Now AI has been brought in to help data processing. According to the BBC there are potentially 10-50 billion places where intelligent life could exist just in this galaxy alone.
There are so many variables like where do you look in the electromagnetic spectrum. Indeed, is this the best place to look?
If we found signs of intelligent life, it could have profound effects on this small blue dot.
Continuously, I get amazed by the number of planets in the universe. One estimate puts the number of planets as 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, which is totally mind blowing.
At the same time SETI has been searching the universe since the 1960s and have found not a single sign of intelligent life. To me, I find this odd. In the early days, equipment was not as sophisticated as today. However, by now, I would have expected to find something.
My only conclusion is that our view of the universe must be flawed or that we are somehow missing something important.
To me, all our religious beliefs are too "Earth centred".
I look at the heavens and feel awe.
See https://www.seti.org/ .
What seems probable, but not certain, is that "out there" somewhere intelligent life does exist. Even with pessimistic estimates there are 10s of intelligent civilisations in our galaxy. There are trillions of galaxies in the observable universe, so the probability of intelligent life existing somewhere goes up. They may be so far away that we cannot interact with them, but with time we may detect some of them.
All this makes me puzzled. All religions seem too small and too human-centric. Life is a total mystery.
This is a subject I have discussed before. Some estimates put the number of planets in the visible universe as capable of having intelligent life as as high as 1400000000000000. Others say intelligent life is incredibly rare.
As far as I know, we have been looking with SETI since the mid 1960s and have, so far, found zero evidence. Maybe we are looking in the wrong way? As time goes by, we have more sophisticated ways of looking with ever greater sensitivity. Mind you we only discovered electro-magnetic radiation a few hundred years ago. Maybe many societies have discovered something better?
One thing is certain: should we find any signs of intelligent life "out there", it could have profound effects on human life.
As far as I know, we have been searching the universe for almost 50 years via SETI (search for intelligent life) without success. Much of the decoding is done by volunteers using spare processing power on their PCs.
Based on the estimates of planets, I find this odd. As time goes by the means of looking have improved. By now, I would have expected to get some indications.
Maybe, we are looking in the wrong way? Maybe intelligent life self destructs? Maybe we really are alone? Maybe our whole understanding of the universe is wrong?
If ever we did find intelligent life elsewhere, it could have profound implications for humans.
According to Google there are 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 planets in the visible universe. This is a huge huge number.
Only some of these planets may have intelligent life, but even if this is just a tiny fraction of the number of planets, this is still a huge number.
I find it mind blowing that I am here at all. One of the greatest puzzles is human consciousness. On Earth we have about 8000,000,000 people. In such a vast universe, you would think kindness and love would have no meaning, yet nearly every human knows this is not the case.
Although we have being trying for about 50 years via project SETI, we have still not found any signs of interstellar intelligent life as far as I am aware.
