DESPITE THE FACT THAT OUR GALAXY HAS HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF STARS AND PLANETS ALMOST EVERYWHERE, IT ISN'T OBVIOUS WE HAVE COMPANY, ACCORDING TO MURDIN, WHO PREVIOUSLY IDENTIFIED THE FIRST STELLAR BLACK HOLE (CYGNUS X-1) IN OUR GALAXY.
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Murdin, a high-energy astrophysicist who received the 2012 Royal Astronomical Society Award and in 1988 was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire), reports doing a one-eighty during the writing of his book and now takes a doubtful view of space aliens, especially those "with big brains".
Murdin's book is interesting in a variety of ways, including that it is strongly consistent with two key trends. The first, a megatrend, is that interest in space aliens (as indicated by science, the media, etc.) increases rapidly as we approach a Maslow Window; CLICK: "Citizen Hearing on Disclosure Supports Maslow Forecasts."
The second trend is a growing science-based view -- based on new science about the Earth, Solar System, and our Galaxy -- that we may indeed be alone in our Galaxy; Click: "Is Earth Unique? What this "Benchmark Moment" Means for ETs and our Future"
Murdin rightly disposes of the Drake Equation, which astronomers have tried to use for ~50 years to estimate the number (N) of high-tech civilizations in our Galaxy, by quoting ASU physicist Paul Davies who, at a 2011 conference in London, described N as "utterly moot," and concludes that:
It is an unsatisfactory position to be in after fifty years of hard work
It's interesting that Murdin chooses to not mention the the well-known ideas of Richard Gott (the Copernican Argument) or Andrew Watson (anthropic model for development of intelligence) to illuminate N. They support Murdin's bottomline that N is most likely very small.
I was surprised that Murdin included a description of the Roswell UFO story in a book primarily about astrobiology, and then surprised again when he casually dismissed it ("inconsistencies, hoaxes"). Actually some of the compelling testimony associated with Roswell and the strange history of government cover-ups (even self-admitted!) to the present day, make Roswell of continuing interest -- "although not necessarily in the context of ETs".
The reason is that Murdin's and others' science-based belief in small N argues against accidental crashes by clumsy space aliens. CLICK: "New Science and Prospects for Visits By Extraterrestrials."
Murdin saves his best stuff for the last chapter when he admits that,
I changed my mind as I wrote this book I began thinking on general grounds that it was impossible for us to be the only intelligent life in the Cosmos. I was rather surprised to find that it is conceivable that intelligent life on Earth is, to all intents and purposes, unique.
In the stimulating spirit of the approaching 1960s-style Maslow Window and especially of the Rare Earth Hypothesis, he leaves the door open slightly but continues to point to very low N:
If there is complex life elsewhere, it would seem that it is very rare, quite likely not as advanced as humans (possibly hardly advanced at all), and probably a very long way away indeed.
Source: project-ufo.blogspot.com
