Scientist Says to Look on Earth for Aliens and Why I Don't Agree

As cited in an article in the Telegraph, Professor Paul Davies, a physicist from Arizona University, said that "we need to give up the notion that ET is sending us some sort of customised message and take a new approach."

Instead, Professor Davies proposed that we should investigate the extreme conditions on Earth for microbes that can survive in those conditions, as they may have came from other planets.

Perhaps there are reasons for connecting the two ideas together, but I think that the two situations are mutually exclusive to one another. Not finding microbes in our harshest deserts and saltiest seas doesn't mean that aliens are unlikely to exist. Likewise, finding microbes in extreme conditions doesn't prove the existence of aliens; most certainly it doesn't prove the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial beings.

Besides, it has been shown already that organisms can indeed live in very harsh conditions on Earth. Blood Falls, a red tinged waterfall spilling out of the Taylor Glacier in Antarctica, proves that entire ecosystems of microbes can survive for millions of years with practically no light, carbon, or oxygen; their only source of energy being sulphate ions.

Other organisms can be found to live in high acidity in polluted water from mines, extremely cold temperatures of Antarctic sea ice, hot temperatures by volcanoes and hydrothermal vents, and even after radiation exposure.

None of this information is new, so it makes me wonder why Professor Davies suggested that we should look for these types of microbes when they are already known to exist. Was he suggesting that these microbes prove that the existence of alien life is probable?

I personally cannot see the connection.

Although it is very possible that alien life may not require the same survival needs, such as water, air, and a fairly narrow range of temperature and atmosphere, that human beings need, one must look at the organisms that we do know of and what we can observe from the known universe.

We know that of all the known living organisms, the ones that grow to be large enough to be seen with the naked eye typically require the basic needs of water and oxygen or carbon dioxide. Species that have some kind of intelligence all require water and oxygen and a specific range of temperature and atmosphere.

Looking outward into our solar system, we see that planet Earth is the only planet that fit the criteria. We have also studied the closeby planets and know that at this current time, there is no intelligent life living on them.

Some might argue that we don't know everything, so I cannot say that aliens will be similar to humans in any way. I agree with this; however, we can see where intelligent life clearly exists and where it clearly doesn't. While microbes and other small organisms may be able to live in harsh conditions that are more likely in the better parts of the known universe, probability indicates that certain basic needs must be fulfilled for organisms to evolve to the level we are at, which brings us at least back to air and water.

Therefore it would be a waste of time and effort to search for intelligent life in the universe by looking for tiny microbes (on Earth, no less) that may or may not be from outer space and can't poke you in the eye even if they conspire in frozen dry deserts to take over the Earth.