If we do, indeed, find intelligent life in space, what impact will it have on us? In particular, what will it mean for religion? Will it make any difference? Somehow I think it will have some impact. I'm convinced there are probably millions of civilizations out there somewhere that are just as advanced as us, and if we find one relatively close to us it will be proof that my assertion is true. So, what do we need for a civilization like ours? First of all we need a reasonably sized "habitable zone." This is the zone around the star where the temperatures are satisfactory for life most of the time. Our habitable zone ranges from about the orbit of Venus out to that of Mars. and luckily for us, we're right in the middle of it. We also need a planet that is about the size of earth. If it's too large, gravity will overwhelm anything there. It can be about three times as large as Earth and still be habitable. We have, indeed, found a few planets that satisfy these criterion. One of the best is Gliese 58id; it orbits a relatively small star (compared to our sun) called a red dwarf, that is about 20 light years away from us. The major problem is that it is like our moon in that it keeps the same face pointed at its star, and under normal conditions this would cause severe temperature problems. There are indication, however, that it has an atmosphere that might allow water to stay liquid and if so, some form of life could exist there. It's not likely to be an advanced form, but even a primitive form would give us hope that there's other life out there, some of which may be intelligent. It's interesting that Stephen Hawking has recently stated that if we do find life out there, we should keep quiet. I'm not sure I agree. But, of course, Hawking has also said recently that he doesn't believe there is a heaven.
Barry Parker, author of "Learn from Yesterday, Live for Today, Hope for Tomorrow. Website: barryparkerbooks.com
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