By the end of this century, says astrophysicist Martin Rees, we must have an answer to the question of whether we live in a multiverse or not, and how different the laws of physics are in the universes that make it up. The answer to this question, according to Rees, will determine "how we should interpret the 'bio-friendly' universe in which we live (and which we share with aliens with whom we may one day come into contact)." The same fundamental laws apply to the entire area that we can explore with telescopes.
If this were not the case - if the atoms behaved "anarchist" - we would not have made progress in understanding the observable universe. But the observed area, Rees says, may not only be of a physical nature; some cosmologists believe that “our” Big Bang was not the only one - and that physical reality is large enough to encompass the entire “multiverse”.
What will the aliens look like?
Even conservative astronomers, Rees concludes, “are confident that the amount of space-time within the range of our telescopes - what astronomers usually call the 'universe' - is only a tiny fraction of the consequences of the Big Bang. We assume that beyond this horizon if there are many unobservable galaxies, each of which (together with intelligent life in it) develops like ours.
Charles Cockell, an astrobiologist at the University of Edinburgh, suggests that life on Earth could be a template for life in the universe, comparing it to the standard model of constants or equations of life.
Regardless of how different the conditions on distant planets are, all of them, presumably, will have the same laws of physics - from quantum mechanics to thermodynamics and gravity. And life, according to Cockell, is just living matter, "capable of reproducing and evolving." If this biology is to be found throughout the universe, we will find it not only remarkably familiar externally, but internally, deep in carbon-based cellular engineering.
There are equations and rules that are not limited to the living systems that underlie the functioning of life. These equations, as far as we can tell, are the same throughout the universe. To understand what life might look like elsewhere, we only need to study in detail how it works here.
Promotional video:
The repetition of evolution, DNA, RNA, ATP and the Krebs cycle - the fundamental foundations of biology - is likely to happen again, here or in distant worlds, according to George Johnson of the New Yorrk Times. The solitary cells will then reunite in search of the benefits of metazoid life, until something like the familiar earthly menagerie emerges.
The laws of biology repeat physical laws in that they manifest themselves everywhere - gravity, for example, exists everywhere, not only in our solar system. Constraints are also ubiquitous - organic molecules, on Earth or elsewhere, still decay at high temperatures and deactivate at low temperatures. Certain ingredients are, in most cases, indispensable for life - carbon is the optimal element for creating growing life, and water is the ideal solvent for moving it.
We are accustomed to a life that breathes oxygen and exists under a blue sky. Although there are many worlds in nature similar to ours, conditions throughout the universe will be very different. And as long as our equations work, life will appear in an infinite number of variations - different each time - and yet similar, since its development will depend on the equations underlying the physical universe.
On land, most animals received limbs for movement; in the sky, be it pterodactyls or pigeons, "the laws of aerodynamics are also observed." Even butterflies, while differing in patterns and colors, also have wings, following an equation. If the wing was too small, the butterfly could not take off. The details will be endless, but physics will limit the shape.
Atoms combine to create even more complex structures that are designed to capture energy from the environment and create copies of themselves to continue this process. This formula of life on our planet has worked from the very beginning. Why won't it work elsewhere?
Ilya Khel