starlight

nobody looks at the stars anymore. i know i don't.

i, like all others, have always been fascinated with the mysteries of the universe. and, like everyone else, have asked myself countless times, if there really is, life in outer space.

perhaps it is human nature to seek out others, in fear of being alone. and in an event that a nuclear fallout should occur, the survivors would definitely band together in search of others to seek a new beginning. and in the end, arrive at the same decisions that caused the fallout in the first place. it's a vicious cycle.

it is man's nature to destroy himself.

we really don't stand a chance.

but that is beside the point.

in our various attempts to study other planets, scientists have launched probes to examine the environment in the adjacent planets.

mars, the red planet, has been deemed unfit for life, due to the thin air and the lack of water supply. the only way to be able to produce a stable supply of both breathable air and potable water is to discover a procedure to melt the polar ice caps on a planetary scale. such an undertaking, combined with the epic terraforming process with our current technological advances, will take us lifetimes to complete.

neptune, on the other hand, has been discovered to be in constant swing, as there appears to be an undying state of calamity. the whole planet, is enveloped with constant hurricanes, lightning storms, and other unpredictably hostile weather conditions.

unfit, for life.

you'll excuse the expression.

on a galaxial scale, considering such minimal singularities in radius, one would be perplexed by the enormous impact it has on the planetary conditions rendering the others uninhabitable.

surely, in a universe this diverse and this huge, there must be room for others. and in a ratio of X to a trillion, surely, there must be more than one.

and in the event that we discover the existence of other life forms, how will that affect us?

all aspects of thought will change, for sure. the way people perceive. the way scientists postulate. and most of all, it could mean the end of religion, for some.

maybe it is, in many ways, better to be kept in the dark.

perhaps there really is a higher power at work, keeping us from discovering these things. and with good reason.

we depict off-worlders as humanoid and semi-humanoid forms with apparent alien features for one reason. that is because we earthlings have concluded that their homeworld's planetary conditions would have to be very different from ours.

higher gravity would result to smaller and thicker forms, lack of humanly breathable air would result to mutated lungs or.. no lungs at all. non humanoid aliens, would have to be psychic. or must have some sort of telekinesis. this is because of the fact that for a species to survive, there must be a way to create detail in all things physical or material. or, they must have a good sense of evolution to begin with. and so on.

we believe that aliens who visit this planet will have to be technologically advanced in terms of propulsion technology. allow me to make an example.

in comparison to our technology, and setting aside planetary factors which may or may not be appropriate, travelling at light speed is currently improbable. it has always been known that great speeds are a destructive force. in our planet, it breaks the sound barrier. because of the air, and the sound, which is also a derivative of air, which are both mediums. an object, travelling at the speed of light, must be durable enough to withstand disentegration. because most objects disintegrate if they travel any faster. that is, in our planet. it may be different in a vacuum, which is outer space.

also, even an object as small as a bullet, travelling at such ridiculous speeds, will ignite matter caught within an unbelievably disproportionate blast radius. imagine how much damage a bigger object can do.

light, is neither an object, nor a body. it is a form of energy, which is, immaterial. and we have been baffled for centuries now, as to how the molecules could travel at such speeds. if they are indeed, molecules. therefore, any object, in hopes of accelerating to the speed of light, must be light, itself.

you can get lost in such thoughts. it may not take you anywhere far, but surely, these things are worth pondering about.

because nobody thinks about these things anymore. and in a way, it exudes some sort of peace of mind. even for a little while.

plus.. you get to be cool.