(ORDO NEWS) — Scientists note that our search for life in space may be nullified due to the fact that we do not have a clear definition of what life is.
Astronomers have been staring into the night sky in an attempt to study the universe for thousands of years, but only recently have we developed technology that allows us to “see” the cosmos farther than our eyes can see.
And yet, with all the telescopes and equipment at our disposal, we still have not found signs of life on any planet other than ours.
But maybe we’re looking for the wrong things in the wrong places. Some scientists argue that we do not need to look far for aliens, and they can indeed live among us on Earth, but in another dimension.
According to the theory of ufologists, who are also supported by Jacques Valli, who created the first computer map of Mars for NASA in 1963, aliens can exist in other “realities” or “dimensions”.
Without a clear definition of what life is, scientists and astronomers can make the huge mistake of assuming that life outside of our planet is exactly the same as on Earth.
Speaking to The Guardian newspaper, astrobiologist Helen Sharman said: “There are billions of stars in the universe that should support all kinds of life forms.
Will they, like you and me, be made of carbon and nitrogen? Probably not. Maybe they are already here and now, we just don’t see them.”
Geobiologist Victoria Orfan of the California Institute of Technology has also suggested that some living things may exist in a kind of “shadow biosphere”.
Orphan believes that scientists who are looking for life based on the prevailing dogma that all living things are based on the same handful of chemical elements may miss a lot, not realizing that there are organisms that “do something a little different than the others.”
NASA’s unofficial definition of life is “a self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution.”
Astrobiologist Lynn Rothschild of NASA’s Ames Research Center said: “You can’t hunt something if you don’t know what it is.
I believe we have only one definition of life. She continues: “I believe that we have only one definition of life. I wonder if life is exactly how we define it?
Meanwhile, Cambridge University zoologist Arik Kershenbaum, author of The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy, explains: “NASA needs a clear definition of life in order to know which life detectors to use on its missions.
It would be wrong to assume that the biochemistry we are familiar with, “That’s what we’ll find on other planets.”
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