They go on and on about how thrilling and exciting the discovery of extraterrestrial life forms would be. But it isn’t at all.
For I. if you believe in evolution, the likelihood of
intelligent life existing somehwere in the universe is almost zero.
II., why even believe that if such life existed, it would
be good? “Good” in the sense that it’s not just a planet that resembles,
say, Indonesia, or the Middle East? Where you have torture and war
and poverty and all kinds of injustices on a daily basis? In other
words, given how awful our own world is—the Bible teaches it itself:
Gal. 1:4, 1 John 5:19, Ps. 84:6—, why expect that
other worlds would be any better?
Would scientists still rejoice upon finding such a planet? I don’t
think so.
One Catholic astronomer said maybe we humans are the one sheep that needs saving, whereas the rest of the supposedly existing intelligent beings are still in contact with God. This cannot be believed, since science tells us that this universe is winding down. According to a footnote in one of Georg Huntemann’s works, only the Orthodox Church actually teaches that the whole cosmos is fallen; Catholics and Protestants have not been able to reach that conclusion.
It’s not hard to imagine that aliens would be as awful as we human beings
are, and that we would simply slaughter each other. After all, the
world once was a lot “smaller,” and we know that even if modern
politically correct history is bunk, there certainly was quite
a lot of killing going on when new people and tribes were discovered.
So why would it be any different with another intelligent species?
This brings me to the third and most important point.
III., the most important point: it would not change a thing. Yes, it really would not change anything about children dying of leukemia at age seven, or of people being tortured, raped, abused and whatnot. It would not change my life at all. I would still lead this awful life. This is why Kierkegaard is correct: existence itself is too important to waste time on anything else. The last great thinker who tackled these questions in an honest manner was Heidegger.
Why do I write this? Vox Day mentioned in his Darkstream The Demolition of Darwin that the world is stranger than we think or so, and that Genesis would explain phenomena like UFOs etc. This is hardly relevant in a world where we have so many injustices and horrors that we would even waste brain cells on such ephemeral issues that are of no importance. After all, Kant already thought about extraterrestrials, but he did not waste much time on it, since his Kritiken were and are of a far more important nature.
Lastly, I firmly believe that no one who is currently suffering—no beggar in Thailand or Indonesia or anyone anywhere really—would waste even one second on the question if there are intelligent life forms somewhere.
(Apart from the fact that the belief aliens had visited us some time
ago and were never discovered by anyone, or aliens even influenced
our oh so important history is so deluded and ridiculous that not
even a five-year old would believe this nonsense. What are they
supposed to do, watch people eat? Copulate? Sit in parks, listening
to music or whatever?
Man is so full of himself, it’s a wonder
God has not already called it quits and simply destroyed this place –
but this time for real.)
Some escolios that will bring you back down to earth by the greatest and deepest thinker of the 20th century, Nicolás Gómez Dávila:
The soul surpasses the world, whereas the world encompasses humanity.
The insignificance of humanity renders “philosophies of history” ridiculous, whereas the infinite price of each human soul vindicates religion.Where is the world headed?
Toward the same transcience from which it comes.The importance it attributes to man is the enigma of Christianity.
What is difficult is not to believe in God, but to believe that we matter to Him.
Our soul has a future.
Humanity has none.