Squealing Drake

I don’t especially like extra-terrestrials: let me start here.

I believe they are way over-rated and it’s quite surprising seeing so many people, which usually dislike even a mere contact with their foreigner neighbors, saying so many great things about them. Hollywood certainly didn’t help improve my general impressions by usually depicting aliens as ugly humans. And, by the way, since when we do like ugly people?
Glad if I missed a meeting in which it has been collectively decided that we won’t discriminate against these anymore, but I don’t think that’s the case: the latest Elle issue confirms my suspicions.

Proudly offbeat, these intergalactic hipsters always seem to win: UK leaves the EU but would join the AU in a snap.

640px-Techno_alien,_Techno_parade_2011

However, what really bothers me about ET’s is the lack of evidence supporting their existence: being unable to see them somehow damages their credibility. But, most importantly, might damage our credibility. I would LOVE to find evidence of intelligent alien life because I’m somehow optimistic by nature and the idea of the Great Filter ‘in the future’ being right clashes with my hippie philosophies.

A lot.

Problem is, I’m also rational and there must be an answer to the -what else- Fermi Paradox. Of course, I might miss a billion of factors which I may never even be able to grasp but I believe we can all agree that we built most of the means for our own destruction before we figured out a way to live together. And of course anyone can point out to the violence in nature and in our history everywhere. While recent findings about the number of possible habitable exoplanets begin to shed some light on our dark ignorance on the subject and the Drake Equation seems weirder than ever.

Two minutes to midnight, baby.

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I admit I don’t have any good argument against the ‘self-destruction’ theory besides the fact that it feels a bit like fate… But  it also feels odd, unpleasant and uncomfortable, which are all typical symptoms of scientifically true facts: I’m sure the biggest fans of the theory hate it as well. It’s like recognizing your drunk uncle exists: you wouldn’t deny his existence but wouldn’t really want to be bragging about it either.

Finding aliens would disprove the whole thing and so would a ban on weapons and solutions to global climate change. So let’s keep looking up for extra-terrestrials of course, but let’s as well remember we might want to look closer: in each other’s eyes.

flake_equation

 

Photo credits:

ESO, xkcd, tangi bertin

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