You're probably familiar with Stephen Hawking. If not, quit watching so much ESPN (men!) or Glee (women!). He's the most influential scientist in the world and an amazing individual. He's a guy often seen on the more nerdy TV shows; a quadriplegic whose motor neuron disease forces him to use his unique, recognizable "computer voice" that he creates by slight finger movements.
Hawking has recently stated that, in all probability, there is life outside of earth, including advanced life forms. According to this TimesOnline article, "Hawking’s logic on aliens is, for him, unusually simple. The universe, he points out, has 100 billion galaxies, each containing hundreds of millions of stars. In such a big place, Earth is unlikely to be the only planet where life has evolved." Hawking says, "To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational. . . The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like."
Unlike most people who believe in advanced aliens, he is leery of humans trying to contact them. Doing so might lead to a situation that would not necessarily be a "win-win"--much in the way that Columbus's discovery of the New World didn't exactly work out well for Native Americans. (Or, I would add, it might end up like the TV show V or a gazillion [mostly "B"] movies since the 1950s!)Though he might not use the term, Hawking's thinking is influenced by The Copernican Principle. This principle is basically an assumption that, since Earth sits in such an inconspicuous place in such a vast universe, we should not think that our planet or species have any real significance in the grand scheme of things. The principle also, of course, is grounded in strong skepticism of the existence of a Creator or Intelligence behind the universe. If God does or ever did exist, he's irrelevant to proper scientific methodology. This thinking was summed up decades ago by Hawking's predecessor as science's spokesman to us idiots, Carl Sagan. "The cosmos is all there is, all there was, and all there ever will be." Therefore, said Sagan, the earth is nothing more than a "mote of dust." Wow! As we used to say back in my teenage days, That's a real buzz-kill, man! (But before you jump off the bridge, be aware that The Copernican Principle has been keenly answered by some brave renegade scientists who actually think we have good reason to hop out of bed, sing a song, and dance into our sneakers every day after all! Read here.)
Hawking's probabilistic conclusion that life must exist elsewhere in the universe seems typical for someone who is a "scientific naturalist." He, like most scientists, will only think of nature in terms of measurable physics, probabilities, mathematics, etc. If there were to be any "mind" behind the mere physical workings of nature, the "mind" must be conceptually divorced from truly scientific conclusions or predictions.
What a pity. This forces one to look at the cosmos with one's head tilted completely the wrong way. What if the cosmos is something more than a rapidly expanding system of particles and chance, carrying on mindlessly since the big bang? What if it is actually an immeasurable, continually unfolding canvass whose ultimate purpose is to "show off" the glory and power of its Creator? And what if the energy involved in the creation of a supernova light years away actually does operate with us mere earthlings in mind -- with implications in physics that pertain to our actual existence?
Contrary to what many scientists have assumed, thinking of the universe in this better way is not a science-stopper. It actually magnifies our passion for measurable, immeasurable, and sometimes purely aesthetic beholdings of creation. Beyond just dragging ourselves out of bed, this viewpoint gives scientific discovery unlimited purpose and potential.
When we take in more and more knowledge of nature as a quest to discover God's handiwork, we draw (usually still limited) conclusions that simply overwhelm our souls and take our breath away--from glory to glory. Should Stephen Hawking ever begin to use his genius for this kind of approach, there will arise questions even more profound than whether life could exist elsewhere--be it simple or complex. Even the questions of ET existence would then become rudimentary distractions. Imagine that!
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FYI: You might want to catch Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking, now airing on the Discovery Channel.
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