The Cosmic Mayfly By David Sloan

From deep under the oceans, far from any sunlight, to high up in spewing volcanoes, life forms have been found on our planet. Even deep in the arctic ice, life forms have been found to exist. For life is tenacious, if it can exist it will exist, this is the way of nature. Soon, yes very soon, I'm sure we will find life forms on other planets in our solar system. Indeed I'd be very surprised if the whole universe were not teaming with some form of primeval life or another. But will we find intelligent, alien life in the cosmos? This is a very different thing. Yes I'm sure intelligent life has existed in the universe at one time or another, but does it exist right now, at this very moment, in our time?

Cosmetologists and mathematicians calculating the endless galaxies in the universe, with their countless suns, and infinite solar systems with literally trillions and trillions of planets, will no doubt say. By the laws of probability there must be many planets, orbiting far off Suns not unlike our earth, where intelligent alien life could well have evolved.

It's even possible some of these solar systems could have two planets, with intelligent life forms living on them, though not necessarily during the same time period, nothing is entirely impossible. So why haven't we heard from any of these, alien intelligences? Is it perhaps, simply down to the vastness of space, the unimaginable distances between the galaxies? Some star systems are hundreds, even hundreds of thousands of light years from our own galaxy, the Milky Way. In this infinite universe, any forms of signals or transmissions may barely have left their back yards, or indeed in our case, our own back yard!

Life forms, bacteria and algae, first appeared on our earth approximately 2 Billion years ago. It's only in the last 100,000 to 200,000 years that intelligent man has so very quickly evolved.

With mans rapidly developed technology, and nuclear weapons. I fear we are like monkeys playing with grenades, unable to comprehend the science we have so quickly mastered, and here I think could well lie the clue. Perhaps all intelligent life has a built in obsolescence. Many alien planets could have had highly developed technologies, only to destroy themselves, when they developed nuclear or biological weapons. If only mankind could have watched, with some kind of time lapse monitoring device, from the very beginnings of the universe. The very moment of creation, just what would we have seen?

Yes, millions of galaxies forming over endless trillion of light years. Expanding, dividing, and colliding, at this very birth of the universe. Taking snapshots every million or so light years, perhaps the device would have detected radio or TV signals, or a nuclear explosion in some far of constellation, indicating intelligent alien life had reached an advanced stage of technology. Some snapshots would, I'm sure have revealed many planets with intelligent, evolving life forms. A snapshot a few million light years later, with very few signs of intelligent evolving life. And this may well be the case right now, at this very moment in our own, small corner of the cosmos.

We could really truly be, on our own. 200,000 years of mans existence on our small planet earth, is a mere day in the history of the universe.

Like the Mayfly that soars in the sky, for its one brilliant day in the warm spring sunshine. Man could well be the cosmic Mayfly, soaring into space for one brilliant day in the cosmos, only finally to fall back to earth to die. This may well be mans destiny. The chances of other intelligent life forms nearby, existing right now at this very moment, in our one day in the universe, must be reasonably remote. I'm sure in later snapshots of the universe, when man has long become extinct, intelligent life forms will be detected in outer space in some far or not so far off galaxies, only to eventually go the same way as man, after their one or perhaps two brilliant days in the cosmos.

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