Arguably the ultimate question in any discussion about extraterrestrial life has always been this: Is there life in the universe? In trying to find an answer, we know the Earth is a particularly fine example of this, and no sensible scientist anywhere on the planet will ever dispute this fact. They can see it, and so can everyone else in the world. Life most certainly exists on this planet. Where the controversy lies is whether it is feasible to find another Earth-like planet beyond our solar system and one that could potentially harbour life. And if such life could exist, intelligent technical beings would be a logical extension of this. Of course, the presence of just one planet is never enough to convince the more rational types in our community. This is despite statements from philosophers and thinkers of the past stating the improbable nature of our Earth being the only place in the universe to support life.
The earliest recorded conjectures on extraterrestrial life began in ancient Greece during the 5th century B.C. Formed by a small band of renegade Greek philosophers and mathematicians, there was a time when human curiosity and thinking were seen as mightier than the sword. New knowledge and the recording of such knowledge during this golden age became the valuable commodity, and people could freely debate and argue the knowledge of the day and so help others at the time to see a different perspective on life and the universe.
Among the great thinkers were Leucippus (approximately 480BC - 420BC), regarded by many today as the founder of atomic theory in physics. Another was Democritus (approximately 460BC - 370BC), a mathematician by nature focusing mainly on geometry but held a fervent interest in things relating to the real world around him. After much listening, thinking and debating, he too came to the same view and quickly became an avid supporter of Leucippus’ view of the atomic world.
When Leucippus and Democritus turned their attention to the sky and asked whether life could exist, their careful thinking suggested to these men that the answer should be in the affirmative. They summed up their belief by saying the random collisions of atoms to form the Earth and everything in it could not be a singular event. There had to be other worlds like the Earth.
Another Greek philosopher to become an atomist philosopher was Epicurus. He too would give his support to Leucippus and Democritus.
Metrodurus of Chios, an Epicurean philosopher from the school of Democritus in the third and fourth century B.C., also gave his staunch support for his mentor, Epicurus, by neatly summarizing the view in a romantic way for people to understand when he said:
"To consider the Earth the only populated world in infinite space is as absurd as to assert that in an entire field sown with millet, only one grain will grow."
Or, for a more accurate translation as Metrodurus would have said in the Greek language:
"A single ear of corn in a large field is as strange as a single world in infinite space."
Yet such a romantic statement about corns in a field as a way of summarizing the general views on extraterrestrial life is never going to convince the more rational members of society, especially those trusting of their own eyes. Without direct evidence to observe with one’s own eyes of a size that is going to be easy and beyond reasonable doubt, there would always be some rational thinking individuals who will disagree.
Fortunately, other people have emerged to give their take on the question. For example, the renowned French philosopher René Descartes wrote a letter on June 6, 1647, to his friend Hector-Pierre Chanut (1601-1662) in which he explained his struggle to understand how it would not be possible for God to create other intelligent beings out there among the stars. Why should we be the only ones to appear in God's creation? (Letter to Hector-Pierre Chanut in Oeuvres des Descartes, ed. Charles Adam and Paul Tannery, 1903, Vol.5, pp.54-44)
Irrespective of the arguments in favour of ETs from certain famous people, it will never substitute for hard evidence. People can always argue in favour of ETs until the cows come home, but at the end of the day, it could all be swept away on the assumption that it is all a fluke of nature. The chances of happening are just mathematically stacked against us and the formation of life on Earth as we see it. Yet something must have happened for us to be here. So maybe we are extremely lucky to reach this far, but not so lucky elsewhere in the universe. In other words, it must be a miracle that we are the first to arrive on the scene. Well, someone has to start first, right? In that case, it might as well be us who has finally emerged in this lonely universe.
With this possibility in mind, the question needs to change to one that asks, Are we truly alone?
Or, better still, how probable is it that we could be the only ones alive and kicking in this universe?
Following the SUNRISE publication of Can UFOs Advance Science? A New Look at the Evidence (after 30 September 2013), the probability has increased dramatically in favour of the existence of ETs, and technically advanced ones at that. The discovery of a new electromagnetic technology in the UFO reports based on the Abraham-Lorentz formula (a poorly understood area of advanced electromagnetism) means that we should essentially have the answer. The fact that the required accelerating forces to cover enormous distances seem present in the mathematical solution to the Abraham-Lorentz formula and how the UFO observations support a technology based on this concept of emitting high-frequency electromagnetic waves from a high-voltage (or charged) surface are all there. It seems we are at the critical end of solving the technological problem of interstellar problem and the question of, Are we alone? is just around the corner.
Until the concept is tested, let us assume we do not know this (or do not wish to believe it until we build one of these machines for ourselves). Instead, we shall begin this discussion by looking more closely at the indirect and essential scientific evidence available today by scientists who are in favour of the existence of extraterrestrial life at this moment in time. Then we will balance this discussion, as it should always be done with any controversial topic, with the essential views from the skeptics. And finally, it is important to conclude this discussion by stating just how probable life is in the universe based on the evidence. The final answer could go either way depending on whether you believe the "glass is half full" or the "glass is half empty" and how we treat our fellow human beings.
As for getting to this definitive answer, there are several ways this can be done, as we shall see in this section. But if we are willing to open our minds to all possible avenues to extraterrestrial life, a study of UFO reports should never be ignored.