Are We Alone?

It was the height of the Vietnam War and I was 9-years-old, and living in Miami, Florida. I was laying in the living room watching TV with my sister, who had fallen asleep. Suddenly I noticed a light and looked out into the backyard. A small, cylindrical object came into my yard at an angle, hovered for a few seconds, and then shot straight up. It made a "swoosh" sound as it landed and then took off. I had seen a UFO.

My immediate neighbors quickly learned of the sighting and an explanation was given to me. I was told that it was the neighbor's sprinkler system cutting on and spraying water in part of my yard. What I saw was light hitting the water. And the "swish" sound I heard was the sprinkler turning on. Well, maybe that explained it, or maybe it was a rip in the fabric of our universe. After all, I'm the guy who believes that nothing can break the laws of physics. So, maybe the object came from the world where dark energy, dark matter, and God lives. Maybe there are no physics in that world.

Whether it was real or not, the experience did instill in me a lifelong interest in aliens and UFOs. I read books and watched documentaries on them and have always wondered what I really saw. But, now in my older age I've almost given up on the idea of flying saucers. Sure, my obsession with crop circles, cattle mutilations, and spaceships taking away the Big Foot corpses was fun, but it probably wasn't real.

See, the first radio telescope went online in 1937 and over the years scientists kept building bigger telescopes and even started launching them into space. Other than a few quasars and some old Happy Days episodes that bounced off the moon, all we've ever found in space are crickets. So, we humans keep building bigger telescopes, but still crickets. In 2025 a new, massive radio telescope will go online, which will be known as the Square Kilometer Array. As its name implies, this telescope will be a freaking square kilometer large. I'm hopeful that this super telescope will find something in the universe in my lifetime. Since childhood I've had two dreams: to see humans land on Mars and to see the discovery of life beyond our planet.

The Problem

In June I wrote that without the moon and the tides it creates, evolution could have never happened. But it's even more complicated than that. See, without our moon being just the exact right size our planet would wobble and spin too fast. Evolution needs eons of a relatively stable environment, it needs water, and a planet must be at just the right distance from its sun, so that the water doesn't freeze or become steam. This range is known as the Goldilocks Zone or the "habitable zone." So, to find life there must be a Goldilocks planet with a Goldilocks moon.

The good news is that scientists and amateur astronomers are discovering planets all the time, and the total of known planets is now at about 4,000, with more being discovered each week. One estimate is there are 1 trillion planets in the universe. Now, let's look at the hurdles any civilization would need to reach to became a spacefaring species. Assuming a life form is on a warm and stable planet there are many more challenges. First, it only takes one giant solar flare or astroid to destroy an evolving species. Secondly, there are many more challenges, such as having all the needed ingredients for life and getting past volcanos, wars, and the list goes on.

When people say "it would be a 1 in trillion odds for an advanced civilization to emerge from organic materials," well, they are probably right. We won't even start getting data from the new, super radio telescope until 2027 and by then I'll be 67 years old. So, I don't know if I'll get to realize my dream of being alive when extraterrestrial life is discovered or not. I would be thrilled if we even found living cells on another planet, but getting from a cell to an intelligent animal that builds spacecraft is a massive leap. Unless astronomers prove otherwise in the next few years, it is my belief that we are all alone in the visible universe. Now, I'm not sure how big the universe is beyond what our devices can detect and there may also be billions of universe, so having an advanced civilization in one out of every trillion planets may be no big deal, but for me it is.

Cosmic Loneliness

What makes humans exceptionally unique is our consciousness. We are the poets, writers, and musicians who give our universe life. We even have a super evolved feature called altruism, where we will sacrifice ourselves to help others. We are an incredibly amazing species. The one thing that really freaks me out is that our brains evolved to make us much smarter than we need for basic survival. That doesn't make sense to me because it breaks the rules of evolution, which only adapts enough to avoid prey, get a good meal, and reproduce. So, somewhere in our evolution there had to be some wild mutations that created a human with a bunch of extra brain mass. Or, maybe an earlier alien civilization altered us, or maybe there is a God who somehow lives in the non-physical world. Whatever the case may be, a consciousness developed in our big brains, and along with that I believe there must be responsibility.

