The idea of an independent or second genesis for the emergence of life comes from the notion that, whether consistent with Genesis as described in the Bible or an evolutionary origin of life on Earth, to date we know of only one planet where this phenomenon has occurred. Yet what if extraterrestrial life were found? It would be a discovery of staggering implications. We have been thinking of animate forms in all their variety as strictly Earth-based. Yet obviously if it could develop elsewhere it might arise almost anywhere the conditions were right. Life would no longer be unique to our particular planet. There are estimated to be trillions of worlds in the universe. How likely is it that in all those spheres ours is the only one with life? At this time we may still sort of toot our own horns as being really special. Maybe we are, or maybe not so much. Perhaps one simply needs to look in places that have things in common with our own early Earth to have a decent chance of discovering more "alien" life. Probably it would not look or act like us, but that it is alive and hanging out elsewhere would be sufficient to demonstrate we no longer are quite so extraordinary. For our egos, it might be a healthy reality check.

Most people are familiar with SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Many years of effort and over a billion dollars have so far been expended in this quest to find both an independent origin of life and smart beings elsewhere in the universe. Yet, notwithstanding the dramatic hype behind it, SETI is unlikely to discover life from other planets in the foreseeable future. Space is just too vast, and the odds of a bright species wanting to communicate with us or sending out signals inadvertently that we could detect in a reasonable period within a span of time as short as a few decades would appear remote. For one thing, it takes many years, decades, or even hundreds or thousands of years for light to merely travel between potential intelligent sources of radio waves and our receivers on Earth. Were we to ever take note of messages from aliens on other worlds, we would then need a little while to decide on if and how we would respond. Messages going back, then, would take equally long to finally be received by the off-world species. Unlike the instantaneous ubiquity today of texts or e-mails, these new communications, conceivably the most momentous ever for our kind, might require so much time between sending and receiving in each direction that whole civilizations might rise and fall in the interim. If global warming becomes as horrendous for us as many now anticipate, there might well no longer be a SETI staff to "hear" the return message when one at last arrives.

Of course, there is a small chance SETI will be successful. Perhaps another species is looking for us too. To find us in the near infinity of the cosmos might be far more difficult than to spy a proverbial needle in the haystack. However, the chances are at least greater than zero. And if the beings thus contacted follow-up with a visit, such an encounter may not be as wonderful as some imagine. Native Americans might, if they could, prefer to have avoided the results of their first interactions with the then technologically advanced Europeans, after which their numbers were reduced by 80-90% and their cultures forever a shadow of what they had been. Stephen Hawking suggested we might not come off too well in a meeting with those who may be millions of years ahead of us. Is it wise to be advertising our whereabouts? Chances are, though, any beings capable of traversing the distances involved would not bother with or care about us, any more than we would likely enjoy sitting down to tea with lemurs.

An artist conception of the early Earth setting for first life (sciencenews.org)

A less obscure possibility for confirming an independent origin of life might be by using unmanned craft and robots to explore and sample other worlds here in our solar system. Both Mars and the Jupiter moon, Europa, among other candidates, would seem to be good prospects for life other than on Earth. Each sphere has liquid water at least part of its year. It looks likely that somewhere in or on each world there could be the conditions necessary for at least primitive life forms. Our own planet's early history had environments that might have seemed completely inhospitable to the development of living things. Much of the surface was regularly bombarded with space debris. The land was also often in volcanic turmoil. The atmosphere was composed mostly of hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, and water vapor, but no oxygen. Yet life got its start on this world and under these conditions. To this day, there are forms of life called "Extremophiles" that can live in water trapped inside rocks, or near scalding water vents on the seabed, in our water heaters (and how did they get there?), in caves so acidic that humans, even in protective suits, can remain there only for relatively short periods, etc. So it is reasonable to suppose that, despite harsh settings on other worlds, life might have gotten a foothold there also. With rapid advancements in space technologies, computing, and robotics, the confirmation of at least simple extraterrestrial life forms may be only decades away.

Finally, there are remote investigations of distant worlds via the analysis of data NASA and other space agencies with their telescopes and spectrometers can obtain for interpretation here on Earth. For example, certain kinds of early life on our planet were responsible for almost all of the oxygen now in our atmosphere, without which, naturally, we ourselves would not be living, breathing, and producing many new generations of Homo sapiens. If the chemical signature of large quantities of atmospheric oxygen can be found on distant worlds, we can deduce that living things might have evolved there too. In fact, one world, about 100 light-years away, has been discovered that has oxygen in its atmosphere. Much more research is required and with better telescopes and spectrometry to get practical information along these lines. Another avenue of potential investigation is toward finding other worlds with seasonal changes in the amount of atmospheric oxygen.

How far are our scientists and engineers away from confirming life elsewhere by one or more of the above methods? Who can say? Yet the possibility is there for such a startling development within my lifetime, so I am hopeful of its occurring in these next few years.

And even if life elsewhere were never discovered, the pursuit of it would not be in vain. Who knows what else may be found in the process of that search? In failing to locate a new way to India, Columbus discovered the entire Western Hemisphere. Moreover, as a species we crucially need a more cosmic perspective. Think how different things felt after we could see Earth images captured from the Moon's surface. If we remain divided among our sundry nationalisms, regionalisms, party affiliations, races, religious fragmentations, classes, cultures, or sects, the future is bleak. We can be an amazingly brilliant and generous type of being if we "boldly go where no man [or woman] has gone before." On the other hand, if we persist in seeing merely our particular tribes as worthy and in demonizing those we perceive to be "other," the future holds only catastrophe.