Do aliens exist? The possible existence of intelligent extra-terrestrial life has intrigued humanity for centuries. But what does the scientific evidence tell us so far? And what relevance does this have for a discussion of God’s possible existence?

VIDEO & AUDIO LINKS

VIDEO PRESENTATION: EPISODE 12, DO ALIENS EXIST?

AUDIO PODCAST: EPISODE 12, DO ALIENS EXIST?

………………………………………….

TRANSCRIPT

EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL LIFE?

In the previous two episodes I examined the uniqueness of Earth. But that topic does raise the question of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe. In the course of my travels and my speaking engagements I am sometimes asked, Do I believe in extra-terrestrial life? Are there aliens out there?

My simple answer is I don’t know. And to be honest, the issue is largely irrelevant to a discussion of God’s existence. It’s certainly not impossible that God could have created life elsewhere in the universe. If he did it once, miraculously, here on Earth, it’s possible that he could have worked a similar miracle elsewhere as well.

The point is that if intelligent life DOES exist elsewhere in the universe, it could only have occurred via the miraculous intervention of an all-powerful God, because, as we’ve already seen, such things as abiogenesis and the development of intelligent consciousness are well beyond the ability of random chemical processes to bring them about. As well as that, the confluence of all the many habitability factors that are necessary to create a cosmic habitat where intelligent biological life could flourish are also beyond the ability of chance natural processes to bring such a world about. Intelligent life on another planet would simply be a SECOND miracle.

But having said that, if you were to push me for my opinion on the matter, I seriously doubt that intelligent extra-terrestrial life exists. And the reason for my doubt centres around FERMI’s PARADOX. Let me explain that to you.

FERMI’S PARADOX

Enrico Fermi was an astrophysicist in the 1950’s who won the Nobel prize for his pioneering work in the area of atomic fission. At one point while working at Los Alamos nuclear facility in New Mexico, he posed a simple question to his scientific colleagues:

“If aliens are supposed to be everywhere, where are they all?”

Later, Fermi became part of NASA’s SETI program: the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. He was one of a team of scientists, worldwide, which that searched the cosmos in vain for decades, looking for signs of extra-terrestrial life. His question to his colleagues was in response to the optimistic estimates of some of his fellow-scientists who had calculated that, given the huge size of the universe, the same natural processes that created us should have resulted in the creation of thousands or even millions of other intelligent lifeforms. According to them, the universe should be teeming with intelligent life.

And Fermi simply asked, “So where are they all?”.

INTELLIGENT LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS?

His question is even more poignant today, with our more detailed understanding of the cosmos. Consider again the bare statistics regarding our own Milky Way Galaxy:

 * There are 200 billion stars in our galaxy (and that’s a conservative estimate. Some scientists say there could be 500 billion. But let’s be conservative and stick with 200 billion). And based upon recent observations, some scientists estimate that up to 90% of stars could have at least one planet. That equates to 180 billion planets in the Milky Way Galaxy alone. (Actually, it’s a lot more than 180 billion, since many of these star systems have several planets – but I am being deliberately conservative in my estimates).

* From current observations, about 20% of those planetary systems may have a planet that is  orbiting in the habitable “Goldilocks zone” (close enough to its star for liquid water to exist but not so close that water would evaporate or boil away). So that is 36 billion planets in the habitable zone (180 billion divided by 5).

* Let’s be extremely conservative and say that only 1 in 1,000 of those planets would have developed even simple biological life (I’m using the arguments of evolutionists here, as they believe alien life could have developed naturally on such worlds). That would be 36 million planets that should have developed some form of biological life.

* Then let’s be equally conservative and say that only 1 in 1,000 of thoseplanets that developed any kind of life would then eventually develop intelligent life capable of achieving space travel (IE. At least as intelligent as humans). That amounts to 36,000 planets with intelligent life.

These calculations involve the most pessimistic assumptions. I have heard some optimistic scientists claim that intelligent life could be much more prevalent than this. One astrophysicist who was interviewed recently on ABC Radio, Sydney, stated that she thought there could be as many as 60 billion intelligent species inhabiting our Milky Way Galaxy alone! But sticking to the very conservative estimates that I have used here, our galaxy should contain at least 36,000 planets with intelligent life.

 * Furthermore, evolutionists say that our solar system is relatively young, only 4.5 billion years old, compared to the age of the universe which is calculated to be 14.5 billion years. Approximately 80% of stars in our Galaxy are supposedly much older than ours – by millions and billions of years according to evolutionary timescales.

