Did Aliens Seed Life on Earth?
The debate on “where humans came from”
has raged for centuries, with even the standard
theory of evolution still labelled as just
that - a theory.
But there are also much stranger ideas about
the origins of life on our planet.
This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering
the extraordinary question; Did aliens seed
life on Earth?
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The Panspermia Hypothesis says that if life
really does exist throughout the universe,
then perhaps the key elements and resources
that we need to cultivate life on Earth came
from outer space originally.
It works closely with the Fermi Paradox, which
questions why aliens, assuming they exist,
haven’t made contact with us; and the Drake
Equation, which estimates how densely populated
by alien races our galaxy actually is.
Panspermia - which translates as “all seed”
- comes in a couple of different types, including
accidental and directed panspermia.
The first suggests that the supposed “seeds
for life” were distributed by chance, while
directed panspermia proposes that an alien
race spread their seed deliberately.
The general theory of human life having an
extra-terrestrial backstory has only attracted
serious scientific attention in the last two-hundred
years, but many well-known scientists have
lent their voice to it, including Stephen
Hawking who believed that panspermia was certainly
possible.
So, just how viable is it?
Importantly, decades of experimentation have
shown us that space doesn’t have to be void
of all life.
There are some organisms that we already know
about that can survive the extreme, freezing
temperatures, lack of oxygen, and high radiation
levels.
For example, a team of British scientists
in 2013 discovered a new type of algae that
might feasibly survive space travel if trapped
inside space debris like a meteorite.
After shooting frozen pellets of the algae
into water at 4.31 miles per second (which
is roughly the speed of a meteorite impacting
with Earth), they found that a small percentage
of the organisms could survive.
In the grand scheme of human evolutionary
history this might’ve been all it took to
start an entire ecosystem.
Other real-world asteroid strikes provide
further evidence that panspermia is at least
“not impossible”… such as the Murchison
meteorite, which landed in Australia in 1969
containing vital organic compounds including
amino acids - the building blocks of life
on Earth.
Other, similar asteroids have shown up all
across the globe, with NASA scientists speculating
that the amino acids they carry could well
have been made in space since the only elements
required are nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon
monoxide – none of which are especially
rare.
So, plain ol’ panspermia is a possibility.
Directed panspermia adds another crucial factor,
though; a race of unknown, hyper-intelligent
alien creatures with some kind of agenda for
planet Earth.
It’s a sizeable leap, but what would it
mean if true?
General suggested reasons for directed panspermia
include it being an elaborate, fairly ominous
alien experiment to grow and study life on
Earth - treating our particular planet as
though it’s a giant petri dish.
Failing that, the alien overlords are painted
as gods, divinely spreading life throughout
the universe simply because they can, and
they feel like it’s the right thing to do.
Growing stuff for the sake of growing it could
well sound strange, but it’s actually what
humans are in the early stages of trying to
achieve right now - by pitching plans to terraform
Mars.
So, take that kind of ambition and place it
onto an all-powerful, intergalactic race of
creatures, and directed panspermia starts
to make some sense.
Advocates for the theory claim there’s circumstantial
evidence for directed panspermia much closer
to home, too; in the shape of some diseases
and allergies.
Humans suffer more health ailments than any
other species, with any one person falling
ill dozens or even hundreds of times in their
lifetime.
And some of those illnesses are arguably “triggered”
by the living conditions on Earth, and therefore
point to us not necessarily belonging on this
planet - or, so the theory goes.
Hay-fever is usually put forward as a prime
example, since a pollen allergy is exceptionally
inconvenient on a planet that needs pollination
to live.
Then there are the various health complications
that can arise after over-exposure to the
sun - again fairly inconvenient given how
prominent the sun is in our lifestyles.
But theorists have even gone so far as far
to suggest that major disease outbreaks in
the past – including mad cow disease and
polio – were linked to alien microbes, though
these particular claims have been debunked
as having no real evidence behind them.
Other suggested motives for directed panspermia
move away from human life being an alien experiment,
though.
Instead, it could simply be a method of intergalactic
colonisation.
Again, humans have aims to move to other planets,
so why not aliens - especially ultra-advanced
aliens?
Along these lines, perhaps the reason we don’t
see extra-terrestrials everywhere is that
they’re also not capable of large-scale
interstellar travel, so purposefully sending
tiny seeds is their best and only way to spread
out.
The panspermia seeds may have been the last
remnants of an ancient, dying civilisation
sent out in the hope that they’d find a
home elsewhere in the universe… and lo and
behold they ended up on Earth.
If that’s true, then perhaps humans today
are even identical or very similar to those
creatures of the past, aliens who lived a
long time ago in a galaxy far beyond our reach.
In fact, in 2015, scientists discovered a
tiny metal structure in space reportedly full
of biological material, and it was again put
forward as possible evidence of panspermia
- or at least of attempted panspermia.
As arguments for panspermia have gained traction
in recent years, we’ve started to see human
initiatives based on the principles of it.
The Breakthrough Starshot Project is planning
to send small “nanocraft” probes, travelling
at one fifth of the speed of light, towards
Alpha Centauri.
While these probes won’t contain biological
materials (they’re more focussed on simply
understanding the closest star system to our
own), they do pave the way for similar missions
with a focus on panspermia in the near future.
Of course, such a move would compromise Earth’s
long-standing, international planetary protection
rules, which prohibit the biological contamination
of space.
And so, if aliens did seed life on earth,
and directed panspermia is a real phenomenon,
then that alien race can’t have had comparable
legislation.
Either that, or they chose to overrule it…
Which, given our ever-growing focus on Mars,
the wider solar system and other galaxies
in general, feels like a decision that humankind
will also encounter at some stage.
At that point, we’d be the aliens doing
the seeding, most likely as a way for us to
ensure our own longevity.
And so, if it’s reasonably imaginable that
we’d one day be facilitating directed panspermia
for ourselves, is it so unimaginable that
some other creature could’ve achieved the
same thing in the distant, distant past?
Perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad thing
to discover that human life came from somewhere
else entirely.
Far from making us doubt our own autonomy
as a species, it could be seen as optimistic
proof of extra-terrestrial beings and of general
life’s ability to survive absolutely anything.
What do you think?
Is there anything we missed?
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