Maybe other civilizations never become advanced because they kill themselves with war and pollution. I look at our own civilization and I grieve deeply. We are wasting our planet and the incredible miracle that is us. Our religions and obsession with living in the present are both great evils because they distract us from what is important, which is taking care of our planetary home and the billions of creatures that we coexist with.

Our Responsibilities

Through thousands of years of selective breeding we turned wolves into dogs, and as I write this I have three of them in my backyard. They have no control over the fact that humans are digging up ancient swamps and burning them. In fact, for 500 years we've been burning swamps to keep us warm, to give us light, and to power our transportation system and industry. At the same time, our human population finally hit 1 billion in 1804. Since that time population has doubled six times and is about to hit 8 billion. I have already seen population double once in my lifetime, and if I live long enough I could see it double again. All these people want to burn fossil fuel to make their lives more comfortable, and the end result is we are creating a disaster.

So, what I'm trying to say, is that we are a 1 in a trillion miracle and we have a great responsibility to care for our beautiful planet and all of its inhabitants, including my dogs. It took several billion years of evolution to get us to our current point and in just a few decades we are fucking the whole place up. The pollution in our air, soil, and water is bad enough. Fishing our oceans to depletion and destroying millions of other species is bad enough. But our greatest disaster is how we are releasing 37 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year. For billions of years we had a relatively stable climate that allowed life on our planet to flourish and advance; we fucked it all up in 50 years, and I believe it will take us 1,000 years to recover. WHAT IS WRONG WITH US? I believe the 1,000-year punishment to ourselves will become known as "The Era of Learning."

Humans are a stubborn species and we don't learn lessons easily. But I do believe some of us will survive the climate disaster and slowly work to repair the massive damage. More and more fossil-burning engines and plants will be taken offline and replaced with clean energy sources. Millions of trees will be planted to mitigate the damage, and slowly we will heal. The people leading this effort won't be the general, brainless, masses, but rather it will be the handful of activists who give a damn. To those of you who are climate change activists, I dedicate my blog to you.

As a species we are finally starting to do a fairly good job of avoiding war, so I'm seeing some progress. There is still the risk of bio terror, nuclear accidents, and astroids hitting us. It's been a long climb to get to where we are now and I believe that we'll continue to get through our challenges. We are a tough and hearty species — we can do it.

The Future

Perhaps it's our destiny to seed the universe, and I think it is. I used to oppose this idea because humans destroy and foul everything we touch, but after the Era of Learning I think we will have our act together enough to be responsible spacefarers. I hope so.

In the mean time, I can't say enough how I have the most deepest and incredible respect for activists who work for social, environmental, and animal welfare causes. You are the ones with the special callings and I love each of you deeply. You are the ones who are saving the world. Thank you.


Source:

Where Are All the Aliens?, Stephen Webb, Ted Talk, 2018

See My Related Blog Post: Yahweh and the Cosmic Egg, June 23, 2019

Photo: Guillermo Ferla

Ayn Rand Got It Wrong (Mostly)

Ayn Rand was an author, philosopher, and scriptwriter who died in 1982. She is most famous for her popular novels "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged." Her name and book "Atlas Shrugged" enjoyed a resurgence a few years ago when politicians Rand Paul, Paul Ryan, and Ted Cruz began talking about her work.

My initial take on "Atlas Shrugged" is that it promotes laissez-faire capitalism and the idea that companies should do what they want without government interference. The idea of both the book and Ms. Rand's philosophy is to allow individuals to obtain their highest objectives, which will add to the betterment of humankind.  The insinuation is that government regulation, the poor, and federal programs all put a stranglehold on individual rights and personal achievement. Her book is a complete flip of Karl Marx because she sees the capitalists as the good guys and the government and poor as "parasites," "looters," and "moochers," who want some benefits from the capitalist's labor. There are plenty of things wrong with this philosophy, most notably the deck of cards in this country is stacked in favor of the capitalist and the poor worker or welfare recipient is only wanting a little equity.

