We live in a prodigious universe but are there other intelligent life forms except for us?
It is a thought that may ponder many minds when they decide to sit back and look up at the night sky. We on this Earth are just one little blip on this vast map called the universe. Surely out in the billions of galaxies, solar systems and planets there must be another planet that sustains life. Well, I think there are planets out there that support microbial's, but I'm not sure there are ones that facilitate intelligent life.
Alien Makeup
Well if we grasp the idea that there are some forms of intelligent life out there, their structure and anatomy would most likely be nothing like a human. All life on Earth is DNA based because the polymers and protein evolved in such a way that it gave rise to self-replicating molecules based on carbon.
They may be nitrogen based or maybe another element that we have not yet discovered or is not discoverable here on this Earth. Our sister planet Venus is a world not for the faint hearted. On its surface, you'd have to endure high temperatures, intense air pressures and try to survive in the sulfuric acid-laced atmosphere. It may not be capable of a life form like ours, but others may find sulfuric acid rain as normal as how our rain is.
Their Intellect Compared To Ours
If they discovered us, we might be dwarfed by their intellect. We share 99% identical DNA to chimps, but they cannot do anything we can do. They may be able to do some sign language, but a toddler could do the same. That 1% difference in DNA is what makes us ourselves intellectually superior to any other organism on our Earth. Maybe us as human are like toddlers of aliens. We are nothing compared to them.
As Arthur C. Clarke said in a statement once.
"Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe, or we are not. Both are equally terrifying."
Stephen Hawkings' Into the Universe (Aliens) covers up most of this question.
In short, he says that one of the most dangerous things humans have ever done was to send out messages in space.
If there is life out there, which is entirely possible, we may not want to meet it as it may end up as Columbus re-discovering America.
But then again our galaxy, the Milkyway, is placed in quite an isolated area of the observable Universe, so the chances of meeting extraterrestrial life forms are quite slim.
Though there is no doubt that one day; homo sapiens will meet and have contact with other life, as we as a species are meant to
leave Earth to avoid our extinction.
We have discovered even less than 4% - we barely know 1% of our solar system. It's cool that we got ways to map the universe, but so far we have only been able to do that due to a particular light spectrum.
Interstellar travel is something that should be focused on instead if you're asking me. If anything our top priority is to learn more about our own Earth.
We still got a lot of the oceans on Earth that should be explored, as they might hold the key to a mineral which may make it possible to increase the efficiency in power consumptions when it comes to space exploration!
