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Considering the insurmountable odds that any of us are alive and here on earth⏤is a miracle. We are each a walking, living, breathing miracle. Yet he day-to-day grind makes it easy for us to lose grasp of the big picture of life. What is our role here?
The New Book: How Everything Happened Including Us
The story begins a very long time ago, 13.7 billion years ago, about 5.3 billion before our planet was born 4.5 billion years ago. It then took about another 4 billion years for Earth to become teeming with simple, single-celled organisms which eventually evolved into you and me. This involved a very long process as well.
What about the likelihood of the existence of other “intelligent life”? Or as the late Stephen Hawking quipped: I believe alien life is quite common in the Universe, although intelligent life is less so. Some say it has yet to appear on planet Earth. So first, let’s assume that by intelligent life we’re referring to creatures we might be able to engage in meaningful communications if not actually enjoy socializing with; particularly if they do not pose a threat to self-esteem and wellbeing.
Larry Bell is an endowed professor of space architecture at the University of Houston where he founded the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture (SICSA).