Beasts or gods; why a War Of The Worlds is very unlikely

One of the scenarios that is often played out in science fiction is what would happen if we encountered an alien civilization.  Often, we are portrayed as defending Earth from an alien invasion or fighting battles with the aliens in a war.  Another scenario, commonly found in more culturally introspective fiction, focuses on what our … Continue reading Beasts or gods; why a War Of The Worlds is very unlikely

Why extraterrestrial civilizations may be exceedingly rare

There's been a lot of news lately about the estimate of habitable planets in our galaxy.  It sounds like there may be 40 billion planets in the habitable zones around their stars.  This is cool stuff!  The nearest one might be only  12 light years away. It's very tempting from this news, to conclude that … Continue reading Why extraterrestrial civilizations may be exceedingly rare