Absence of Evidence is not Evidence of Absence
...est rocket ever built will take hundreds of years to reach even the sun, presuming that the fuel will not run out before it reaches it’s destination. As science and technology make more and more progress, we will be able to further our knowledge of the universe and life thriving elsewhere (Mehta 1). What is now known about the universe holds no significance when held against the vastness of space. As the universe expands, so does the knowledge of it. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Mankind, although lacking in proper technology, in still on the hunt for alien intelligence or any form of life besides that which resides on Earth. Based on the belief that other life would behave as humans do, scientists have been looking for and sending out radio waves that any radio telescope could pick up. While these radio waves have yet to be found, the search has not ceased. However, the probability of life in outer space following exactly the same evolutionary pattern as that of the earth is too remote to contemplate. Scientists are basically only looking for life that they know exists. So if they happen to stumble upon a new and different kind of life they would fail to spot it. Ken Nealson, a geo-biologist at the University of Southern California gives his input, “It seems to me the worst people to look for life are biologists because they are so darned sure of what life is that if it happened to be different, they’d miss it entirely” (Chaikin 1). The exact scientific study of the living universe, how it arrived at this point in time, and where it is heading can be referred to as astrobiology. Astrobiologists ask questions like: Where did life come from? What does it need to survive? They ask these questions in preparation of the search for other life, a search that will take place when the sufficient technology is discovered. Also, Earth cannot be the only life-harboring planet in the universe. That would be an extreme waste of space. There are about 200 billion stars just in Earth’s galaxy and there are over 100 billion galaxies in the universe. Not to mention that the universe is constantly expanding. The Earth is like a drop of water surrounded by the ocean that represents space. If there is no life in outer space, than there are loads of useless planets and stars just floating around out there in the emptiness, serving no purpose. There are billions and billions of planets similar to earth and it is possible for life to exist on many of them; the only problem standing is the small fraction of planets on which life can, will, or has originated. Also standing is the fact that the origin of life is unknown (Bhandari 1). Humans on Earth cannot predict when or where life could sprout up without knowing exactly how life arose or if it will arise. The universe is so large and expansive that there is no way and never will be a way for humans to know the entire truth of life in space; but this lack of knowledge does not disprove life beyond earth. The size of the universe cannot even be pondered; the distances that the deep reaches of space cover are entirely unimaginable. Within all of this inhabitable space, life must exist. Moreover, there are many livable planets in the universe that life could easily inhabit. Saturn’s moon, Titan, for example, has many conditions similar to those of Earth. Evidence of water previously existing on mars has also been discovered. There is every possibility of life living, and thriving at many places in the universe, so the question that many ask is, “why not?”. Besides the unknown origin of life there is no reason why life would not exist on these planets. So the questions that scientists and philosophers should be asking is: “where is life; and on which other planet has life surmised to inhabit?”. Narenda Bhandari of the Physical Research Laboratory in Navaranpura, India stated her opinion on this matter also, in her article, “Life Beyond Earth”, “If life arose from ambiotic processes, then it must exist everywhere, wherever chemical and biological evolution can lead to conditions that are suitable” (1). Karen Pearce, an author for abc.net, puts her beliefs forth in her article, also titled, “Life Beyond Earth”: It was recently estimated that there are 70 million million million observable stars in the universe, not to mention those that are beyond our...