ROBERT J.R. GRAHAM: A New Earth in 2013?

NP: Second Earth Discovered in 2013?

By James W. Astrada

The Earth seen from Apollo 17. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Over the course of the last year, many predictions have come and go especially the end of the Mayan calendar. What remains constant in the eyes of many who still believe is the possibility that UFOs are planning something with our tiny planet in this solar system. Even though humanity still has the idea that we are the only intelligent life form in this vast universe, science will aim to change that by this year by finding the first alien “Super Earth” to finally reassess our insignificant position in the grand scheme of universal life.

Abel Mendez of the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo state that “I’m very positive that the first Earth will be discovered by next year.” This prediction doesn’t leave out the fact that many exoplanets have been discovered sharing many key factors of our living conditions (surface temperature or size); however scientists claim that none have fit the bill as what experts call an “alien Earth or exact twin.” Over 800 planets have been found orbiting a sun-like star since 1995 with the safe assumption that we may not be the only life form out there. And since we can only assume that life is possible under the same conditions we were engineered in, many have trouble venturing outside consensus beliefs that life may exist under more extreme conditions or without the necessity of water.

A View of Earth from Saturn (Photo credit: alpoma)

With the discovery of Kepler 22b, was a major discovery giving more evidence that there may be planets within our consensus belief of the “habitable zone” fit for life to exist. Using the HARPS or High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher , Mendez is certain that finding a twin Earth is not beyond reach. With this device, scientists will have more accuracy in detecting the tiny gravitational wobbles that orbiting planets induce in their parent stars. With the vast amount of possible planets within our own galaxy, humans are hopeful of finding at least a 1000 planets suitable for life to exist based on calculations. Discovering an orbiting exoplanet around Tau Ceti only 11.9 light-years away, in 2012, gave more hope to researchers than ever before. With planets so close to our solar system considering the amount of distance one would need to travel based on our current obsolete technology for space flight, numbers like these give incentive for discovering earth-like planets within our reach. Geoff Marcy from the University of California Berkeley also stated that upon discovery of another Earth within our reach, humanity would have to pull itself together in order to work towards accomplishing flying there to meet another potential society or civilization in Alpha Centauri; the closest star system next to our own:

Humanity will close its collective eyes, and set sail for Alpha Centauri. The small steps for humanity will be a giant leap for our species. Sending robotic probes to the nearest stars will constitute the greatest adventure we Homo sapiens have ever attempted. This massive undertaking will require the cooperation and contribution from all major nations around world. In so doing, we will take our first tentative steps into the cosmic ocean and enhance our shared sense of purpose on this terrestrial shore.”

Although he may have a positive and almost poetic purpose for humanity, we are far from ever cooperating to achieve a greater purpose.

La Silla Domes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We have to be honest about our human nature and sense of where we stand. Realistically, humanity doesn’t tend to focus on our horrible nature; rather we only focus on the little good we accomplish. Although this is not taking away from our ability to achieve a benevolent status among the species living on this planet, we must look realistically at our affinity for destruction first. It seems pretty strange that most of these planets supposedly containing similar environments are placed so far from our doorstep. Could this be a message that humanity is conveniently placed far from other life forms until we learn how to care for our environment and other organisms that living in the complex ecosystems on this planet alone? How can we be so eager to find another planet to live on when we don’t even care for the one we have? Our almost childish nature full of destruction, hate, ignorance and bias has filled our current world with much suffering and the inability to connect to the only element within us that can help us ascend: our spiritual engine. Whether or not our engineers who gave us the opportunity to experience life in a way to learn from our mistakes or to find out what we are really capable of most likely regret their efforts in engineering a life form such as humanity. Although this may be the very foundation of misanthropy, humanity can ill afford living in the same way it has for the last 2500 years.

human-shield-gaza (Photo credit: ` ³ok_qa³ `)

The way we treat ourselves, or animal companions, and the planet as a whole has not reached a level that can allow us passage to the vast “cosmic ocean” that Marcy spoke of. Unless we are willing to take care of each other, our savage nature and lust for cruelty, and the unnecessary need for religious dogma that forces us to be “good or else,” we will be stagnant and continue in our solitude in the universe cast aside by other advanced civilizations that justify their inability to contact us or lend a hand. And although this morbid description of humanity seems hopeless, perhaps our individuality and the changes that imposed without the need for fear, spooky language, and fairy tale depictions of an underworld awaiting the “bad humans” will alert these other life forms that humanity cannot succeed as a whole; rather one by one. Perhaps individually, humanity has the chance to ascend and understand the complexity of life, the universe, and why we are shielded away from the rest of the universe. Of course there is no one path in discovering an answer, however perhaps within oneself, the need for altering the perception of how life is viewed might be a start.

Even though humanity’s purpose has yet to be discovered, changes must be implemented not by force, however by the desire from within. This goal is perhaps the greatest challenge humanity has yet to face and by the looks of how our society is run, the goal seems unattainable. Perhaps as a whole, we will never reach an understanding of how to treat ourselves and other organisms around us. On an individual scale, there are many humans out there with the genuine desire to do well without the promise for reward or benefit, without the expectation of securing a place in the afterlife, and have developed their spiritual engine naturally in the presence of pain and suffering. Perhaps the few unsung heroes of humanity may give our species a chance to at least halt our barbaric nature towards ourselves and our planet. How can we even conceive the notion of traveling to another planet and encountering another race of beings with our current biases, views on life, treatment of ourselves and animals, religious beliefs, and our disdain for anything that threatens our personal reality? Are we that eager to destroy another world before we completely destroy our own? Perhaps we should step back and reinvent ourselves before we go running off into space with our current belief system. If we do not change, then perhaps our solitary nature in this solar system surrounded by vast stars, galaxies and planets will continue to stand as is.