I am a 17-year-old highschool student from Ottawa, Canada. At my school, I am a member of the OCESS (Ottawa-Careleton Educational Space Simulation), which is a student-run organization that simulates a space mission every year and teaches huge numbers of elementary school children about space and science. I absolutely adore science, and enjoy reading, playing on my computer and watching old sci-fi. |
In a universe as immense as our own, it seems highly unlikely that intelligent life might not evolve on another planet. Earth is a small unimportant planet in an obscure corner of our galaxy. How could we possibly be special? As we speak, scientific breakthroughs are being made regarding the detection of extrasolar planets. Perhaps one day we will find one that supports life, maybe even an entire civilization.
I believe that it is impossible to tell what the benefits or dangers of such a discovery might be. Because they would have evolved on an entirely different world, extraterrestrials are sure to be different from everything we know. Some may help us and some may harm us, but how can we predict what will happen? We may be able to take comfort in the fact that we have not yet been invaded by an alien civilization, but perhaps we have simply not been found yet. Then again, if we have been found, it is quite possible that extraterrestrials view science like many of us do, prefering to quietly research without causing disturbances.
In any case, I admire SETI for trying to find any communicating civilizations that may exist. I am proud to run SETI@Home on my computer because I feel that I am making a difference. Even if my computer cannot process the data very quickly, I am still helping SETI achieve its goal. |