Abstract
The discovery of ubiquitous planets around other stars, some of them Earth-like, has brought renewed attention to the question of whether humans are the only intelligent species in the galaxy or one of many. So far we have no indication that other intelligent beings (ETI) exist. Even if they do, huge astronomical distances together with the finite speed of light makes it much more likely that, if we encounter them at all, it will be by long-distance contact rather than meeting in person. Our hope that such a signal might be received is based on the expectation that at least some ETI will develop human-like technology. Whether extraterrestrial evolution should be expected to converge on this kind of techno-intelligence or diverge in ways we cannot now imagine is an open question. Not only may we never receive a signal, we may also never know why. This uncertainty also cautions us against theological speculations about the nature of aliens. Astrotheology is ultimately about us humans; about aliens we can only learn, if at all, through their own free self-disclosure.
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Notes
- 1.
For implications regarding extraterrestrial life see, for example, Anna Dornhaus, http://metiinternational.org/may-2016-workshop/abstract/aliens-are-likely-be-intelligent-not-sentient-what-evolution-cognition (accessed 20 July 2016).
- 2.
The history up to the first discoveries is described by Croswell (1997). Because of the rapid pace of new discoveries, the only useful sources for the current state of the field are continuously updated web sites, in particular: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/ and http://www.openexoplanetcatalogue.com/ (accessed 20 February 2017).
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Acknowledgements
This paper is based in part on a presentation at the European Conference on Science and Theology 2016 in Łódź, Poland. Additional inspiration came from a METI International workshop in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in May 2016, and the Barringer Lecture by Geoffrey Marcy at the Meteoritical Society Conference 2015 in Berkeley. I am grateful to the many discussions with colleagues at these and other occasions who have helped to clarify my ideas, as different as they may be from theirs.
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Kracher, A. (2017). Are We Special? Humanity and Extraterrestrial Life. In: Fuller, M., Evers, D., Runehov, A., Sæther, KW. (eds) Issues in Science and Theology: Are We Special?. Issues in Science and Religion: Publications of the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62124-1_3
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