Customer Reviews

Are We Alone?: Philosophical Implications Of The Discovery Of Extraterrestrial Life

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Paul Davies' book Are We Alone? is deceptively simple. While its purported topic is the possibility of alien life, it also covers and covers more extensively the various theories of sentience, what it is, why it is, and how common it might be. It also explains the anthropic principle, which uses the fact that we exist to explain why the universe is as it is. The volume is a little too short to cover the topics well, but it is definitely very lucid. It also contains a very nice bibliography, a veritable who's who of cosmology and the extraterrestrial question, including Barrow and Tipler (The Anthropic Cosmological Principle), Crick (Life Itself), Dawkins (The Blind Watchmaker), Drake (Is Anyone Out There?), Gould (Wonderful Life), Hoyle (The Intelligent Universe), and Sagan (The Cosmic Connection). This book definitely makes a fine start to understanding the topic of intelligent life and the possibility of its existence elsewhere.

This book turned out to be a philosophy book that discusses the origin of life, the evolution of technology and the subsequent advancement of this civilization across space. It is well written, very entertaining and yes, it makes you think. I could paraphrase ideas set forth by this book, but it's better if you read the book for yourself...it's a small book and a quick read, so buy it NOW! You will not be sorry! This book is much more interesting and satisfying than Frank Drake's book on SETI (Is Anyone Out There?). I gave my copy to my friend and am tempted to buy another copy for me to reread!

If you are the kind of person who thinks that little green men are a scientific certainty and that you have seen flying saucers yourself on at least a dozen occasions, well this is the sort of book you can avoid reading, because it does not add a gram of proof and encouragement to your cherished, wishful beliefs.

And if, on the contrary, you are the kind of person who looks down to even the most moderate and rationally controlled hypothesis about the existence of extraterrestrial forms of intelligence as to something bordering blasphemy or evil antireligious spiritual leanings, well this is the sort of book you can as well avoid reading for it really sets such possibility in the realistic frame of an open-minded philosophical attitude, with tons of anthropocentric glory crumbling down from the high pedestal of dogma and inviolable principles.

But, as I hope, you are the kind of person who likes to explore fundamental issues of our contemporary worldview without any preliminary bigotry or ideological bias in your mind and who, in addition, is able to enjoy the pleasure of a highly entertaining style of writing, well this book promises to be two hours of your time spent in a rewarding intellectual company!

It's up to you to choose or feel to which extent your innermost sensibility joins your intelligence in more or less admitting such a possibility as alien life and consciousness: but, as usual, what really matters is not convictions or opinions which may always vary in the course of time according to further personal meditation or new scientific evidence. What really matters is that books like this offer you a rich and provoking schema which you can use for ever as a creative mind map in developing your own thoughts and your own philosophical questioning.

This is an excellent discussion of the concept of extraterrestrial life and its philosophical implications for humanity.This book also delves into the areas of complex systems, emergent phenomena and consciousness.I highly recommend it for anyone with even a mild interest in this area

In the 1990's Laurance Rockefeller became interested in paranormal phenomena, especially with UFOs and Extraterrestrial visitation. He funded scientific investigations and organized and funded a briefing document to record the best evidence (Open Minds journalist, Antonio Huneeus was a key contributor to this document). Rockefeller also conferred with the Clintons regarding the release of files by President Bill Clinton.

through the Freedom of Information Act that showed Rockefeller was soliciting help from Hillary's staff on drafting a document to President Bill Clinton in 1995. The title of the document was: Lifting Secrecy on Information About Extraterrestrial Intelligence as Part of the Current Classification Review.

In August of 1995 the Clintons made a trip to Rockefeller's JY Ranch near Jackson's Hole, Wyoming. Many speculate that UFOs and ETs must have been a subject of conversation during the visit. The pictures of the trip show Hillary Clinton reading this book.

The book is excellent if you want to know the affect aliens visiting earth would have on society, religion and government.

We are not alone. 4 space shuttle pilots, 3 men who walked on the moon, and thousands of DoD employees have direct evidence of US government interaction with aliens for at least 50 years.

