I just listened to a short podcast from the Skeptoid blog entitled, “Are We Alone.” It’s a good, succinct survey of the problems and obstacles to being optimistic about other inhabited worlds and intelligent civilizations — in terms of there being such a thing, our ever knowing it, and how our civilization and that one would ever detect each other. If you are a zealot about how there *must* be ET life, this might depress you (but a cold dose of reality is good for you). Nevertheless, the Skeptoid host still feels optimistic, but not because of any actual science. I know what he means. It just seems like there might be other worlds with life, but even so, the odds against there ever being contact are formidable. Have a listen!
Are We Alone? A Summary of the Issues
Just like seafaring in the past, we still haven’t figured out how to navigate space. It may be centuries before we have a command over an efficient means of traveling vast distances. Assuming such technology is physically possible…
It seems to me, no matter the probability of intelligent life in the universe, it’s just not possible to reach them with our current technology. If they’re not in our solar system, they’re too far away!
But even if we could travel vast distances efficiently, it’s such a huge search space! Radio waves permeate nicely and would do the job if they weren’t so slow!