In our arrogance

There was big and little buzz in the news yesterday about the possibility of water in liquid form on Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. The part that has a number of folks in the scientific community interested is that, with what we know of the requirements for life to exist, two of the elements (heat, water in a liquid state) exist on a rock other than our own in this planetary system. Could it be that there is life there and, if so, what sort of life is it?

Ultimately, the question becomes is there life elsewhere? Is there intelligent life somewhere other than our own terra firma? That question came up during one of the radio broadcasts I listened to yesterday.

Really, people, wake up! We know that the galaxy we're in is vast and that the universe our galaxy is in makes this planet we call home look smaller than the tip of the cliched needle in the haystack. We've seen this fact in those beautiful photos that continue to be taken by orbiting and planet-bound telescopes. Are we truly so egocentric to think we're the only intelligent life going on in and beyond the Milky Way?

While I'm going on about that, what about the possibility of intelligent life as we don't know it evolving under conditions which we would consider impossible for life to even begin. Do we really think carbon-based beings are the only ones that can sprout any smarts?

Our thinking has changed over the millenia we've been able to contemplate our existence, from thinking beyond our village to a whole region, a whole country, a whole continent, a whole world. During that time, our ancestors managed to stare up at the sky and wonder if the universe really revolved around us or if there was something more, otherwise we would never have learned about the little bit we know beyond our planet's boundaries. Science fiction writers have creatively hypothesized about life beyond our tiny corner of the cosmos for more than a century, and I won't even get into all the sightings of UFOs and extraterrestrial beings which may or may not have credence. I'm just going to ask again, are we really still so ignorant or arrogant to think that we're alone?