No, this has nothing to do with summoning liberals for immediate DNA testing. A while back, Patrick featured a favorite topic of mine, a story about Alpha Centauri, the 3-star system that is but a mere 4.35 light years from earth. Two of the three stars are of the type astronomers consider to have potential for possessing earthlike planets in orbit. The fun part is, that in all of the Milky Way Galaxy, Alpha Centauri and Sol are three of the available stars in that relatively esoteric category, and they are so bloody close to one another.
To be hospitable to life as we know it, a planet must revolve around just the right star, have just the right sized moon, have outer gas giants to deflect most of the planet killing asteroids, and the hits just keep on coming.
Sol is 6 billion years old. Some of the stars in the Milky Way are 12 billion. Assuming evolution progressing on a timeline close to our own, that means intelligent life should have formed billions of years ago.
And, as Enrico Fermi asked, "So where are they, these other beings? A 4 billion year head start, and not a sign from them." Fermi's calculations concluded that with that much of a head start, a race equivalent in intelligence to our own should have colonized or at least visited the entire galaxy. And we talk about OUR radio and TV waves being sent into space, but where are theirs? Billions of years ahead, and nary a peep, let alone a drive-by.
Let's face it, kids. We're on our own.
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