Thread by @astro_jaz, What if We’re Not Alone (in the Universe)? (1) To begin, I’d [...]

What if We’re Not Alone (in the Universe)?
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To begin, I’d just like to say be sure to check out my blog post on this topic! It’s WAY more detailed and has the sources that I used to write the thread!

https://jaz21693.wixsite.com/mysite/post/what-if-we-re-not-alone-in-the-universe

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What if We're Not Alone (in the Universe)?

For many years, humankind has looked up at the night sky and asked one question: Are we alone in the universe? The existence of extraterrestrial life has been doubted by many, but with the sheer...

https://jaz21693.wixsite.com/mysite/post/what-if-we-re-not-alone-in-the-universe

For many years, humankind has looked up at the night sky and asked one question: Are we alone in the universe?
The existence of extraterrestrial life has been doubted by many, but with the sheer number of planets and stars and the universe, there’s bound to be another...
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“Earth” somewhere.
But even with the question of being alone in the universe, many more subsequent questions arise.
Are there other intelligent civilizations out there? What do they look like? Are there civilizations more advanced than Earth? How long have they been around?
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How did life begin and evolve on our own planet? Scientists are still unsure about the true origins of life on Earth, but are certain that life must have water in order to survive.
Earth was able to develop liquid water on its surface because it is the correct distance...
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from the Sun in order for water to exist in a liquid form.
As mentioned earlier, the amount of planets and stars alone means that there has to be another planet with liquid water on its surface, right?
Well, astronomers have already found exoplanets with water on them!
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One highly potential candidate for life is exoplanet K2-18 b. Water was discovered in its atmosphere and the planet orbits in the habitable zone of its star!
Although water was found, scientists were unsure about the amount of it, saying it could range from a hundredth of...
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a percent up to half of the planet’s atmosphere (Scientific American). Such an observation will require the use of more advanced telescopes which are currently under development.
However, one of the biggest takeaways from this discovery is that water exists on other planets.
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Since we’ve discussed a crucial factor that makes planets habitable, let’s stop and think for a second about the possibility of us finding life elsewhere in the universe. If we were to find it sometime in the near future, how would humanity react?
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There has actually been research done on this topic! Michael Varnum, an assistant professor of psychology at Arizona State University conducted a study analyzing the language in past newspaper articles about potential alien discoveries. This study found that the articles...
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used more positive language than negative language when covering these discoveries.
In another study, the team asked about 500 participants to write their own (and humanity’s) hypothetical reactions to the discovery of microbial extraterrestrial life. The results were...
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significantly more positive than negative, both when stating their own reactions and humanity’s reactions to such a discovery.
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Currently, it is unclear whether or not advanced intelligent civilizations are out there, since we haven’t been able to come into contact with them, but what if we did?
What implications would this have for humanity?
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Scientific literature and science fiction as a whole have put forth various scenarios in which humanity could come into contact with an alien civilization (Wikipedia).
In one instance, the contact could be physical, where humanity is visited by an advanced alien...
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civilization (as shown in sci-fi movies). Another instance could be through radio signals, as scientists have currently been trying to accomplish, but there could be consequences with this and the length of time it would take for signals to reach the other civilization.
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Another fundamental question to ask is: what kinds of civilizations could humanity possibly come into contact with?
Well, in this scenario, there are really only two possible answers: friendly civilizations or hostile civilizations.
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Many writers have had their speculations about what a friendly civilization might be able to do for humanity such as teach us the secrets of the universe, or show us some highly advanced technology that we have not yet developed.
Futurist Allen Tough holds the view that...
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an advanced extraterrestrial civilization may look back on its own hostile past filled with war and destruction and want to help humanity, rather than destroying it.
They could do so by staying away from us, only to help when danger may arrive. Another way would be through...(18)

closely involving themselves in humanity’s affairs, in order to protect against danger.
“However, even if such a technologically advanced civilization were to help humanity, humans could suffer from a loss of identity and confidence due to the technological prowess of the...
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extraterrestrial civilization” (Wikipedia). In order to prevent this, the aliens could limit their contact with us or even avoid all contact with humanity to let us develop at our own pace.
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Another possibility for humanity would be if we were to come into contact with a hostile civilization. This is akin to what is shown in sci-fi movies, with aliens invading Earth and taking humanity as their slaves.
“Scientists have the view that an extraterrestrial...”
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civilization with sufficient power to reach Earth would be able to destroy human civilization with minimal effort” (Wikipedia).
It is speculated that only a small number of advanced civilizations in the universe would be hostile, but their hostility would range.
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There are many reasons why a civilization would become hostile, perhaps the lack of resources, or the need to expand and become bigger, which would require traveling the cosmos and finding places to do so.
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Although none of these things have happened at this moment, we can still look forward to the future discoveries made by Astrobiologists that will get us close to finding life beyond Earth.
As technology progresses, we will make better discoveries, and answer our questions.
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That’s the end of the thread! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
This topic is very fascinating to me and it’s why I love astrobiology so much.
Be sure to check out the blog post

Will we come into contact with aliens?

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