I Always Look On The Black Side

Supposing We Knew That Up There Is Some Alien Civilization And It's Sending Radio Signals Our Way We Should Not Tell The Public Where That Is. We Could Say That We've Picked Up A Signal, But We Should Not Tell Them Where For The Simple Reason That Anybody Could Commandeer A Radio Telescope, Set Themselves Up As Some Self Appointed Spokesperson Of Mankind And Start Beaming All Sorts Of Crazy Messages Back To The Aliens.

It Is Possible That A Scientific Discovery Will Be Made That Humans Will Later Regret Because It Has Awful Consequences. The Problem Is, We Probably Would Not Know In Advance And, Once The Discovery Is Made, It Cannot Be Undiscovered.

If We Knew We Were Not Alone In The Universe It Would Have A Very, Very Deep Impact On Our Worldview, On Our Understanding Of Our Place In The Universe.

In Science, A Healthy Skepticism Is A Professional Necessity, Whereas In Religion, Having Belief Without Evidence Is Regarded As A Virtue.

Most Research Into Life's Murky Origin Has Been Carried Out By Chemists. They've Tried A Variety Of Approaches In Their Attempts To Recreate The First Steps On The Road To Life, But Little Progress Has Been Made. Perhaps That Is No Surprise, Given Life's Stupendous Complexity.