I found this book extremely thought- provoking. I do not have a strong scientific background and so tend to let some of the more technical arguments go by me. But I did follow the overall thrust of Davies argument and he does make a good case for the idea that the discovery of extraterrestial life is an essence a positive phenomenom. In the concluding paragraph of his fifth chapter , on 'Consciousness'he writes," If this view is correct if consciousness is a basic phenomenon that is part of the natural outworking of the laws of the universe, then we can expect it to have emerged elsewhere.The search for alien beings can therefore be seen as a test of the world view that we live in a universe that is progressive, not only in the way that life and consciousness emerge from primeval chaos, but also in the way that mind plays a fundamental role. In my opinion, the most important upshot of the discovery of extraterrestial life would be to restore to human beings something of the dignity of which science has robbed them. Far from exposing Homo sapiens as an inferior creature in the vast cosmos, the certain existence of alien beings would give us cause to believe that we, in our humble way, are part of a larger, majestic process of cosmic self- knowledge."
Davies also in the course of the book makes arguments for the idea that human venturing into the cosmos, true space travel of any great significance is impossible. ie that physically we are not about to conquer the cosmos. He too suggests that the whole cosmic process of creation might be seen as one of evolution toward greater and greater complexity. In this again Humanity's meeting another kind of higher intelligence would seem to him to fit into this scenario of an overall Cosmic Process in which the development is toward a kind of total Consciousness.
I strongly recommend this work not simply for the ideas it raises but for its clarity in argument and presentation.
I would just add that a ' meeting with other minds more advanced than us' has always seemed to me a troubling possibility as I in my childlike way assumed it must mean that this compromises God's special relationship with humanity. I now am perhaps less troubled by this than by the possibility that we human beings are not going to wait to meet the ' higher consciousnesses without' but rather invent them from within. And this too raises the question of the ultimate meaning and mission of mankind .Here I turn in my thought to the Jewish idea of Mankind working with God to help complete Creation to do the Tikkun Olam which is the fixing of the world. But how this is to work out exactly and what this would mean should we truly meet minds of another civilization I would not now even begin to speculate about.
This book helps raise questions of ultimate significance, and in this sense I believe it an extremely worthwhile one.

This short book, based on a series of lectures, offers philosophical and logical insights into the question of extraterrestrial life and intelligence. Davies begins with admirably concise chapters on the history of SETI, "Extraterrestrial Microbes," and the implications of detecting alien intelligences. He then addresses biological and evolutionary arguments opposing the search, coming down firmly on the side of life and intelligence being emergent properties of the universe. His long excursion into the nature of consciousness, illustrated by some rather crude diagrams, wanders away from this main line of argument until its end, when Davies returns to the idea that consciousness is an emergent property.

Davies, who goes far deeper into the religious aspects of the search than most authors, has strongly held views that challenge the clear separation between the scientific and religious aspects of this topic. He connects the search with spirituality. The theme of alien beings acting as a conduit to the Ultimate, he writes, touches a deep chord in the human psyche.

If you are looking for a general introduction to the search and its implications, you will find more comprehensive treatments elsewhere. This book does not pretend to be detached; it presents a well argued point of view. Even if you don't agree with Davies, he deserves a reading.

Paul Davies tries to answer some essential questions: is there extraterrestrial life (ET)? What would happen if we discover it? What would be the character of that life? Would it be conscious?
His answer is: the most plausible outcome of conservative (!) assumptions implies that there are an infinite number (not more than that) of identical creatures in the universe.

An important consequence of the discovery of ET could be the undermining of the Neo-Darwinist theory that life and consciousness are totally arbitrary emerging phenomena. It could indicate that there is a progressive evolutionary trend in the universe.
In fact, Paul Davies sees it already on our planet and calls it the law of increasing complexity. This increasing complexity creates the brain and consciousness. For consciousness, for him, is a basic characteristic of the universe.

But why or how does consciousness emerge? As with other authors who tackled this question, Paul Davies gives no answer.

This book is one long supposition. As long as we don't discover or get in contact with ET, all his questions will stay unanswered.

This book reads like a thriller. Not be missed.

