Earth, what we generally mean is, of course, intelligent life, something resembling our noble self. It is highly probable that there are such intelligent forms of life in other galaxies in the universe, and it even more probable that many of these forms are vastly more intelligent than we. It is conceivable that a spherical ship or lander from the Washington Monument and a figure with four antennas and otherwise looking likely would a Football Player will walk out and demand to see our leaders. But i hope very much that the the universe circumstances wider than rather shoddy imaginations of Science Writers for 30 or 40 years. And im pretty convinced it is weve not found their guidance so great in any but the modest activities like going to the moon, which is not for me. I reply to that. Oh, life beyond earth. See, this is a beautiful exposition of the myths we live with and the mind of man. A symposium on extraterrestrial life and some of its implications for us all, sponsored jointly by nasa and Boston University and chaired by professor richard berenson. Let me briefly introduce the panel from the far side is dr. Ashley montague, who is a world renowned anthropologist and social biologist. Next to him is dr. Christopher stendhal, who an outstanding churchman and theologian who is now the dean of the Prestigious School and divinity at Harvard University theological circles. Dr. Stendhal is considered one of the nations most scholarly theologians next to me is dr. Carl sagan, who is an astronomer at cornell university, and probably one of the five or six leading researchers on this question of extraterrestrial life is the coauthor with schloss of the soviet union and the very famous book, intelligent life in the universe. To my right is philip morrison, who is professor of physics at mit and 13 years ago he was a coauthor of what is perhaps the first scientifically valid, reasonable paper ever published on what might well be a possible mode of communication with extraterrestrial life. Dr. Morrison is considered out among scholarly as being perhaps one of the most broadly knowledgeable scientists in the country. And on the far side is dr. George wallace, professor of biology at harvard and a recipient of the nobel prize. So now i would like to turn to the symposium proper and give the floor to carl sagan. Thank you,. I am trying to prepare a few brief remarks on this. I came upon a comment by Thomas Carlyle somewhat crusty old fellow on thinking about the stars and a sad spectacle if they be inhabited. What is scope for misery and folly . If they be not inhabited . What a waste space. There was a little more than a year ago in the armenian soviet socialist republic. In fact, at the foot of mt. Ararat on which noahs ark is said to be reached. A symposium sponsored jointly by the National Academy of sciences and the United States and the soviet academy of sciences. On the question of contact with extraterrestrial intelligence, this was a six day meeting which ran from morning to late at night and involved a a large group of people, around 40 or 50 people from mostly from other ussr. But a few of the nations it involved. In addition to physicists and astronomers, biologists, chemists, anthropologists, archeologists, historians, people concerned with coding messages and decoding them and was a turning point. I think in the study of the subject, not because some striking new opinions were or results were expressed, but because i think it marks the turning point in the increasing respectability of the subject. It is now okay to talk about life elsewhere or intelligent life elsewhere, whereas a decade or two ago it wasnt okay, it was considered too speculative to be worth any investment of time. As an example of the modern scientific attitude, id like to quote a short passage from a recent report of the astronomy survey committee of the prestigious and august National Academy of sciences of the United States. Probably the nations most distinguished scientific. This was printed in may of this year. Quote, each passing year has seen our estimate of the probability of life and space increase along with our capabilities of detecting it. More and more scientists feel that contact with other civilizations is no longer something beyond our dreams. But as a natural event in the history of mankind. And that will perhaps occur within the lifetime of many of us. The promise is now too great either to turn to permit or to wait much longer before devoting major resources to a search for other intelligent beings. The long run. This may be one of sciences most important and most profound contributions to mankind and to our civilization in growth. The basic point is very simply put, is that the number of stars in our galaxy alone is so staggeringly large in the order of the 11 or more that the probability of stars having planetary systems are so high. We think perhaps half the probability that those planetary systems might be comparable with our own and that the stars have some kind of an ecosphere, a sphere in which the radiation is suitable for life, that its not too hot, not too cold. Meeting the other criteria seems so reasonable. All these bits of information come from astronomy primarily. Then we join with the biochemists to tell us about the probable evolution of life here on earth. The kinds of elements that are necessary for it. Dna molecules and amino acids and the like. Amino acids which have now been found in meteorites that we have now found interstellar molecules floating out into space between stars so that, you know, the materials for a carbon based life exist. We know that many of the Building Blocks of life in our own solar system exist off of our planet. If you put these kinds of probabilities together, that begins to lead to the sorts of that we started with as an initial premise and which apparently no one on the panel has disagreed. And that is that life must exist in the universe, and it must exist quite abundantly. Its an extraordinary fact that we have listened to possible signals being sent our way from a mere handful of stars. The first such effort was more than ten years ago. Project ozma, organized by frank drake at the National Radio astronomy observatory. And it looked for a couple of weeks at two stars at one frequency. The results were negative in the meaning in armenia. A group in Gorky University under the troitsky announced that they had been doing similar studies to looking at a dozen stars at two frequencies slight, long periods of time. No one was broadcasting from there and our conductor a researcher at the National Astronomy observatory has given me permission to make known at this meeting that he has performed recently a similar search at 21 centimeter wavelength with the. 40 foot and 300 foot telescopes