Dr. Kelsey Johnson of the University of Virginia said it's extremely likely there is other intelligent life in the universe, but where is it?
Among the billions of planets, stars, solar systems and galaxies, is it possible Earth is not the only home for intelligent beings?
Dr. Kelsey Johnson of the University of Virginia seems to think it's not only possible that there's more life out there, it's probable.
“As a scientist, I think about that statistically,” Johnson told InsideEdition.com. “And I think the chances of it in terms of pure likelihood are extraordinarily high.”
The Fermi Paradox, coined by Italian scientist named Enrico Fermi in 1975, questions where exactly everyone is.
“Fermi’s paradox is the idea that given some basic assumptions, our galaxy ought to be teeming with life and that doesn’t appear to be true,” Johnson pondered. “Why do we have no evidence of alien visitors, given the high probability that life exists beyond our world?”
One solution is that life evolves, for better or for worse.
“Life has formed and it has evolved and it has become technologically advanced, but, once life becomes technologically advanced enough, it's doomed to destroy itself,” Johnson explained. “It's a sobering thought. A civilization would develop technologies to allow it to reach other worlds but would use that same technology to destroy itself.”
That leads one to question – when is our technologically advanced society headed for self-destruction? Has it already come close?
“We've only been in our technological adolescence of, ballpark, 100 years. And how many times in 100 years could we have destroyed ourselves? And in the next 1,000, how many times could we destroy ourselves?” she said.
And if they are still alive and well, somewhere in the universe, would they even care to visit?
“It would be sort of like us out for a walk in nature, walking through the woods and looking around, and suddenly noticing an ant on the path and stopping to hang out with it for a while and have a chat,” Johnson said. “It’s even more extreme than that.”
But is it possible we have more information on extraterrestrials than we know? And what exactly are they hiding at Area 51?
“What might they be hiding there that they don’t want people to see and what are the most likely explanations?” she asked. “Could it be [extra-terrestrial] life? Well I can’t rule that out. I haven’t been there. I don’t have top secret clearance. Could it be angels? Could it be flying unicorns?”
One thing is for sure: Storming Area 51 is probably not the best course of action to satisfy our collective curiosity.
“I feel like storming Area 51 is maybe not the best path forward,” Johnson said. “I just don’t want people to get killed.”
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