The subject line basically says it. Do you think we're alone in the universe? Like many people, it's something I've always wondered about.
I absolutely think there is life outside of our planet. Its almost mathematically impossible for there not to be, given the nearly infinite size of the universe and the number of planets we've already found that have life-sustaining properties (there are several in just our own solar system).
Thats only life as *we* know it, and we don't know much about anything yet.
If extraterrestrials have been here, sometimes I'm not sure why some of them wouldn't want to make themselves widely known to us. But at the
same time, I can see why they might want to stay hidden from us.
Okay, this will be possibly long I hope some will read it! :)
The reason I don't buy into UFOs (besides most of them being obvious scams) is that any civilization that is *that* advanced will probably have little interest in us. Its arrogant of us to think of ourselves as intelligent or even significant in the scope of the entire Universe. We're the equivalent of "ants" in comparison to an advanced civilization. And we're not ready...
Our overall lack of empathy and cooperation amongst our own species puts us on a path of self-destruction, not one that leads us to advancements that we need to become inhabitants of our universe. We can't even treat women or people with different skin color as equals, and we fight amongst each other over fake boundaries and other imaginary bullshit, instead of working together to advance as a species...
We couldn't handle interaction with an advanced civilization; We can't even handle interaction with the black guy across the street, or a political opponent across the room. As a species we're weak minded.
Its more likely that we're going to either wipe ourselves out over political bullshit and nukes, or a giant meteor is going to hit us to wipe us out, or we just run out of resources. Why? Because instead of working together as a species to create advancements in technology to protect ourselves from that meteor, we're too busy fighting over whether or not women should be allowed to wear sleeveless dresses.
Anyway... The point is...
We have to prove we can evolve as a species and work together to MAKE ourselves a species of the universe. And until we do, contacting us would probably be considered immoral and even dangerous by a more advanced species...
Just like we don't want nukes in the hands of North Korea, aliens don't want their technology in the hands of a low class species who've chosen to divide themselves rather than embrace and conquer the unknown. Nor do they want to influence the "sink or swim" aspect of a species' survival.
We have to earn our place. We are at a point in our history where we either sink or swim; kill ourselves, be killed, or work as a species to survive as one. Right now we're just another "dime a dozen" species on a random planet that is most likely going to be wiped out either by themselves or their lack of innovation... We're unintelligent ants.
Only when we prove we can overcome challenges and evolve into a species that is capable of inhabiting the space of our own Galaxy will we be ready and worthy of contact from a more advanced civilization. Until then we're off their radar.
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