Renowned British physicist Brian Cox has shared his hope of discovering alien life in the near future. According to the 49-year-old researcher, the chances of finding microbial organisms in outer space are high, and he also hinted at the high possibility of discovering such unicellular beings either from Mars or the Europa.
The first contact is near
Brian Cox also made it clear that the chances of finding multi-cellular intelligent life forms are quite rare in the coming years. As per Cox, life becoming multicellular and ultimately intelligent is an entirely different question, and all you need to know is whether any form of life, let it be unicellular or multicellular exist outside of Earth.
"It's quite possible that civilizations are very rare, and that has political ramifications. You have to have a population that's able to process the idea that we're not alone in the universe. To many of us, that would be a profound realization," said Cox, reports Express UK.
Speculations surrounding Fermi Paradox
The comments of Brian Cox are based on the famous Fermi Paradox, which says due to the age and vast size of our Universe, there are possibilities of an advanced civilization which are living somewhere in the outer space. But, why have not they contacted us if they still exist?
To solve this paradox, scientists claim that most of the civilizations used to kill themselves once its size reaches a certain limit. Scientists who believe in this theory claim that nuclear weapons or other warfares will destroy the entire civilization once the size reaches its limit, and this may soon happen with humans too.
What will happen if we make the first contact with intelligent life forms?
Researchers in METI has already sent signals to the outer space which are meant to attract aliens. But physicists like Stephen Hawking consider it a foolish move since it will invite mass extinction to our planet. As per Hawking, if aliens are capable of detecting these signals which result in their Earthly visit, they are undoubtedly more powerful than us, which will primarily result in mass devastation.
