We are not alone in the universe. A few years ago, this notion
seemed far fetched; today, the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence is taken for granted by most scientists. Sir Bernard Lovell, one of the world’s leading radio astronomers, has calculated that, even allowing for a margin of error of 50003, there must be in our own galaxy about 100 million stars which have planets of the right chemistry, dimensions, and temperature to support organic evolution. If we consider that our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is but one of at least a billion other galaxies similar to ours in the observable universe, the number of stars that could support some form of life is, to reach for a word, astronomical. As to advanced (by miserable earth standards)
forms of life, Dr. Frank D. Drake of the National Radio Astronomy
Observatory at Green Bank, West Virginia, has stated that, putting
all our knowledge together, the number of civilizations which could have arisen by now is about one billion. The next question is, “Where is everybody?”