I do understand Ms. Rand's perspective. She lived in Russia during the Communist takeover and she saw her middle class family transformed from a good life to a hard life where they were required to share an apartment with two other families.

Objectivism

At the core of Ms. Rand's writings and lectures is a philosophy she developed called Objectivism. To put her ideas in my words I'll say that Objectivism is all about recognizing reality. We can only determine reality from our five senses and even then the facts in our world must get through our reality distortion filters. We taint our realities with all types of delusions that fit in with our preconceived notions of how the world should be. It is my lifelong struggle, and it should be everyone's, to get through the white noise of life and discover what reality really is. For me, reality is my religion.

In this part of her philosophy I agree totally. If everyone practiced critical thinking and made decisions based on rational thought rather than emotion, our society would be much better. But then her ideas take an unpleasant turn into the world of self-interest. First, she said that the pursuit of happiness should be the moral purpose of life. This ideas belies Christianity and my own philosophy. Christianity says the purpose of life is to "glorify God," by living a Jesus-like life. According to my philosophy, known as "Todd's Tenet," the purpose of life is to make a contribution, either by helping nature, other animals, or fellow humans. Yes, the Rand doctrine promotes self achievement to make the world better, but you can also be a greedy, selfish ass, and if that makes you happy, so be it. As for me, I have zero respect for people who live for themselves. Wealth does not impress me one iota and it's not a criteria I use for sizing someone up.

Granted, most people on this earth are just trying to survive, and have nothing left to give to others. But then there's people who focus on their own self-comfort, hedonism, and hoarding wealth. The Rand philosophy says this is okay, but I put these people in the EPS category — all they do is Eat, Poop, and Screw and make no contribution to the world. Sadly, 80 percent of humanity falls into this category.

Altruism

So, okay, hold on here. We are about to dive deep. Ms. Rand dismisses altruism as a standard for morality. But I am the opposite. Only a few animals in the animal kingdom show this highly advanced behavior and it's one of the few things that make humans stand out from other creatures. Altruism is what makes humans special. When Atlanta was flooded in September 2009 I think of the guy who drowned trying to save a complete stranger. He is the greatest hero to me. You can drive around in your luxury car and enjoy your big house, but I respect you not. You are nothing but a resource user and your large environmental footprint is simply sinking humanity faster.

However, having said all that, many people misinterpret what Ms. Rand means by "selfish." Indeed, we are all selfish because it is essential to our survival and happiness. For instance, Ms. Rand rightly argues that even love is a form of selfishness, and she's sort of right.  According to one of her essays, she argues that selfishness is a virtue because it enables one to achieve and guard their own well-being. Furthermore, she argues that one must have a serious concern for their own interests to have a "healthy, purposeful, and fulfilling life." I'm okay with this definition, but where things go wrong is when people put their own comfort and welfare over others and the natural world around them.

Environment

Sadly, Ayn Rand and her followers neither had nor have any love for the environment. A search through the Ayn Rand Institute website and similar sites show a general attitude that environmentalism is a move backwards in human progression. Now, Ms. Rand was a smart cookie and if she saw the current environmental problems now she might change her tune. Her followers trouble me because they are supposed to be supporting Objectivism, the search for reality, but they push it aside in their quest to push human comfort at the expense of the planet's health. This is the typical right-wing hypocrisy that I see every day.

In my research I found articles where Rand disciples support GMOs, oppose compact florescent lightbulbs, and say that a bigger environmental footprint is better, as opposed to a smaller one that would compromise our lifestyles. Rand lovers accuse us tree huggers of installing fear and guilt into people. So, listen to me, you objective Rand people — do the research yourself, turn off your pro-corporate filters, and if you think that we can triple human population, and if you think corporations can do whatever they want, and if you believe all that won't harm the environment, then you have lost your reality.

Religion

On March 29, 1974 Ayn Rand did a fantastic interview with James Day, focusing on the topic of "The Ideal Man." I encourage everyone to view this 25-minute interview because she succinctly and brilliantly summarizes her positions.

