Life Out There Book

The controversy about the alleged fossil bacteria found in a meteorite, possibly of Martian origin, still rages; Michael White's new book opens with a competent account of the controversy. He is a fair-minded partisan for the view that there is life elsewhere in the universe and that some of it will be intelligent life of a sort whose intelligence we could recognise and do business with; he rejects the idea that intelligence on earth is the product of events so unlikely as not to be duplicated elsewhere. We are faced with environmental collapse and other possibilities of extinction; if we can make it through, so will others have done. While faster than light travel is impossible, White explains how there may be ways of cheating the rules of the universe. This book argues the case for attempting communication with aliens--what, realistically, is there to lose?--and for pursuing space exploration; technologies will develop that make other solar system real estate habitable. New astronomical techniques, which White explains thoroughly, have established the existence of other solar systems. White is not a True Believer in past visits by aliens, but he examines the case made by Daniken and his imitators with genial objectivity.Read More