the solar system. Sagan offers a question are we alone in the universe. He is a major proponent for the search of extraterrestrial life and signals from nearby galaxies which are bound to exist outside the solar system.

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"Are we really alone in the universe?" is one of the controversial questions that haunt our thoughts. Carl Segan uses the "cosmic teenager" notion from his contact novel in an attempt to explain his opinion on the question of whether we are alone. He argues that we are not entirely alone because we are a young species that are just coming of age, and there have been many civilizations before in the galaxy (Worrall, 2018). Carl Segan also used Drake's equation to estimate the number of civilizations that lived before in the galaxy. He estimated the figure at an astonishing one million and stated that if they were off by a factor of 10 or 100 or 1,000 it is enough to show that we are not entirely alone in the universe (Worrall, 2018). Finally, "Enrico Fermi" in his Fermi paradox estimated that there were about 300 billion stars in the galaxy, a greater percentage of them are likely to host habitable planets. Hence, affirming that there should be a number of intelligent civilizations in the universe, which concludes that we are not entirely alone in the galaxy.

The scientific community avows that there is no current evidence for extraterrestrial life. They hold that if there is extraterrestrial life, then evolution could have occurred differently in the universe. Life could have stemmed from a smaller number of origin then spread to different and habitable planets in the universe. The search for extraterrestrial life has no concrete evidence since in radio astronomy advances, none of the projects has recorded data enough to attribute to alien life (Sagan, 2000). However, it does not mean that scientists have given up, there are advancing their discoveries to on exoplanets orbiting the sun in the galaxy. Expanding search for these magnitudes increases the chances of detecting signals that are likely to conclude that there is no life outside planet earth. Life outside planet earth is fiction for the fact that after factoring the size of the galaxy and how closely the stars are packed, the probability of detecting the signals becomes relatively very slight. Technological developments are not detectable in the galaxy. Similarly, methods deployed cannot detect alien civilization in the galaxy despite the distance of signal detection from the distance from the earth.

Humanity appears to be treading down a risky path. For instance, through human activities such as mining, combustion of fossil fuels we have been changing the Earth's climates for decades without getting worried about the resulting serious consequences (Wall, 2019). However, it may be practical to exert efforts to look for ETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) who will spy on artifacts left behind by vanished civilizations (Wall, 2019). To bolster our chances of survival in cases of climate change, extinction, or war, the scientists have provided several cautions. First, humans should reduce greenhouse emissions gases in order to prolong their chances of survival. Further, finding dead aliens will encourage humans to behave better and get their act together (Wall, 2019). Finally, extraterrestrial intelligence via the capture of alien broadcasts to interaction with cooperative organisms will help humans grow their knowledge and solve local problems such as climate change, hunger, poverty, and disease

Constraints to the physical limitations on the earth exist especially to scientists who always think of innovative activities. Schwartz (2011), presents an argument that there are macro-ecological limits that describe how the flow of resources support human societies who must conform to physical laws when it comes to energy and matter. There is a spatial scale that flows of energy used for scientific innovation must come from somewhere and a positive balance in one context will result in a negative balance in the other context. Since smaller human systems are channeled to large environmental systems, they add up to a system that sets limits for the global scale. For instance, there is data which indicates that in most innovations, there are limits to freshwater, land, and other forms of energy. The decline of this may be due to technological replacements of resources by human societies that are always innovative. Scientists are constrained by the physical limits of resources use as everybody is concerned with social-environmental interactions. Moreover, ecological principles govern the sustainability of science along with environmental change and increasing population. Darwin's finches are also the best example of birds of explaining how natural selection and evolution occurred in Galapagos. The finches have evolved into different species having a different body size, beak shape, and feeding behavior

The human race is pushing science morally and ethically to ensure that there is survival of the planet in the universe. Science policies are morally good because they are responsible for the survival and flourishment of scientific beings who ground evolutionally biology (Schwartz, 2011). By the fact that human beings have instincts to live, they work each day to ensure that there is adequate shelter, safety, social relations, mental and physical health. Through sentient, individuals are able to feel and suffer and therefore, motivated to work for the survival of the planet in the universe. At the same time, human beings are pushing science to provide meaning for an ethical statement that there is proof of using science to make reason. It is ethically better to use science and safe people other than letting the law of natural selection take their lives. However, there is no scientific evidence to help settle many moral challenges that individuals face in the universe. Culture is bending both judgments and actions hence resulting in moral dilemmas which wrestle with moral central issues. Science policies are morally good since they help to push survival of the planet in the universe.