at greenbank, which is looked at another handful of stars. And they werent sending anything either. The most optimistic estimates in the view of many about the number of civilization is that there might be in the galaxy is in the order of 4 million, which means that only one in a few hundred thousand stars as such civilizations. Therefore, any such search is requires not a brief look, but some substantial long term commitment of Radio Telescope. I think theres no question but that we live in an inhabited universe that has life all over it. I was sort of interested in carl sagans saying, there are. 250 billion stars like our sun and our galaxy. Ive been using the number 100 billion, but this is an inflationary period. I, i rather like eddingtons old paradigm for the situation tend to the 11th stars make the galaxy. Ten to the 11th galaxies make a universe those are good numbers still. And as far around the galaxy, its estimated that perhaps 1 to 5 of the stars and it could provide on their planet some of their planets and a book for life and that would mean billion in such places just in our own galaxy that might contain life. And as for what life would mean in those places, i think it would mean something very like the life we know, not the same creatures. We didnt have the same creatures on the earth during its past as live here now. But life anywhere in the universe. Ive been convinced years must be made of the same elements. It prints the principle constitute it here Carbon Hydrogen and nitrogen and oxygen in those four elements constitute about 99 of the living material on the earth. And i think are likely to come out that way wherever life exists. And may i say so that we can have a somewhat warmer and livelier conversation as this meeting goes on, i can conceive, can conceive of no nightmare as as establishing such communication with the socalled superior, if you wish, advanced technology in outer space. What do you worry about . Whats to happen on one of these books . Oh, i think i disagree of degradation of the human enterprise. One of the greatest of human enterprise. This is understanding something that men have sweated to a greater dignity and worth of men. And you see the thought that we might attach as by a biblical cause to some more advanced civilization, science and technology in outer space. Thats a thrill me. But just the opposite. I try to imagine back when i when i was working hard as a student and there are a lot of textbooks, i would open up those textbooks and in there would be what other guys had found out. Now i didnt the proteins present. Oh my god they know that also. I do not. As ive said, look upon the possibility of some continuous transmission for something that will completely all further human efforts in this direction. When i think as a theologian, im the possibilities of life beyond earth. And even communication with such life, my first reaction is, thats great because it seems always great to me when gods world gets a little bigger and when i get to a somewhat more true view of my place and smallness in that universe. And to achieve this by growing awareness, which i do not find at all threatening, as george wall and growing awareness that really sinks in that whatever the question of communication is, it is highly, highly probable that we are only one possible of such civilization. I dont think we should wait until the encounter occurs, but that we should do all in our power to prepare ourselves for it. The manner in which we first meet may determine the character of all our subsequent relation. Let us never forget fatal impact weve had innumerable peoples on this people of our own species who trusted us, befriended us, and who we destroyed by thoughtlessness and innocence to activity to their needs and their vulnerabilities. The simple truth is that before we can communicate with others successfully. We must first learn to communicate it with ourselves successfully. And we are a long way from having achieved that. Perhaps that is where we ought to begin with ourselves. Learning to communicate with ourselves, with all the different peoples and nations, the earth, i suppose if you were to ask what instrument be the image of the announced, you surely would say people are going to talk about what they see through a telescope, but in fact, at least most of the speakers have really spoken on the topic. What they see in the mirror now, thats not in any way wrong. Perhaps the most valuable part of this extra enterprise is going to be the mirror which which we confront ourselves obliquely in all sorts of ways, as we try to ask the question of what the future is like in the dim future, how are we going to get over ourselves to, reach that future, and so on . So im not prepared to say that this is wrong, but as a somewhat matter of fact, discussant in the in the affair, i feel that im somewhat inclined to direct some attention what i think it really will be like and not to these mirror like discussions which are undoubtedly more important than our present of mind, which somehow i think will be perhaps supported by taking a calmer look at what the real situation is. First of all, for of defending magnificently the creativity, which is one of the great killers of our time, feels that if somebody will tell them, the answer would be kind of cheating and. Dr. Montague, on the other hand, is quite concerned. This contact bring physical or mental harm to those persons who make those beings whom we might hypothetically contact. Its probable think. I would say if i were a debater, i would argue these two really somewhat cancel each other out. It can hardly be both ways. I think. On the contrary, that isnt normal distance separates us from the nearest existing or even recently memorable of a group a similar time and just enormous distance. Not the distance to the moon, not the distance the pilots the distance, the nearest stars, but tens or even hundreds or perhaps a thousand times that distance. That means that even traveling at the speed of light, no round trip could is was likely to be imaginable. No answer to communication. They say hello yes. Say how you and he says fine that conversation will take at least centuries. And i really dont think that thats going to bring us in conflict with the problems of the day. It may bring us together in the problems of some day, but i am unable to see far enough into the future to notice how our little not petty, but tragic circumstances of contemporary are going to affect me. I really dont know. Nor do i think this communication can be by any other means in my light or its cognates. Radio because the universe are simply too great and the cost of Getting Energy enough to make travel physical travel at all possible is overwhelming, even for civilizations. Disposing of