The truth is out there (somewhere): Aliens may exist…but only in a galaxy far, far away, says Brian Cox
- Professor Brian Cox says aliens may exist and even be widespread
- But intelligent life and civilizations like ours could be “extremely rare”.
- The TV scientist said he was “sure” there were civilizations out there
According to Professor Brian Cox, aliens could really exist, but not in our galaxy.
The TV scholar was asked about US Congressman Andre Carson’s comments last week that UFOs are “a potential national security threat” that are “real” and “need to be investigated.”
Professor Cox suggested that intelligent beings might be out there – but that civilizations like ours are “extremely rare”, perhaps “on average one per galaxy”.
Professor Brian Cox said he was “sure” extraterrestrial life exists in the universe, but that civilizations could be quite rare
US Congressman Andre Carson last week oversaw the first public UFO hearing in decades (pictured)
He told the BBC’s Sunday morning program: “There are two trillion galaxies in the observable universe, I’m sure there are others out there.”
But he added of life on Earth: “It looks like we have good evidence that life existed 3.8 billion years ago, and the first civilization to appear on Earth was around now.
So it took nearly four billion years to go from the origin of life on Earth to a civilization.
“That’s a third of the age of the universe, and that’s a long time, which might indicate that microbes are widespread, but things like us are extremely rare.”
Professor Cox said that while microbes may be common on other planets, civilizations are much rarer.
He said: “If you were to force me to guess, I would say microbes could be anywhere – that’s why we’re looking for life on Mars, for example.
“But in terms of intelligence, one should think of the origin of life on Earth.”
When humans inhabit the only world in a galaxy with 400 billion suns, that puts us in charge of climate change, Professor Cox added.
Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, commented: “Our galaxy is so vast, with so many different types of stars and planets orbiting it, that it’s statistically possible that life originated on another planet.
“We know that there is no civilization in the solar system other than ours – so any life that evolved to develop interstellar travel would have to travel billions of kilometers.
“This would take many thousands of years, almost certainly longer than the 200,000 or so years since modern humans evolved.
“I would hope that any life form that has evolved to such an advanced stage would realize that peace, truth, justice and integrity would be a far better blueprint for civilization than war, terror, injustice and lies.”