- #1
nannoh
- 202
- 0
Are humans unique to the universe? This is a question being asked by SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
http://www.seti.org/site/apps/nl/content2.aspc=ktJ2J9MMIsE&b=194993&ct=221048
It has been argued that the human organism is a unique product of the universe. The conditions and criteria for the emergence of a human population are so rare and seemingly unrepeatable in the universe that humans are thought by some to be a one time affair.
Could there be approximations that come close to a human organism elsewhere in the universe? What would be some of the predominant features of such an organism?
Are we alone? Are humans unique in the universe, or is our existence the natural outcome of universal processes that produced complex life on Earth and elsewhere? As we observe the universe beyond Earth, we find that we are fundamentally a part of it. Carl Sagan eloquently describes our intimate relationship with this larger universe:
The fate of individual human beings may not now be connected in a deep way with the rest of the universe, but the matter out of which each of us is made is intimately tied to the processes that occurred immense intervals of time and enormous distances in space away from us. Our Sun is a second- or third-generation star. All of the rocky and metallic materials we stand on, the iron in our blood, the calcium in our teeth, the carbon in our genes were produced billions of years ago in the interiors of a red giant star. We are made of star-stuff. -- The Cosmic Connection, 1973, pp. 189-90
http://www.seti.org/site/apps/nl/content2.aspc=ktJ2J9MMIsE&b=194993&ct=221048
It has been argued that the human organism is a unique product of the universe. The conditions and criteria for the emergence of a human population are so rare and seemingly unrepeatable in the universe that humans are thought by some to be a one time affair.
Could there be approximations that come close to a human organism elsewhere in the universe? What would be some of the predominant features of such an organism?
Last edited by a moderator: