Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Observed Exoplanets and Intelligent Life

  • Published:
Surveys in Geophysics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

If intelligent life were common in the Universe, should we not be aware of it on Earth through contact with advanced space ships and automatic probes? Would we not at least expect to intercept communication signals between space travellers? That this is not found has led to much speculation in the past. Recent discoveries of planets around other stars (called here exoplanets) and, separately, recent discoveries in the evolution of life on Earth, including Homo sapiens, allow this question to be considered again but now with more information than before. This is the subject of the present paper. The study involves aspects of physics and chemistry in combination with biological studies. It is concluded here that the places where technologically capable intelligent life might be expected to be found in our Galaxy are so few that any such “centres of civilisation” must be separated by large distances, probably in excess of 50 light years. If true, this would make the different centres essentially isolated and would suggest that each manifestation of advanced intelligent life is a purely local development. This would agree with our experience of aloneness. Nevertheless, the number of centres throughout the Universe would still be astronomically large, even if each galaxy had only one centre. An hypothesis is proposed which could account for the existence of such centres in this form.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • O Botta J.L. Bada (2002) ArticleTitle‘Extraterrestrial Organic Compounds in Meteorites’ Surv. Geophys. 23 411–467 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1020139302770

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chaitin, G. J.: 1979, ‘Toward a Mathematical Definition of Life’, in Maximum Entropy Formalism, (eds.) R.D. Levine, and M., Tribus, MIT Press, pp. 477– 498.

  • G. J. Chaitin (1982) ArticleTitle‘Goedel’s Theorem and Information’ Int. J. Theor. Phys. 22 941–954 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF02084159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • G. J. Chaitin (2003) ArticleTitle‘L’universe est-il intelligible?’ La Research 30 34–41

    Google Scholar 

  • S. Chandrasekhar (1943) ArticleTitle‘Stochastic Problems in Physics and Astronomy’ Rev. Mod. Phys 15 1–110 Occurrence Handle10.1103/RevModPhys.15.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chandrasekhar, S.: 1949, ‘Brownian Motion, Dynamical Friction and Stellar Dynanimcs’, ibid 21, 383–388.

  • Clynes, M. E. and Kline, N. S.: 1995, ‘Cyborgs and Space’, in ed. Gray, Figneroa-Sarriera and Mentor, Cyborg Handbook, Routledge, pp. 29 – 34.

  • Cole, G. H. A.: 1982, ‘Inside a Planet’, Hull University Press.

  • G. H. A. Cole (1997) ArticleTitle‘No News may Mean Nothing’ Astron. Geophys 38 9

    Google Scholar 

  • G. H. A. Cole (2000) ArticleTitle‘The Constitutions of the Extra-solar Planets’ Observ. Magazine 120 127–130

    Google Scholar 

  • G. H. A. Cole (2001) ArticleTitle‘Exoplanets’ Astron. Geophys. 42 1.13–1.17 Occurrence Handle10.1046/j.1468-4004.2001.0420011.13.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cole, G. H. A. 2002, ‘Could there be Life on Exoplanets?’, Astron. Geophys. 43, 1.8.

    Google Scholar 

  • G. H. A Cole M. M. Woolfson (2003) Planetary Science Taylor and Francis London

    Google Scholar 

  • Conway Morris, S.: 2003, Life’s Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe, Cambridge University Press.

  • S. Conway Morris (2005) ArticleTitle‘Aliens like us?’ Astron. Geophys. 46 4.24–4.26 Occurrence Handle10.1111/j.1468-4004.2005.46424.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charles Darwin (1859) Origin of Species John Murray London

    Google Scholar 

  • X. Delfosse T. Forveille M. Mayer C. Perrier D Naef D. Queloz (1998) ArticleTitle‘The Closest Extrasolar Planet. A Giant Planet Around the M4 Dwarf Gl 876’ Astron. Astrophys. 338 L67–L69

    Google Scholar 

  • Drake, F.: 1961, Presented at SETI Conference, Green Bank, West Virginia.

  • P Ehrenfreund S. Charnley (2000) ArticleTitle‘Organic Molecules in the ISM, Comets and Meteorites’ Ann. Revs. Astron. Astrophys. 38 427–431 Occurrence Handle10.1146/annurev.astro.38.1.427

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J. D. Farmer (2000) ArticleTitle‘Hydrothermal Systems: Doorway to Early Biosphere Evolution’ GSA Today 10 IssueID7 1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • B. M. French (1977) The Moon Book Penguin Harmondsworth England

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, T.: 1997, ‘Artificial Gravity and the Architecture of Orbital Habitats’, Proc. 1st Int. Symp. on Space Tourism, Daimler-Chrysler Aerospace GmbH, Bremen, pp. 1–10.

  • J. B. S. Haldane (1929) ArticleTitle‘The Origin of Life’ Rationalist Annual 3 148–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Sir Fred. Hoyle N. C. Wickramasinghe (1977) ArticleTitle‘Polysacchariles and the Infrared Spectra of Galactic Sources’ Nature 268 610–612 Occurrence Handle10.1038/268610a0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sir Fred Hoyle N. C Wickramasinghe (Eds) (1984) Evolution from Space Simon Schuster New York

    Google Scholar 

  • K. Innanen S Mikkola P. Wiegert (1998) ArticleTitle‘The Earth/Moon and the Dynamical Stability of the Inner Solar System’ Astron. J. 116 2055–2061 Occurrence Handle10.1086/300552

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R. Irion (2005) ArticleTitle‘Extrasolar Planets Get Smaller and (Possibly) Harder’ Science 308 1727–1729 Occurrence Handle10.1126/science.308.5729.1727a

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • K Joshi F. Rasio (1997) ArticleTitle‘Distant Companions and Planets Around Millisecond Pulsars’ Ap. J. 480 948–959 Occurrence Handle10.1086/303916

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovelock, J.: 1979, Gaia, Oxford University Press.

  • J. Lovelock (1988) The Ages of Gaia W.W. Norton N.Y

    Google Scholar 

  • M Mayer D. Queloz (1995) ArticleTitle‘A Jupter-mass Companion to a Solar Type Star’ Nature 378 355–359 Occurrence Handle10.1038/378355a0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maynard Smith, J. and Szathmáry, E.: 1999, Origins of Life, Oxford University Press.

  • I. McDougall F. H Brown J. G. Fleagle (2005) ArticleTitle‘Stratographic Placement and Age of Modern Humans from Kibish, Etheopia’ Nature 433 733–736 Occurrence Handle10.1038/nature03258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NASA, 2005, News release 2005 – 144, September 7.

  • G. Omar T. C Onstoff J. Hoek (2003) ArticleTitle‘The Origin of Deep Subsurface Microbial Communities in the Witwatersrand Basin’ Geofluids 3 69–80 Occurrence Handle10.1046/j.1468-8123.2003.00050.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ott, E.: 1991, Chaos in Dynamical Systems, Cambridge University Press.

  • I Prigogine I. Stengers (1984) Order Out of Chaos Bantam Books New York

    Google Scholar 

  • D Raup J. J. Sepkoski SuffixJr. (1984) ArticleTitle‘Periodicity of Extinctions in the Geologic Past’ Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 81 801–810 Occurrence Handle10.1073/pnas.81.3.801

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, J.: 2005, A full up to date record is kept by Jean Schneider, University of Paris Observatory, in his “Extra-solar Planets Catalog” at the internet address http://www.obspm.fr/planets

  • Shu, F. H.: 1982, The Physical Universe, Oxford University Press.

  • A. J. Stone (1996) The Theory of Intermolecular Forces Press Oxford Clarendon

    Google Scholar 

  • Tolman, R. C.: 1934, Relativity, Thermodynamics and Cosmology, Oxford University Press.

  • J. D. Watson (1972) Molecular Biology of the Gene EditionNumber2 Saunders Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • A Wolszczan D. A. Frail (1992) ArticleTitle‘A Planetary System Around the Millisecond Pulsar PRS 1257+12’ Nature 355 145–147 Occurrence Handle10.1038/355145a0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • A. Wolszczan (1994) ArticleTitle‘Confirmation of Earth-mass Planets Orbiting the Millisecond Pulsar PSR B 1257+12’ Science 264 538–542

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull, HU6 7RX, UK

    G. H. A. Cole

Authors
  1. G. H. A. Cole
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to G. H. A. Cole.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cole, G.H.A. Observed Exoplanets and Intelligent Life. Surv Geophys 27, 365–382 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-005-5891-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-005-5891-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation