I really don't know if
we will find alien life on another planet.
Life alien to that of humans exists on Earth, from fish that swim to
birds that fly, from amoeba to elephants. On other planets life will
likely have forms totally different from those we see on Earth, so it
might take great skill on the part of explorers to recognize those
beings as living, let alone as being sentient. One of the things
that really annoys me about Star Trek is that most, maybe all, of the
aliens in the different series look quite a lot like humans, in spite
of pointed ears and various versions of eye ridges. An assumption
that beings from other planets must be similar to us may make it
difficult for explorers to recognize sentient beings when and if
they are found.
Among
the billions of planets in the Universe, there may be one that is
similar to Earth, or many that do not share Earth's characteristics.
One of the problems in recognizing other planets capable of
supporting life, is that we may expect those lifeforms to be similar
to us.
Studying
space may bring us “tangible benefits” but it remains to be seen
if explorers can recognize the benefits inherent in learning about
and from other species rather than simply exploiting those beings and
their planets.
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