WHY are we SO obsessed with aliens?

I will start by addressing why I, personally, think that the search for life on other worlds, particularly intelligent life, has become so popular among the public. I believe this can be split into three separate reasonings: as an escape, as a result of boredom, and due to human’s inherent interest in the unknown. Then, I will explain what this attempt to find such life on other worlds tells us about humanity. 

The first reasoning behind why we are searching for intelligent life on other planets and elsewhere in the universe in order to find an escape plan. I think this idea is exceptionally particular to The United States. If we can find a planet that can sustain life, then we won’t have to worry about sustaining our own planet and can make arrangements to colonize an entire new planet. At this point, with ecological destruction, climate change, and animal extinction on the rise it would simply be easier to “start over” than to go back and attempt to fix our irreversible mistakes. If we happen to find a planet that does support life we will surely use it to our advantage. We will use it to extract resources or even simply to run away from the problems we have created here on Earth. Deep down most of us know that we could live on that planet after the Earth finally caves in on itself. The findings of life on other planets can help us escape in other ways, maybe not physically, but the adoption of new technological ideas and agendas can help us learn how to fix the problems we have created here on earth and we can learn how to evolve and better our world. Overall, finding new life on other planets that has progressed beyond our level or to our current level will give us hope for a continued future and generally knowing we are not alone will give a lot of hope for mankind, as stated by Paul Davies in “The Eerie Silence.”

The popularity of the search for intelligent life stems from boredom, mainly in the Western world. We have countless hours of free-time on our hands due to technological advances, so that we have nothing better to do than ponder about new lifeforms elsewhere, whether that be at the bottom of the ocean or out in distance galaxies. We have the time and money to spend searching for extraterrestrial lifeforms, while other countries in the Global South don’t have that luxury. With more free time to think we can hypothesis and think philosophically about these arbitrary things and even come up with conspiracy theories around them. There have always been myths and stories surrounding aliens, since 1765, according to Michaud in “Contact with Alien Civilizations.” Just like any form of science or even philosophy, humans are always using their time to classify things and searching for alien life is just another way to spend our time figuring out our biological universe while within popular culture. As Michaud mentions these types of theories and stories broaden our horizons, they force us to think of our place in the universe and ponder if the universe is made up of good or evil. 

The third reason I believe the search for aliens is so popular is due to humans inherit interest in the unknown. We as humans are never satisfied with what we currently know or where we’re at scientifically. We must know our place in the universe so that we can rank and classify ourselves in comparison to other civilizations. It doesn’t truly matter the answer, just that the question does get answered on whether we are alone in the universe. There’s countless theories that are all waiting to be answered. As Stephen Dick mentioned in “Life on Other Worlds”, scientists found that life was discovered to be flourishing in extreme environments here on earth, so the idea arose that if life can survive extremes why couldn’t it thrive in a variety of planetary environments. Many scientists hold this question and are looking for the answer, some want proof that their theory is correct, but others just want it to be answered in whatever way. The average person is interested in finding aliens because they really want to know if there’s something bigger that they can actually see and try to understand. It’s like when people want to understand if there is something powerful above them, like God, but they become discouraged due to a lack physical evidence. So, if we found physical evidence, like of aliens, it can ease some of these confusions. While scientist may be interested on a more logistical level and the average citizen on a more philosophical level, collectively we want our questions to be answered and our knowledge to grow. 

What this search for extraterrestrial life tells us about humanity is that we are afraid to be alone. It is a frightening thought to think that we are all alone in the universe and a bit naïve to think we are the only ones here, especially when we are just a small spec of dust within the vast scope of the universe. We are constantly attempting to find others out there. In “Contact with Alien Civilizations”, Michael Michaud talks about how the culture of UFO witnesses are genuine and reflect our deep-seated human desires and anxieties of a quasi-spiritual nature. Michaud also mentions that since ancient times humans have always held supernatural beliefs and incorporated it into our folk memories of our culture. One anxiety that may be held underneath our search for extraterrestrial life is held in the church. Religious peoples may want to know about life elsewhere so that in they can disprove that there is more out there and to continue to believe that we are special. According to Davies, it would create problems for Abrahamic religions if alien life was found. Davies also mentions that SETI is in danger of becoming a latter-day religion, demonstrating that humanity is always looking up for answers and needs a greater invisible life source to ponder over. 

Bibliography

Davies, P. C. W. The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence. Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.

Dick, Steven J. Life on Other Worlds: the 20th-Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate. Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Michaud, Michael. Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials. Springer, 2010.