Outer Space…Is there anybody up there?
It’s movie night at Herman and Minna’s house. Otto and Lina were invited as was I. They were just getting ready to sit down to watch the latest Star Wars movie. While Otto was getting the popcorn from the kitchen and Herman was setting up the video, Minna and Lina got to chatting.
“These movies are so exciting. I wish we lived in those times,” Lina remarked.
“Never going to happen,” was Minna’s response. “These events are just fantasy from the mind of George Lucas. It’s not real. There are no other planets in the Universe that support life. Outer space is just a vacuum. Everything you see in all these movies with aliens and such is just a myth created to entertain or scare people.”
Lina disagreed, “How can you say that? Our galaxy is immense; it is 100,000 light years across. And that is only a small fraction of the Universe. The Milky Way according to my research is about 1 millionth in size (.000001) of the Universe. The Universe itself has an estimated 350 billion galaxies the size of the Milky Way in it. You don’t think that in all those galaxies and planets there is not at least one that supports life?”
“Nah, that can’t be right,” said Otto, as he entered the room. “Outer space is just a vacuum. Nothing can survive in that. There’s no way anyone else could be living out there. How long have the Voyager probes been seeking out new life and connections? They launched in 1977; that would be over 40 years ago and nothing has been reported yet. Life on other planets is a dream that will never be.”
Herman, having finished setting up the video, 
joined the discussion. “I have to agree with Lina. It’s been calculated using the Drake equation that there is a 1 in 60 billion chance that we are the only technologically advanced civilization. So it’s just like the lottery. Even though there is a small chance to win, eventually someone does, which means if there is a chance that there might be another technologically advanced civilization in the Universe, then someday we’ll find it.”
At this point, Otto dimmed the lights, pressed play and the movie began. The question of whether or not there was life on other planets in outer space was put on hold; I certainly was not going to mention which planet I was born on. “Live Long and Prosper.”
