harikumar1964's blog

Since becoming aware of the enormity of the universe, Man has always been dreaming of a voyage to the unexplored. Intelligent alien life has always been a hotly contested issue with the so many purportedly spotting of UFOs. We are more than eager to make contact with them.  Even there are sects who support the theory of  ancient astronomers firmly believe that human being is not an evolutionary but a cloned product of an alien civilisation on their brief sojourn here on earth. But how feasible is the space travel-  the travel through the vast expanse of time and space.

The universe is so vast that in spite of the billion trillion stars and their possible associated planetary system, the chance of an object falling from nowhere landing on a star or a planet is one in a trillion trillion. This simply means the universe is mostly empty space.  Covering such enormous distances is time consuming- generations consuming – even evolution consuming. Today if we embark on a space journey to the nearest star- Proxima Centauri- with the available technology, the space craft will not be back on earth in the next 200000 years, and that is more than the present existence period of homo sapiens. Even if the crew and their successors survive such a long voyage, on their return they may encounter an earth where either the humans have become extinct or evolved into a new species. So those who return may look like aliens. There is even a possibility of these space travellers evolving into something else during their long space journey.

Technology has taken centre stage only in the last one century. Within such a short period, we the human race have acquired potential to efface signs of life from  this planet – and we have very nearly done it.  So the long term survival of an intelligent race is always threatened by the our own incoherency. Can a select few of such a species complete  an arduous and generations long journey  successfully. Also they must be innovative- technologically. Otherwise within a few years, their technology will be so obsolete that a future generation with vastly improved technology will overtake them in the space journey. Without innovation, those who return will look terribly out of place and time.  Had there been some space travellers in the voyager mission, and if they  return to earth after their encounter with the Kuiper belt objects, they may be starting their return journey now, and will be reaching back earth in another 30 years. Imagine the space craft and people with technology of the 1970s returning to earth in the 2030s.

This is only the journey within our own solar system. The nearest stars are so far away that the journey to Pluto would  be  like a child’s play. Only a self sustainable society with the capacity to avoid internal strife can accomplish such a feat . The first part itself is very cumbersome as a self sustainable society may within a couple of generations develop serious genetic disorders due to lack of variation of DNA. Also if at all such an exploration eventually become successful, the people who will be finally landing on another inhabited planet will no longer be the true representatives of Earth – but the citizens of the space- which will be the only thing they know .

So it is absolutely naive for an intelligent civilisation to venture into such a voyage. The feasible alternative is (presuming that their technological development is somewhat in the similar lines as that of ours)  to try and  establish radio contact provided their frequency match with ours- ie., the messages are decipherable.

Intelligent beings  devote the right quantity of energy for the right purpose .

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