Essay: Is there Extraterrestrial Life?

In this essay, Aditya Kumar Panda contemplates extraterrestrial life and analyses various theories shared about them over years.

Editor’s Pick of the Week

(As the Editor’s Pick, this piece will be available for free reading this week)

As children, we often become curious about what lies in the sky and what exists in the vast space beyond Earth. Our planet is approximately 4.6 billion years old (Refferty 2024), while the universe itself is roughly 13.8 billion years old (Cooper 2023). In contrast, Homo sapiens have existed for only about 200,000 years. So much time has passed, yet we do not know how much lies ahead. Despite an ongoing search for extraterrestrial life, nothing has been confirmed.

Historically, folk beliefs have intertwined with storytelling; for instance, many cultures suggest that when a person dies, they become a star. Children are often told that their ancestors are the twinkling lights in the night sky. Such curiosity gave birth to the idea of life beyond our world. The very appearance of the universe compels us to ask a profound question that scientists have pondered for centuries without a definitive answer: does life exist beyond Earth?

Every form of narrative, whether literary or mythological, contains stories of beings from other worlds. We have long imagined “Heaven” or Swarga as a place in the sky inhabited by immortal beings more powerful than ourselves. Major figures in the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and other scriptures often have relationships with heavenly bodies or outer realms. These stories have allowed us to visit other worlds through our imagination. Our collective mind has already surveyed the cosmos, prescribing an imaginative notion of superhuman or divine beings living there. This mental blueprint has fueled our belief in extraterrestrial life. Are we alone in the cosmos, or do we have neighbors? Do aliens exist? Are they visiting Earth? Are they humanoid, or are they creatures unlike anything found on our planet? These perplexing questions have long unsettled scientists and astronomers, persisting from antiquity to the present day.

The shift toward Copernican heliocentrism proved that Earth is not the center of the universe, but rather a planet rotating around the Sun. This realization indirectly compels us to consider the possibility of other worlds. Since the Hubble Telescope revealed an estimated 100 billion galaxies (Space.com), it seems unlikely that Earth is the only planet where life has evolved. Stephen Hawking noted that, to his mathematical brain, the numbers alone make the existence of aliens perfectly rational (Fox News).

Writers, philosophers, and religious thinkers have speculated on “alien life” since ancient times; today, science has joined the exploration. Historically, two major philosophical views emerged: the Atomist view, which suggests the cosmos is made of earth, water, fire, and air; and the Aristotelian view, which adds “aether” to the mix. Our attitudes have shifted significantly over time. We moved from a geocentric (Earth-centered) model to a heliocentric (Sun-centered) one. Furthermore, while humans tend to view the cosmos through a human-centric lens, Darwin’s On the Origin of Species introduced natural selection as the universal evolutionary force. This suggests that humans are not an exception in the cosmos. Pre-Darwinian speculation often imagined extraterrestrials as human-like, whereas post-Darwinian concepts—visible in the development of science fiction—became much more diverse.

The fact that the entire cosmos is composed of the same fundamental elements—and the possibility of a multiverse—suggests that life may exist elsewhere. It is no longer unimaginable to find another habitable planet. Since the discovery of the first exoplanet in 1990, more than 5,000 have been confirmed out of the billions in our galaxy alone (NASA). This confirms the possibility of Earth-like planets in other galaxies, potentially validating long-held speculations about alien life.

If we are the product of evolutionary forces, then other possibilities must exist within the cosmos. Technologies like mobile phones, once non-existent, are now a reality, proving that the cosmos holds immense potential that we are only beginning to discover. What was once a mere idea often becomes scientific fact. However, some concepts remain speculative, such as the idea of God. Every generation has contemplated a higher power, yet no one has proven its existence. Does this mean we are not wired to perceive God, or that such an entity exists beyond our cognition?

Neuroscience suggests that our thoughts are the result of neurons firing and creating electrical impulses (Discover Magazine). Our perceptions and speech are limited by our biological framework; it is impossible to go beyond our physical selves. Consequently, our life and thoughts may be seen as a “play of neurons.” Within this neurological system, we cannot see “beyond,” and if we were to step outside of it, we might lose the ability to cognize anything at all.

Extraterrestrial life may simply be something we have not yet discovered, or perhaps we lack the advanced intelligence and systems required to unearth the unknown. The question of “who is in the sky” remains one of our greatest mysteries. This speculative journey has given birth to science fiction (Sci-Fi), a genre where extraterrestrial life, space exploration, time travel, and parallel universes allow us to explore the unknown.

References

Cooper, Keith. “How Old Is the Universe?” Space.com. August 28, 2023. https://www.space.com/24054-how-old-is-the-universe.html.
Crowe, Michael. Extraterrestrial Life Debate, Antiquity to 1915: A Source Book. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2008.
Howell, Elizabeth, and Alisa Harvey. “How Many Galaxies Are There?” Space.com. February 1, 2022. https://www.space.com/25303-how-many-galaxies-are-in-the-universe.html.
NASA. “How Many Exoplanets Are There?” Accessed [Insert Date You Viewed Site]. https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanets/how-many-exoplanets-are-there/.
Rafferty, John P. “How Old Is Earth?” Encyclopedia Britannica. April 1, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/topic/How-Old-Is-Earth.
Robinson, Jennifer. “How Does the Brain Think?” Discover Magazine. February 1, 2024. https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/how-does-the-brain-think.
Sunday Times. “Don’t Talk to Aliens, Warns Stephen Hawking.” Fox News. July 20, 2015. https://www.foxnews.com/science/dont-talk-to-aliens-warns-stephen-hawking.