Both she and I have the exact position on religion, which is to say it's dangerous. Religion is where someone exempts themselves from reality and invents a story to explain something that's unknown. Sure, there are a lot of things we still don't know in this Universe but that is the purpose of science — to expand our knowledge. Ms. Rand sums it up perfectly when she says, "I don't believe that a lack of knowledge is a license to start inventing fantasies." She said it's not necessary for humans to be omnipotent, but we need to act appropriately with the knowledge that we do have.

Ms. Rand was a confirmed atheist and also pro-choice, so, again it's weird that Christians have no problem crawling into bed with pro-Rand capitalists.

Summary

Ms. Rand spent much of her career talking about a rational person who is guided exclusively by reason. The "ideal man" in her mind is independent and has great self-esteem. A key tenet to her philosophy is that all people must have the right to freely choose and determine their own destiny, without control or domination by anyone else. Now, I can understand her viewpoint since she grew up in the Soviet Union and saw the failure of collectivism first hand. In fact, I agree with her that communism and socialism are failed systems, but I also think capitalism is destined to fail, and especially her brand of hands-off capitalism. To the contrary of her beliefs, I don't think regulated capitalism strangles innovation, but, rather, it's the best of several bad economic systems. Unregulated capitalism offers short-term wealth but destroys the environment and exploits the working class, and ultimately self-destructs. Unregulated capitalism is where the wealth moves quickly to the top, and at least regulation slows the process down. And to say that regulation smothers innovation is not necessarily true since 60% of rich people inherited their wealth. We live in a country of spoiled 1-percenters who want even more, and justify their greed and selfishness with books like "Atlas Shrugged," which views any challenge to their avariciousness as mooching and parasitical. No wonder Paul Ryan digs this book, you squirmy little pig.

The only economic system that will ever work on this planet is one that is driven by the best human attribute, which is altruism, and NOT one that is driven by our worst attribute, which is blind selfishness at the expense of others. To me, wealth makes you look bad, not good. You can still be a fantastic innovator and live a simple life because that gives you humility, which is an attribute I respect.

Now, getting back to Jesus Christ. As I've said before, Jesus actually provides the model for a sustainable society and environment. Where I am troubled is when Jesus pushes his exclusivity stuff, basically saying accept me or else be a roasted weenie for a billion years. But I believe Jesus was just a man and I do not believe that the Universe has any supernatural element whatsoever. So, when I take the teachings of Jesus allegorically instead of literally it makes Him even greater to me. By that, I'm saying that when he talks about the "kingdom," he's talking about everyone who's accepted his model for living. In that term, I am a Christian. And Jesus was all about altruism and Ayn Rand was not.

I guess Todd the Toad is a philosopher too, and my vision is a society where we CONNECT to nature, and not DISCONNECT just because Ayn Rand says that makes us primitive. She is dead wrong. In my world grass lawns will be gone and we will all live in small houses, powered by clean energy. We will have vehicles built to last 20 years with zero emissions. We will lead simple lives and get our happiness through relationships and community and not by hoarding junk, and NOT by going to the mall every Christmas season and running up credit card debt. Materialism is the antithesis to both environmentalism and true Christianity, and even though Ms. Rand gives you the green light to reward yourself with junk, you will never find the happiness that she talks about.

Ms. Rand was a great philosopher and gave us at least a benchmark that allows us to compare and contrast our own feelings. Even though she has become a role model for right-wing ideologues she didn't think of herself as a conservative and only subscribed to one political belief — radical capitalism.

She was a firm believer in individualism, but it's unrealistic to talk about that when human population has nearly tripled in my lifetime and all our selfish actions are simply sinking our mother ship faster. She believed that government should only do one thing — protect individual rights. This belief makes the wild assumption that corporations will do the right things and a few will. But most will pillage and rape the environment and working class to make the maximum quarterly profit. See, Ayn, there is so much you didn't think about. These corporations that you loved are locusts and beasts that consume everything. Didn't you care about the future of your planet?

Sources:
The Atlas Society - the Virtue of Selfishness
The Ayn Rand Institute
Ayn Rand.org

Ayn Rand photo s ource (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, Link
Cover photo: Artur Lysyuk