The universe is a big place, so big we don’t even know its true scale. People love to fantasize about what other life-forms exist out there; what strange aliens could have evolved before us. But are there really other intelligent beings, or any beings for that matter?

        To truly understand what I’m going to talk about, we should look at the idea at its purest. The idea that other beings are out there has been around as long as we’ve been observing the stars. Many people fantasize about aliens, and they have made themselves known in pop-culture. Series such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Alien, Halo, The Thing, and Among Us, to name a few, have taken this concept to the extreme. In reality, the only extraterrestrial life discovered as of writing are microorganisms, but this is just the beginning. Every year we learn more about outer space, so we could find more out there. 

       Closely tied to the concept of aliens are alien sightings; people having claimed seeing flying saucers and strange lifeforms. Often, people report seeing strange lights in the sky which, in my searches, is the most common form of sighting. Saucers and unexplained anomalies are also prevalent. They could be alien saucers, they could be misidentified devices, or they could be unrecognized phenomena. These stories have crept into cryptic territory with how bizarre they can get. One of the most common alien stories is abduction; aliens taking people from their homes and studying them. Oddly, the abduction of cows is a prominent detail. What aliens would want with cows is beyond me. Apart from abductions, sightings without stories are also prevalent. Many government departments have focused on Alien sightings, including the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, but is there really anything to fear?

       In truth, many conspiracies have either logical solutions or were a jumped conclusion. Cow abductions likely started from stories of strange cow mutilations, and lights in the sky could be solar radiation or waves. But statistically, it is possible that life could exist. The universe is a huge place, with 100 billion stars at least. Assuming every star has at least one planet, and the chance that each planet is the proper distance from the star and contains the proper conditions for life, it starts to look more possible. Taking all of the factors together, “It would be improbable for life not to exist somewhere else other than Earth”. True, there is a chance that our little rock is the only one to meet the proper conditions for life, but that is very unlikely. 

      There are varying opinions on this topic, ranging from ecstatic belief to hard denial. I personally believe that other life CAN exist if it does not already. After all, “The universe is a pretty big place. If it’s just us, it seems like an awful waste of space” stated (Carl Sagan). On the other side of the spectrum, the idea of aliens is largely looked down upon. According to Enrico Fermi, “If life is so common, why haven’t we seen it?” Some answers to this question specifically include it’s NOT common. Aliens are too advanced or not advanced enough to be detected, or we don’t have the right technology. Whether we are or are not, the topic is always present. Both sides have good reasoning, but neither answer really is satisfactory. To quote the scriptwriter for A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke, “Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”