Thus, according to this timescale, and based on my extremely conservative estimates, there should be at least 21,000 (that’s 80% of the estimated 36,000 planets with intelligent life) – 21,000 species of intelligent alien life in our Galaxy who are more advanced than us and have had millions more years to expand across the cosmos and fill up our Galaxy with their technological signatures. They should be everywhere! And their emission signatures have had millions of years to travel across the Galaxy and reach Earth.

THE SILENCE OF THE COSMOS

Yet our long-range sensors and sophisticated orbital telescopes continue to reveal that the visible and electronic emissions of our galaxy are completely devoid of any artificial transmissions or any other sign of intelligent life. Despite the fact that the SETI organization has been scanning the universe at a rate of millions of radio frequencies every second for over 60 years, they have found zero transmissions.

And that’s why Enrico Fermi, asked his simple yet profound question all those years ago; “So where are they all?” His question remains unanswered to this day by cosmologists who continue to search the cosmos in vain.

THE FAILURE OF THE SETI PROGRAM

At the time when Enrico Fermi expressed his paradoxical question, cosmologists could take comfort in the fact that they had only just begun to search the stars. The SETI program had only just commenced and they were confident that the ensuing passage of time, together with future advances in technology, would soon result in the discovery of the missing alien species.

But now, more than 60 years later, with telescopes and scanners that can probe to the far reaches of our galaxy and beyond, we can no longer hide behind the naïvely optimistic hope that Fermi’s colleagues clung to in the 1960s. The silence of the universe, in terms of the missing evidence of intelligent life, is deafening. This conundrum has left the atheistic scientific community scratching their collective head.

FAILED EXPLANATION

One recent attempt to provide an answer was proposed in an article posted on the space.com website in 2021, entitled, “Earth Bloomed Early: A Fermi Paradox Solution?” The writer, Dr Ian O’Neill, an astrophysicist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, stated that perhaps we are the first intelligent life to arise in the Galaxy because we are an “early bloomer”. He wrote:

“Perhaps the reason why we’re not hearing from advanced alien civilisations is because, in short, the universe hasn’t had the time to spawn many more habitable worlds.”

He then argues that more intelligent life will surely arise in the ensuing millions of years.

There are four brief points to make in response to this.

Firstly, at its simplest level, this is a pretty frank admission that scientists simply can’t find ANY signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life in our universe.

Secondly, the idea that our planet is an early bloomer contradicts the overwhelming evidence that our solar system is, in fact, a very YOUNG and recent solar system not an OLD one! We are relatively LATE to arrive on the cosmic scene. If anything, we are LATE BLOOMERS not EARLY ones!

Thirdly, following on from the previous point, most of the rest of the universe is said to be much older than our solar system and has had AMPLE time to create other intelligent life. According to the evolutionary timescale, our universe is about 14.5 billion years old and we see lots of examples of dead and dying stars that are much older than ours which have reached the end of their lifespan. How much MORE time does the universe need to throw up other intelligent life by chance natural processes?

Fourthly, proposing the possible evolution of other intelligent life at some vague point in the future is not science; it is mere wishful thinking. The argument that there isn’t any extraterrestrial life now but one day there might be is speculative fantasy rather than hard science. It’s a desperate attempt to ignore or downplay the uniqueness of Earth and the uniqueness of our own intelligent existence!

THE BEST EXPLANATION

If aliens DON’T exist, as the current scientific evidence suggests, then this actually has profound implications for our view of ourselves. It means that we are unique in all the cosmos. And this, in turn, is strong evidence that our existence is the product of intelligent design rather than natural processes.

Because if we arose from merely natural processes, we should expect to see habitable planets and intelligent life popping up all over the universe in places where the same favourable conditions prevail. If it happened once by chance on our planet, it should have occurred thousands or even millions of times elsewhere via the same natural processes.

But if it didn’t occur elsewhere and we are, indeed, unique then we must consider the overwhelming possibility that we are the product of intentional, intelligent design. If life has not evolved on any other world through natural processes, despite the billions of years it has had to do so, then the most logical conclusion is that something more than natural causes was at work in our creation; something unique and “super” natural. I believe it shows that we are the intentional handiwork of an all-powerful God, who placed us in this amazing universe so that we might know him as our Creator and sustainer.

“For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.” (Romans 1:20)

For more information, you can check out my books, available from my website, smartfaith.net, where you can also subscribe to my weekly blog.