Perhaps one of the most risky but rewarding activities in modern science is leading a very small group of scientists looking for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations (SETI). As they try to answer a purely hypothetical question, they certainly have critics of their own who ask if their work is worth even a modest investment.
But the answer to the question "are we alone?" will have a profound cultural and theological impact on our perception of our own place in the universe.
The group of experts working on this issue, in their positions were on opposite ends of the universe at a recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington.
Astronomer Seth Shostak from SETI notes that the number of radio and optical research has been growing rapidly, and in about 20 years, predicts contact with extraterrestrial civilizations. More research has been done by SETI in two years than in the previous 50 years.
Howard Smith of the Harvard Smithsonian Center is less optimistic. He repeated his thesis, which two weeks ago was picked up and replicated by all British tabloids: "There is nothing there!" He believes that the version of the existence of intelligent life is implausible, in an extreme case, the likelihood that it will be possible to detect something is very small.
The disadvantage of Smith's theory is that it essentially resembles the ideas of the pre-Copernican era. His conclusions are close to the opinion that humanity is the only creation of God. “We may be alone in the universe, so we have to solve our own problems,” says Smith.
Research carried out over the past 400 years has confirmed the Copernican principle: other systems can exist in the Universe with conditions similar to those on Earth. For example, the Kepler Space Telescope has discovered about 1,200 planets orbiting their stars.
While Smith rejects information about possible habitable exoplanets, Shostak extrapolated the data obtained by the Kepler telescope, and concluded that there could be at least 10 billion trillion Earth-like planets in the universe. Shostak said: "It's easier to believe in a miracle than in the absence of extraterrestrial civilization."
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Smith contradicts the Fermi paradox (a paradox proposed by physicist Enrico Fermi, who questioned the possibility of detecting extraterrestrial civilizations - approx. Mixednews) If aliens were smart enough to move at a speed greater than the speed of light, they would have visited us long ago. Therefore, if they are, then they are not so smart. And they could not fly in and conquer us, although this fact has its own statistical probability for the Universe, which is overflowing with countless worlds. There must be at least one Darth Vader somewhere.
Owen Gingrich, a renowned historian at the Astrophysical Center at Harvard, interrupted the debate by simply saying, "We cannot draw conclusions simply by taking the example of Earth - one known intelligent civilization."
However, this dispute leaves hope for meeting unearthly creatures. There is a 50-50 chance that SETI will inform us that "we are not alone" before the powerful space observatories needed to discover another Earth are built. And then only if the aliens will use a radio signal or optical data transmission methods to transmit information.
Shostak's hopes are darkened by his own assumption that the first signal will be unreadable, since to receive it, we need more advanced equipment. Even if it does, decoding the signal will be difficult for many generations to come.
But we will already know that we are not alone in the Universe. This fact will overturn our understanding of the world, like the theory of Copernicus or Darwin.
AAAS members are already thinking about what impact the discovery of extraterrestrial civilizations will have on world religions. Surveys have shown that only 10 percent of believers believe that such news will change their understanding of God.
Islamic teachings are controversial on this issue, says Nidkhel Gessum of the American University in Sharjah, UAE. According to the Qur'an, Allah is omnipotent and is the "Lord of all worlds" and therefore it is implied that somewhere else there are worlds like ours. But at the same time, the Koran also describes an ultra-anthropic view of the Universe: people are obliged to serve and worship Allah, therefore he placed all of humanity together with the Earth right in the center of his creation.
The existence of aliens is even more difficult to explain in terms of the Christian religion. The book of Genesis describes the expulsion from paradise: because of the original sin of Adam and Eve, all mankind was cursed (the same idea can be traced in Catholicism). Sentient beings 10,000 light-years away from Earth would hardly approve of this idea.
It is difficult to imagine an alien trying to believe that all living things were doomed to death and a final judgment only because a small-headed, naked, two-legged creature once bit a ball consisting of carbohydrates, sugar and water. The idea of Christianity is to atone for sin through the sacrifice of his own son to God. Since the aliens were not descended from Adam and Eve, did they have to be saved separately? Or did they pass the apple test successfully?
According to Smith, in Judaism, the idea of an omnipotent creator does not contradict the theory of the existence of life outside the Earth.
Jennifer Weissman of the Space Flight Center. Goddard is very positive. She believes that the discovery of extraterrestrial civilizations will only emphasize the greatness of God. And it would also allow us to look more broadly at the problem of the universe and, perhaps, it combined religious and non-religious ideas.
Probably, our first question to the aliens will be: "Do you believe in God?"