enormous means far outweigh paying our own. So i think, first of all, there will two great phases of this eventual time, which i think will come in ten years or 100 years or, i dont know, maybe longer when some satisfy three Radio Telescope work or something will acquire evidence of the deliberate beaming of a message, protracted message out into space. First of all, i think important issue, most important to show is the recognition of the existence of the message. Just that it is there, not what it says. This is called often timely. The acquisition of the message. And there will be, of course, false starts. Therell be many claims already have been some claims, i think rather facetious that some phenomena in the sky must have this meaning. They turned out to be wrong. I believe that will happen number of times. Three times. Ten times false claims will be. Right. We have got something, a copy, anything else . Save up. So i think that will be easy. And of course, extortion terribly important. You will know very little of what that message says. Save it exists and maybe some general Geographic Information from how far away its coming what kind of a star, where. And then i think that you will have pouring into the requires pouring into the recorders week week month after month decade after decade. An enormous body of obviously interesting and meaningful pulses. And youll be able to read them slowly and fitfully because they will not be coded, but theyll be anti coded. Thats to say, the people who designed them, the beings who designed them, will have very carefully how to make the maximum number of mathematical clues the best way to single out the meaning will be made available, but will come with two extraordinary differences. So great. We can only imagine how great they are. First, the people who do it will be incredibly alien, even if their biochemistry resembles the biochemist professor. While teachers will not be all that close, you know it will have enzymes, but it will be the class at the old situation will be quite different. And i dont know what chains of enzyme systems they will have at all. And we could eat their food very likely even though the same biochemistry and we eat the food of a mushroom, its very difficult to. Us. But the meeting will slowly come out of this study and it will contain, for better or worse, the answer to many questions we cannot ourselves answer, which will have to debate and interpret and work on and test, and the successors. Professor ward will still be studying. This could really be right. What they say about is a not at all. That doesnt all that phrase means that isnt all with that result means quite a different thing is the case at a New Discovery will have been made and i dont think at all any more than we fail to profit by reading the literature of the other universities. When we fail to profit, by reading this extraordinary which they will contain. So am not either fearful nor i would say, terribly expectant. I dont think we, shall i. Im anxious for that acquisition to make sure that we are not alone. But once that is gained it might be gained in my in my lifetime. Then i think we can rest with some patience to see what is the world has turned up in climates. Then this one. Well weve had a number interesting and provocative ideas. Let me respond to one or two. Well put the panel open for free discussion. And i hope all of the members will speak freely. Doctor stendhal mentioned the possibility of the costs and perhaps this will be brought up as a matter of factual information on this 1970, a study of the feasibility for picking up interstellar communication was made in. California by a number of radio scientists as well as astronomers and others was called project cyclops. The outcome of that study was that the United States had the Technical Capability of building a large radio array, which would be able to scan the heavens with fairly great resolution and power sensitivity up to a distance of many hundreds or possibly thousands of light years, with the very distinct possibility of picking up the signals that were there to to go to the other end. Another aspect of this question is the exploration of our solar system by unmanned. Thats important example for finding out if there are simple forms of life on mars or jupiter. If the answer to that were or yes, then the likelihood of the origin of life on planets of other stars and of course be inversely greater than you imagine a program of unmanned exploration of the entire solar system for the decade of the 1970s, which would examine every planet in the solar system, which would land several space vehicles on the surface of mars. What would such program cost by the way . Such a program we do not have because it wasnt judged too costly. Such a program would cost less than the 1970 fiscal year cost overrun on the antiballistic Missile System to that, in another way, the accounting errors in the department of defense are single weapons system come to more than a decades of the entire solar system. So again it strikes me that this nation has the resources to do undergo to such exploratory ventures and certainly this planet has those resources. Its just a question of do we wish do it . The kind of exploratory ventures were talking about seem to me to precisely the kind that are needed to reestablish a cosmic context for mankind by finding out what the other planets like, by finding out whether there are civilization genes on planets of other stars. We reestablish a meaning for context for our souls. I think the most important thing that will still bring to us, if we can finally understand it, will be a description. If it exists at all, of how beings disposing of Great Technology were able to a world in which they could live and persevere and maintain something of of wealth and beauty for a long period of time. And that is probably not least Important Message we can have. And it would end our social and cultural isolation date. We have been bounded not only into our own countries and into our own small regions on this planet, but most assuredly within our solar system. If there are they of billions of other civilizations which the predictions indicate might be, then we would a larger galactic community. And if even after considerable search we dont find that our counterparts exist somewhere else, i kind of think that would be wrong either because i think that will give us a heavier response to try to represent some sort of approach to intelligence in this extraordinarily large, diverse universe. But i think the one thing that has been shown is that regardless of the rest of the cosmos there is intelligence at least sitting up here. Way of. You know. Id like to begin the program today. The
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.