[b]Martin Rees
We need to broaden our sympathies both in space and time - and perceive ourselves as part of a long heritage, and stewards for an immense future.[/b]
I challenge anyone here to bring that down to earth.
I suspect there could be life and intelligence out there in forms we can’t conceive. Just as a chimpanzee can’t understand quantum theory, it could be there as aspects of reality that are beyond the capacity of our brains. They could be staring us in the face and we just don’t recognise them. The problem is that we-re looking for something very much like us, assuming that they at least have something like the same mathematics and technology.
I suspect that none of us will ever know.
If we ever establish contact with intelligent aliens living on a planet around a distant star … They would be made of similar atoms to us. They could trace their origins back to the big bang 13.7 billion years ago, and they would share with us the universe’s future.
In other words, make what you will of it.
God invented space so that not everything had to happen in Princeton.
Or, here, Johns Hopkins.
The universe is still a place of mystery and wonder.
Okay, but what about tomorrow?
Scientists habitually moan that the public doesn’t understand them. But they complain too much: public ignorance isn’t peculiar to science. It’s sad if some citizens can’t tell a proton from a protein. But it’s equally sad if they’re ignorant of their nation’s history, can’t speak a second language, or can’t find Venezuela or Syria on a map.
Remember this? youtu.be/vmI6YpGew1w