Recognize the guy in the picture? He is supposed to be an alien living somewhere in our galaxy, which will most likely pay us a visit in the near future with a warp capable ship, just to slaughter us like pigs while dressed in an invisibility cloak. Possible? Highly unlikely, according to planetary astronomer Dr Charley Lineweaver from Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian National University.
There is a good probability that life exists somewhere else, besides Earth, in the universe, albeit the chances of existence of an alien species at least as intelligent as humans is slim.
We are calling but nobody seems to answer and it is certainly not because they are not there. Take Earth for example. Our planet is teeming with life, everywhere you look there is life. How many other species on Earth are capable to match the intelligence and technology similar to that of the human beings? None! This is the main argument presented by Dr Lineweaver in his address to the Australian National University. Therefore, it is highly improbable that extraterrestrial life matches or holds more advanced technology than ours, considering that life even exists outside the boundaries of Earth.
Unique species "If human-like intelligence were so useful, we should see many independent examples of it in biology and we could cite many creatures who had evolved on independent continents to inhabit the 'intelligence niche'," said Dr Lineweaver. However, this never happened, which implies yet another theory: intelligence may be species specific. If a species is not adapted to evolve, then it never will, not even when given an infinite amount of time.
By doing so, Dr Lineweaver attacks right in the heart of Darwinian evolutionary theory, saying that the tendency of animals is to develop ever larger brains in order to become smarter, or at least as we see it from our human point of view. Dr Lineweaver added: "The fossil record on Earth Strongly suggests that human-like intelligence is not a convergent feature of evolution - something that all form of life would attain given enough time. Instead humans are unique, just like every other species."
This however doesn't mean that we should suddenly give up any hope of finding alien life, or possibly intelligent alien life. Dr Lineweaver says that in fact he is a great supporter of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence program, or SETI, just in case his theory proves to be wrong. Additionally, the SETI institute is one of the programs requiring extremely low funding support. "SETI is the exploration of new parameter space with new instruments - a proven recipe for scientific discovery. However, we do not need to misinterpret the fossil record to justify this inspiring research," said Lineweaver.
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