Project Vision 21

The "second genesis" of humanity is not only unavoidable, but imminent, and it includes the scientific confirmation of the existence of extraterrestrial life, thus modifying all aspects of our life on this planet, said a renowned Australian scientist.

According to Dr. Cathal D. O'Connell, researcher and director of the BioFab3D Center at St. Vincent Hospital of the University of Melbourne, Australia, a series of "remarkable discoveries" over the last two decades (including the identification of thousands of exoplanets) has cemented the possibility of the existence of extraterrestrial life.

Current calculations, says O'Connell, indicate that there are at least 40 billion planets like the earth in the universe observable by science, a number large enough to indicate that life is "inevitable".

Once the existence of that life is confirmed, that confirmation will mean a "second genesis" for humanity, because it will force us to rethink all aspects of human life, from biology and psychology to theology and philosophy.

This "second genesis" could be deepened and expanded in ways still impossible to fully predict if life found on another planet is totally different from what we know here, for example, a life not based on DNA.

But, what does it mean that confirmation of the finding of extraterrestrial life is "imminent"? What factor or element is the basis for O'Connell to say what he said? In his own words: "The ancient question “Are we alone?” has graduated from being a philosophical musing to a testable hypothesis."

How and when will that hypothesis be verified? As soon as 2021, said the Australian scientist, when the space telescope "James Webb" begins to analyze those exoplanets similar to the Earth already discovered. And soon after that, even more advanced telescopes will be able to take pictures of those planets.

For that reason, O'Connell suggests that "we should prepare" for the response the space telescopes could give us in a few years. We should be prepared for the "No. We are not alone in the universe."

But, I add, we are not prepared, and we will probably never be. After all, day after day we see countless examples of the intolerance of humans towards other humans, with whom we share DNA and the planet. And we see and suffer the destruction of the planet and its many non-human inhabitants.

Why do we destroy each other? Because “they” don’t think like us, or don’t speak like us, or don’t believe what we believe. Or simply because “they” are “they” and that’s reason enough to give free rein to our tribal thoughts.

Why do we destroy the planet? Because we see it as a "resource", as something we can and, for that reason, must "exploit". And then the "other" also becomes a resource for us to exploit.

If that is our attitude towards those with whom we share the planet and towards the very planet we live on, what will we do when extraterrestrial life is discovered? Or what will they do to us when they discover us?