
With both math and physics pointing to the likely conclusion that intelligent life-forms inhabit planets elsewhere in our universe, I tend to sit back and agree, with confidence. Do I honestly feel that any of us will be able to communicate, even interact with such beings in our lifetime? Hell no, let’s get real here, people.
I feel that we’d all like to know what is out there given so many instances where we’ve stood gazing up at the night sky, wondering if maybe other beings were looking down on us, thinking the same. How many of us, whenever we looked up at a moonless night sky wondered how maybe one day, we might count the stars? The Milky Way galaxy alone has 400 billion stars, and there are 2 trillion galaxies beyond it; if only one in a hundred billion stars can support advanced life, then there are likely just four candidates in the Milky Way.
The skies above us are much vaster than we ever imagined, think about it; our universe is home to a hundred billion trillion stars, most with planets revolving around them and, at some point, the odds of discovering extraterrestrial life, simple life, composed of individual cells or small multicellular organisms is just about everywhere in our universe.
The more expert we become in observing and calculating the outer reaches of the cosmos, and the more we understand about how many galaxies, stars and exoplanets exist, the greater the possibility of there being intelligent life on one of those planets; in all of this, there may be only one or two planets in our two trillion galaxies which might add up to a lot of possible, intelligent, neighbors.
Do we really want to know if we’re not alone in the universe? Scientists have been listening for some element of celestial conversation for years and while there is a high statistical likelihood of intelligent life having evolved elsewhere in our universe, there is a very low probability that we will be able to communicate or interact with any of them. We should all take comfort from the knowledge that there are so many powerful forces in the universe, far more abstract than alien intelligence, simple things like love, faith and friendship, all impossible to measure or calculate, but they remain our foundation, our sense of purpose.
At this stage of my life, I hold out some hope that, eventually, humans will make contact with extraterrestrial intelligence, in whatever far-flung system they may live. Until then, there will be generations of young star gazers in our world, standing watch, looking skyward, with amazement and wonder, believing that there is so much more out there, beyond the stars.

From the Writer’s Workshop: Write a post in exactly 13 sentences./If evidence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe were discovered, would it alter your core beliefs or sense of self?