Scientific technology has had a tremendous effect on contemporary society and the impact is growing at an alarming rate. In the contemporary world, science is being used as a major tool of running the economy of powerful nations in the world; through the free market system (Hurd, 1998). Science is a field that is increasingly being used as an avenue by humans who are looking for knowledge and technology that will promote sustainability and economic development in the world. Developments in science and its resulting technologies in areas of global communication, satellite images of the universe, in tandem with the common attraction with dinosaurs have prolonged the space and time scales (Hurd, 1998). The modern society appreciates the value science has brought in helping them solve problems. For example, the use of science has helped members of society solve problems such as production and preservation of food, controlling epidemics, and terminal diseases such as cancer. Scientific technology has altered the lifestyle, eating habits, communication methods, recreational activities of people in society. Scientific technology has helped scientists to use their knowledge and intelligence to advance more discoveries, and solve problems endured by society (Hurd, 1998). Finally, Scientific technology influences society through the knowledge it advances. The scientific knowledge used by scientists impacts the way many people in society think and solve challenges affecting them.

My views on science and progression have greatly changed since the beginning of this class. Based on my knowledge, when broaching the topic of extraterrestrial life or space exploration, the first thing that could come to my mind is a negative response. I could just think that human beings burn tons of rocket fuel, which is horrible and dangerous to human life. The threat to the environment and human life could justify that the human race is not fighting for the survival of the planet in the universe. However, I have different views that acknowledges the efforts human race is exerting to ensure that there is survival of the planet both morally and ethically. Scientists have a moral obligation of supporting space exploration and to ensure the survival of human species as well as protecting the universe. I have learned a series of two arguments that support innovation and advancement in extraterrestrial life. First, science is useful in amplifying resources. In the second argument, science is necessary for protecting inhabitants from extraterrestrial life and the environment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Carl Segan is an important scientist especially through his proposition on the search and discovery of existence on extraterrestrial life. There is no concrete answer on whether we are really alone in the universe. However, Carl Segan attempts to explain we are not really alone through Drake's equation. His findings revealed that there are one million civilians explaining that we are not entirely alone in the universe. Finding Extraterrestrial Intelligence can help us advance our knowledge and solve local problems such as climate change, hunger, poverty, and disease. We are constrained by physical limitations such as scarce resources, organisms with genetic traits that often favor survival and reproduction will tend to leave more offspring's than their peers, this makes traits to augment in frequency over generations. Scientific technology has provided scientists with the knowledge that will help them advance more discoveries to solve pressing problems within the society such as epidemics, food shortage, and poverty.

References

Hurd, P. D. (1998). Scientific literacy: New minds for a changing world. Science education, 82(3), 407-416. Retrieved from: https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/4837280/hurd_-_science_literacy_1_.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DScientific_literacy_New_minds_for_a_chan.pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A%2F20190813%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20190813T002518Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=dbac06410ef25250750731f3cb637d8f6a2550b90688e896cc4fb9dea764e9ab

Sagan, C. (2000). Cosmic connection: an extraterrestrial perspective. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from: http://lux.e-reading.bz/bookreader.php/148581/The_Cosmic_Connection_%3A_An_Extraterrestrial_Perspective.pdf

Schwartz, J. S. (2011). Our moral obligation to support space exploration. Environmental Ethics, 33(1), 67-88. Retrieved from: http://www.academia.edu/download/31953589/Schwartz_-_Our_Moral_Obligation_to_Support_Space_Exploration.pdf

Tarter, J. C. (2006). The evolution of life in the Universe: are we alone?. Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, 2(14), 14-29. Retrieved from: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2007HiA....14...14T

Wall, M. (2019). How Dead Aliens Could Help Save Humanity. Space.com. Retrieved from: https://www.space.com/dead-intelligent...