PANAGIOTIS G. NIARCHOS
General loneliness:
Are we alone in the universe?
ed.. Zeti, 2022, p. 296.

Today, we are observantly looking for some shocking discovery that would answer the age-old question posed in Professor P. Niarchos’ excellent book: “Are we alone in the Universe?” The first important step towards answering this fundamental question was taken in 1995 with the discovery of an extrasolar planet orbiting a solar-type star by the Swiss astronomers Major and Quelos, who were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for this (2019). Since then, more than 5,200 exoplanets have been discovered, but none of them are like Earth.

There are about one trillion galaxies (1012) in the Universe, each of which contains on average about one trillion stars (1012). That is, there seem to be trillions upon trillions (1012×1012=1024) of stars in the universe, each of which has at least one planet! Some of them may have more advanced civilizations than ours, and some may have less advanced civilizations.

Among the thousands of planets that have been discovered so far, only 60 are considered habitable.

But why has no trace of extraterrestrial life been found in our solar system or anywhere else in the universe so far? This simple question was paradoxically formulated by the famous physicist Enrico Fermi (1950): given the age of the universe and the number of stars and planets that exist, the emergence of life must be quite common, and our galaxy must contain a large number of cultures! Still unanswered is Fermi’s key question about the universal silence that surrounds us, although it seems that there are so many myriads of planets. More on this topic is written in the additional book by Professor P. Niarhos “In search of another Earth in the Universe. Exoplanets and extraterrestrial life, 2018, ed. Diaulos, as well as recent subphenomenon books Blue Pearl in Space, 2020 and Amazing Universe, Ziti Publications (2020), based on exciting astronomical discoveries. the last century.

However, many questions remain about the process of development of life on Earth, which originally had several billion different types of life, 99% of which have already disappeared, today there are only a few million and one species – a person representing intelligent life on Earth. So do we have a one in a billion chance of finding intelligent life somewhere else in the universe?

Among the thousands of planets that have been discovered so far, only 60 are considered habitable and only 20 of them are the size of the Earth. Advances in technology with enhanced observational capabilities of the new James Webb Space Telescope are making it possible to detect life by the presence of atmospheric gases in the atmosphere of exoplanets exhibiting biological activity. However, let’s also seriously think about the possibility of our “Cosmic Loneliness”, a possible explanation for which could be unimaginably vast distances to other stars, making communication with other habitable planets prohibitive.

In the last two chapters of the book on extraterrestrial life and society, the author dispassionately discusses how the possible discovery of extraterrestrial life will affect the laws of our society, the correct interpretation of the biblical texts of our religion, our philosophies, our arts and sciences, citing all relevant views of Christian denominations, Judaism, Islam , Hinduism and Buddhism. Optimistic and pessimistic views are presented, in which either the Universe is teeming with life and there are intelligent life forms elsewhere in the galaxy, or alien life is extremely rare and we can be alone in a lifeless Universe, leaving it up to the reader. get to the last pages of the book to decide what answer and point of view he will take to the title’s original question!

The book is accompanied by a detailed bibliography, and many years of fruitful teaching and research experience of the author has allowed him to put himself in the position of readers of different speeds. The presentation of individual topics is based on the latest developments in the relevant scientific fields, and this is the originality of the book. This is a book that will help the reader to think and “see with different eyes” the world and the role of man in it. As academic Dimitrios Thanos writes at the beginning of his preface, paraphrasing the writer and poet Kipling: “This is a book that teaches you what and why and when, how, where and who!”

* Mr. Kanaris Tsiganos is Honorary Professor of Astrophysics at the National and Kapodistrian University in Athens.