For as long as I’ve had eyes to hear and ears to see, I have long believed we are not the only ones to exist in the cosmos.
I’m simply too pragmatic and sensible to believe otherwise.
I mean seriously, are people that arrogant to believe we are the “only” special ones floating on a ball of rock and water in the vastness of space?
🤦
Hate to break it to these folks, but, uh…
Aliens/UFOS/ETs/whatever-you-want-to-call-them exist.
Do you know how I know?
MATH 🤓
It is strongly considered that there are approximately 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe and we’re in one of them — the Milky Way.
Each galaxy is home to roughly 100 billion stars, many of which are believed to host planets.
Now, not all of these stars are alive, stable, nor are they positioned close enough to provide planets with the right conditions for life. So — just to be ultra-conservative — let’s say out of these 100 billion stars, only 0.1% are stable, long-lived, and close enough to potentially kickstart life on a planet.
Not 1% — 0.1%.
The quick-n-dirty math on this looks like this:
2 trillion galaxies x 100 billion stars = 200 sextillion stars
(That’s 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, btw)
0.1% of 200 sextillion stars = 200 quintillion stars
(That leaves us with 200,000,000,000,000,000,000 living stars that have the “potential” to create the right conditions for life on nearby planets.)
Using a conservative estimate of at least one planet orbiting these living stars, that suggests there are at least 200 quintillion planets that could potentially host life.
Now, not all life is created equal.
I don’t care what the vegan nuts of our world say, but a human life is not comparable with a moving blob under the microscope.
Sentience is a whole other topic in itself, but for the sake of this email, I will concede that life is life.
Now let’s say out of those 200 quintillion stars/planets, 0.01% (yes, NOT 1% nor my previous example of 0.1% — no, 0.01%) of those planets host intelligent life of our level or higher, what does that leave us with?
This is where the answer might disturb you.
We are left with 2 million intelligent civilisations of OUR level or higher potentially alive right now.
YES, TWO MILLION.
It’s not just plausible.
It’s statistically hard to deny.
That’s why I cannot associate with alien deniers who continue to parrot their denial after being presented with such a reasonable (albeit speculative) argument. 9 times out of 10, this ignorance spills into other areas of life that simply make these denizens insufferable to share company with.
For starters, it showcases their intellectual laziness.
Worst of all, it reveals something far more insidious:
Their inability to have their own biases and beliefs challenged.
This, my Legionnaire, is a sickness that has infected far too many minds.
Never has there been a time in human civilisation where there is an echo chamber for everything and anything. It allows the lazy to remain lazy. The deniers to keep denying. And the sickly to remain sick.
I can’t help those people, and neither can you.
But that doesn’t mean I do not “get” why many refuse to acknowledge — let alone accept — this mathematical probability.
It would cast everything we know in doubt.
Religion… Purpose… Life… Death… Etc.
It would also make us as a species feel incredibly vulnerable on our little ball of floating rock. People don’t want that. Hell, I don’t want it either.
But the math is the math.
We can only hope that if we ever do get discovered by aliens far more advanced than us (if we haven’t already), they take one glance at our constant wars and posturing world leaders, deem us as nothing more than baboons in suits and jet off elsewhere in their mothership.
Until then?
I guess we just continue doing what we’re doing. 🤷
And if by chance aliens, spaceships, and science fiction are things you enjoy, I have 35 sci-fi micro tales (along with 94 fantasy and 12 horror stories) you can read right here:
https://djjwatsonstore.com/products/Tiny-Epics-Vol-1
DJJW
P.S. Do you believe aliens exist? Has my math challenged you in any way?