This short work gives a very clear introduction and summary to the issues of cosmic life, and in the process provokes a very intriguing series of questions about evolutionary theory. For the consideration that life has a cosmic basis immediately calls into question the contingency of life's emergence claimed by Neo-Darwinists. Davies tackles this and other questions very directly, and is especially open on the question of evolution, where other writers tend to speak in signs. "If human intelligence is just an evolutionary accident...then there is no reason to expect that life on other planets willever develop intelligence as far as we have..." There is also an interesting discussion of the type of doubt Alfred Wallace had about the descent of man, and the many talents in a potential state that seem hard to account for by natural selection. Very interesting book from two perspectives, SETI and evolutionary theory.

This book is a very good overview of current debate and discovery concerning various aspects of the nature and origin of life. One of the best things about this book is the level of detail, sourced from a variety of disciplines. Another strength is Paul Davies' impassioned, clear, reasoned and objective writing style. He discusses all the various arguments, subjects them to critical analysis, and formulates conclusions based on the available evidence. It is delightful to read an overview of scientific debate which doesn't jump to sides, but critically examines alternative arguments, regardless of source. In other words, biology, physics, mathematics, history, poetry, geology, chemistry, biochemistry, theology, philosophy, etc etc (in no particular order) all have something to say about this topic. Moreover, Paul Davies doesn't seem to need to sell or convince anybody of his ideas. His job isn't on the line, he doesn't need the money, and he has enough experience to realise just how complicated processes in the universe can be. He is delightfully distant, and objectively impassioned. He simply reasons, and allows the reader to agree, or disagree. His knowledge of the various arguments are also pretty sound.

Paul Davies outlines the arguments both for and against intelligent life being common in the universe including Carter's Anthropic principle, Fermi's paradox, Darwinism, chaos theory, edge-of-chaos theory, Boolean algebra, and quantum indeterminism. There is an interesting discussion on Van Neumann Machines (intelligent space probes), and artificial intelligence. Keen advocates of these ideas, Mr Davies notes, are reminded that there may be more to the technology required in sending these intelligent machines off into space than we might think. Chaos and complexity theory might have something to say about the Von Neumann machine, as it did with several other bungled scientific endeavours.

Panspermia-the spreading of micro-organisms between star systems- is also discussed. It is a growing idea. For example, it was only recently reported (too recent for this book, unfortunately) that scientists have re-created conditions in space in the early formation of the solar system, and came up with more complex organic molecules than those previously found from early "Earth-soup" experiments. Maybe, life originated in the turbulent conditions of space-in which case it should be relatively common in the universe, developing further on planets where conditions are favourable. Furthermore, it was recently reported that microbes from a 300 million-year-old gas bubble were released, and promptly started to reproduce. Put these inside a large asteroid and send it off into space, and you could theoretically seed planets on the other side of the galaxy.

Mr Davies' thinks intelligent life is relatively common in the universe, based on the notion that it is the "natural outcome of the laws of physics"-but notes that perhaps the most compulsive argument against this is neo-Darwinism. (Although not all neo-Darwinists would agree). He is not a strict Darwinist, in the sense that he suspects something is incomplete-not wrong- about Darwinism. One recent notion for example to support intelligent being common, is that of the `edge of chaos', whereby some systems exist at a kind of boundary of `order', and are highly sensitive to very small changes-they can self-organise and/or rapidly jump in complexity, and/or revert to chaos rather easily. These systems have important implications to the nature and origin of life, in that they imply a directional component to the natural workings of the universe. Mr Davies does note however, that biologists are unhappy with any kind of `direction' in the `chaos' that is evolution, lest `Design' should slip in the back door. But the problem with this view is that `chaos' is not simple. The universe, Mr Davies suggests, tends towards complexity and organisation-it is fundamentally built-in to the physics of the universe. In which case, intelligence should arise as part of the normal processes of the laws of physics. These ideas are in stark contrast to the commonly held view that intelligence is so highly improbable even given abundant simple life, that it is unlikely to occur elsewhere.

This book is a very good overview of current knowledge and theory, only slightly dated as at May, 2001. Rare Earth is another book for keen readers of this field, which argues that intelligent life is very uncommon in the universe. In my view this book is more 'true to life', so to speak, with more varied ideas, and a greater understanding of humanity and science.