The Irrationality of Believing Aliens are like us
“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” -Arthur C. Clarke
For ages human civilization has gazed at the sky in wonder if we are alone. The search for life on other planets continues without much success. Recently scientists have found possibly “habitable” planets which raises the question to many if these planets could contain life which causes need for more research. This is where my problem is; why would other life forms abide by the same needs as life on earth?
Allow me to elaborate, every time I see an article about a planet that is similar to earth people infer that it may possess life. The way I see it is that human needs could be utterly unnecessary to life on other planets. Why limit the possibilities of life elsewhere to the possibilities of the life we know.
Scientists overlook planets that unique creatures could inhabit to search for a planet that humans could possibly inhabit. We may not be able to find life because where other organisms may be is being overlooked. The chances seem slimmer to discover life like our own than life that runs completely different. Other life may not even need oxygen, sea sponges require extremely little oxygen and we are oblivious to 95% of the ocean; if out of 5% of earths aquatic life one creature requires almost no oxygen, proving some life may not thrive on oxygen at all, or any atmospheric gas animals need. Wood frogs in Alaska could stay frozen for about seven months, other life could exist outside of the Goldilocks zone. Although the conditions wood frogs are under are dramatically more mild than other planets have, other creature could have evolved to withstand extremities unlike anything on earth. The anatomy of extra terrestrials could be entirely different than earth life, their structures could have different building blocks for life.
There may be no life like what’s on earth, which is why scientists shouldn’t search for life like what we know.
