1. Travis Perry says:

    Hi Shannon. Thanks for bringing up this topic. It’s certainly an interesting one!

    As for computing the math of the probability of an intelligent alien race existing, a formula was first created in 1961 by Frank Drake, an American astronomer and astrophysicist. Here’s what his formula looks like:

    N = R*fpneflfifcL

    Well, it doesn’t look quite like that, because “p” “e” “l” “i” and “c” are all subscripts in the original. As for what all the variables mean, please reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation

    (Note also that just because someone made an equation, doesn’t mean the equation can be calculated with accuracy–it can’t be, in fact.)

    As far as human beings being lonely, I have thought the loneliness many humans feel when contemplating a vast, uninhabited universe would be best resolved by a realization that the universe is permeated with the essence of God (not that God is made of the universe, that’s not what I mean). Since God is everywhere, even in distant galaxies, they are not really empty. The space isn’t unused. And perhaps there could be aliens after all.

    The Pentagon footage by itself doesn’t prove much concerning the existence of aliens. Sure, pilots saw something, but what if what they saw came from future time travelers? Or demons / angels? Or super-secret aircraft from nations like China or Russia? Or some kind of very strange, far too variable to easily explain, optical illusion?

    But the fact the Pentagon released the footage the way they did makes me wonder if they’ve got even more they are holding on to. First seeing how the public reacts to this little bit before releasing more. The next decade or so might prove to be very interesting…

    • Steve Smith says:

      “Since God is everywhere, even in distant galaxies, they are not really empty.”

      Best sentence in this whole article and thread. ?

  2. Great article Shannon. Reminds me of when I first watched the movie, CONTACT, as a teenager. Its theme of loneliness resonated deeply with me. Finding alien signals seemed to be what would answer the deepest questions of the universe for Ellie Arroway, and thus all of mankind. I bought into that for a time. But I had also recently become a Christian when that movie released. I saw the fatal flaw in that worldview: we aren’t alone at all. We have each other. Even better, God has transmitted his own words to us. If there was no God, and we found aliens to communicate with, we would simply be alone together.

  3. L.A. Smith says:

    I like your reflection about how human beings always seem to want an “other”. Something like them but not. I agree it stems from loneliness, an echo of the rupture from Eden. Great article, thank for it!

What do you think?