Essay

My name is Charles Cash and I did my project on the possibilities of life in the universe. I chose the topic mainly because since I was little, I've always been interested in space. I used to watch documentaries on space missions and discoveries all the time.

I really enjoyed researching this topic. I really learned a lot about what progress has been made into finding life out there. I got to interview astrophysicist Neil Tyson and talked about what he and other scientists believe and what they are trying to do to prove it. I read a couple books about my topic but mainly Intelligent Life in Space. I enjoyed reading an online article by some guy that basically told off Christians. He said that there are problems with the way the bible says the universe was created. I thought it was kind of funny and absurd. There are some really cool pictures out there about space. Hubble has really done a good job in providing them to us. I also learned that our universe is constantly expanding at an unbelievable rate. I really don't have a final opinion on my topic. I have concluded that life in the universe most likely does exist. But intelligent life in the universe varies on a day to day basis. I really wish I had more time to do a better job on this project. Or really, more time to do anything.

Interaction

I got to talk over the phone with astrophysicist Niel Tyson from the Department of Astrophysics and Hayden Planetarium in the American museum of Natural History. He informed me on a lot of interesting data that scientists have discovered. He and other astrophysicists belive that there is a great chance that life could exist elsewhere. In addition to my Q&A, he talked to me about the Copernican principle. I cant remember everything about it since it was extremely detailed and covered many ideas.

Niel was a pretty cool person. I enjoyed the interview because he was always joking about things as well as giving me information. I remember him telling me about his plane rides with passengers that found out he was an Astrophysicist and bombarded him with questions similar to like I did. He told me to think that we are the only people out there is almost egocentric. He is a really smart person and I enjoyed talking with him.

Is the Bible Wrong?

I read an article on the internet about my topic but this one is different. The author draggs religion into it. He criticizes the Bible. He said that there was a problem with God exclusivly creating life on Earth alone. He even goes to say,"But in fairness, it has to be said that the bible was written in the style of the people the best part of 2000 year ago and should not perhaps be taken too literally today". The rest of the article is just repeated statistics that I probably have read elsewhere.

I thought it was pretty bold of this guy to call out Christians and the Bible. I respect his opinion, but he has no proof that God didn't create the universe and us on Earth. He can just go around and say that we have no proof that he did. That would just lead to a big arguement that has been going on for decades. One thing that I did like was his quote at the begining. "Sometimes I think the surest sign of intellegant life exists in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us"(Bill Waterson).


"Is there any other life in the Universe?." n. pag. Web. 13 May 2010. .

Things to Consider

I stumbled upon this article on the internet talking about what Christians should believe about life in the universe. It really doesn't say what they should belive, but it does give some good topics to consider about what needs to happen for life to exist. One being the distance from its star. It has to be just far enough to not burn and close enough to not freeze. Another being the fact that life can not form spontaneously. The article goes to saying if life really was out there, it would be impractible for extraterestrials to reach Earth. "The apollo missions took 3 days to get to the moon. At the same rate, one would need 870,000 years to get to the nearest star"(Gitt). It really gets you thinking about how rare life really is.

I think this article has a good viewpoint on the realities of life in the Universe. While we are still searching deep in space, you have to consider and ask yourself, "How is it possible that Earth is the only life supporting planet in our solar system"? This one article could have an impact on what I have learned about this topic.

Gitt, Werner. "Are we alone? Or is there life in the Universe." (1997): n. pag. Web. 13 May 2010. .

Intelligent Life in Space

I read the book Intelligent Life in Space by Frank D. Drake as a book length source for my topic. The book talks about the ways which the possibility of alien communication has come to, and the recent discoveries and technical developments. Drake also includes the efforts scientists make toward reaching and contacting another alien civilization. He also doesnt leave out the beginings of stars and planets and how life can come about on a planet like Earth. This book has a little bit of everything.

Drake really did a great job in writing this book. He puts everything into perspective and its really easy to follow. He adds real photos taken by telescopes to really give you an idea of what the Andromeda galaxy or what a star cloud looks like. Drake really makes it seem that he has been all around the universe and back with all of the information packed into his book. He is a great writer.

So the question is, did I find the answer to my question in this book? As the author would say, " In science, the answers are always there to be found. Only sufficient skill and determination are needed to find a path of reserch leading to them"(Drake 13). Also looking at it, the book was published in 1962 so most of the information in here has been updated, or new data is available. Drake did give me a good enough start to know where to start looking for the answer.


Drake, Frank. Intelligent Life in Spac. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1962. Print.

The Search

This week, I read a chapter called "Weighing the Chances of Alien Intelligence". It basically talks about if the possibility of alien life is out there, then how intelligent will they be compared to humans. Scientists are looking for intelligence that can be sentient life. "The term Sentient menas conscious and self aware and implies the ability to use tools to construst a civilization"(50 Nardo). It also throws in a little of Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution involving survival of the fittest. Nardo talks about a lion hunting. If he has good enough intelligence, he will be able to kill and bring food back to the pack and have a greater chance at mating with a female lion and pass on the genes of intelligence.

I think this chapter was a wierd one. I get the whole ET intelligence part. I couldnt quite pick up on the is it possible that there are life forms that are on our level of science and technology. Most people think alien life forms are ages ahead of us in technology. They can be cavemen for all we know.

Hubble Deep Field

I watched this video called "Are We Alone". The video talks about an image captured by the Hubble Deep Field Telescope. It perhaps, is one of the most important photos taken from space in history. It also talks about the galaxies in the image.

I think this is pretty interesting. The image itself is just amazing. When you look up in the sky at night, you cant see anything like that. It just makes me wonder if life is really out there. The video said, "Each of these galaxies harbor billions of individual stars, and measure tens of thousands of light years across. That is unbelievable.

"Are we Alone." Youtube. Web. 8 Apr 2010.