I just read an article about life beyond us, because of the title. It went,
“36 Alien Civilizations In The Milky Way? The Science Behind A Ridiculous Headline.”
It appeared in Forbes Magazine, and it covered a lot of particulars, which I won’t delve into here.
To make a long story short, a recent “paper” — a study — just claimed that there are 36 alien civilizations in the Milky Way. And that number represents a lower limit on what’s out there.
The scientists based their findings on planet sizes and sun sizes, in comparison to our earth/sun ratio here in our solar system. So. If it looks like us, it could be us.
But the author of the Forbes’ article picked it all apart, and as demonstrated by his headline, thinks this claim is “ridiculous.” I’m no PhD in astrophysics, but it is my opinion that maybe he’s right, and maybe he’s wrong.
The author, of the article, I will call Dr. Ethan Segel. Because that is his name. In his opening paragraphs, he states, “Although we’ve come very far in our understanding of stars, planets, and what’s out there — in our Milky Way and beyond — we still don’t know whether there’s any form of extraterrestrial life in the Universe, much less intelligent aliens. “
Yet he completely refutes the notion of 36 civilizations in the Milky Way.
I did some research of my own.
First, the Milky Way. The candy bar, not the galaxy. There are 12 ingredients listed in the Milky Way. Since everything happens in threes, we do the math.
3 x 12 = 36. Our first good clue.
Next, if you check with numerologists, here is what they say about the number 36. “Number 36 Meaning? The essence the numerology number 36 represents energies that accomplish creative goals for helping humankind. Above all else, 36 is a humanitarian number. The 36 essence is worldly and sophisticated.”
Sounds righteously planetary to me.
Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t check with the biblical scholars. They say this: What is the biblical meaning of 36?
“The number 36 is twice 18. In gematria (a form of Jewish numerology), the number 18 stands for “life”, because the Hebrew letters that spell chai, meaning “living”, add up to 18. Because 36 = 2×18, it represents “two lives”.” That’s what the bible assessors said, not me.
This 36 thing might be adding up.
Okay, but back to the article. Young Dr. Ethan goes on to review all the things “we do not know.” He lists many, but here are two.
“We do not know how frequently, given an Earth-sized world in an Earth-like orbit around a Sun-like star, life will arise on that world.”
“We do not know how frequently, once life arises, it takes hold and thrives, sustaining itself for billions of years in an unbroken tree of life.”
Finally, he gets on to this. What he “does” know.
“All we know, if we’re being honest, is that things occurred on Earth the way they did, and everything else is nothing more than healthy speculation, at best.”
Ah yes. Well as I said, I’m no doctor scientist. But I can say he’s wrong about part of his statement. He claims that we know how things occurred here on Earth the way they did. Well, truthfully, we are still figuring out those details. We’ve made some good guesses so far, but there is so much we do not know. The Big Bang, is, after all, a theory.
But the second half is true. His statement.
“Everything else is nothing more than healthy speculation, at best.”
Yes, every day, every minute, all things to come? Healthy speculation at best. We can’t be sure of anything. Look what this COVID-19 has proven with that. The moments are ours to experience, as they come along, one by one. Each one is the only one we have. All else is speculation.
Yes, the rest is as mysterious as the Milky Way. The galaxy, not the candy bar.
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“Nothing whets the intelligence more than a passionate suspicion, nothing develops all the faculties of an immature mind more than a trail running away into the dark.”
― Stefan Zweig
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“When all the details fit in perfectly, something is probably wrong with the story.”
― Charles Baxter,
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“The world, even the smallest parts of it, is filled with things you don’t know.”
― Sherman Alexie
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