Are we alone in the universe?

Are we alone in the universe?

Our best bet is to follow our science and be patient, leading to another question: can we handle the answer?

So writes Chris Impey, who also cautions,

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. There are many reasons why advanced civilizations might exist without us being aware of them. To communicate requires motivation and means. To be comprehended requires commonality of culture and language. This is a high bar; after all, we can’t talk to animals that share 99% of our DNA. What is the likelihood that we could communicate with aliens of unknown function and form? Humans are still primitive, huddling as we do on the knife edge between the heat of our star and the absolute cold of deep space. We’ve barely ventured beyond our planet. Aliens might be to us as we are to bacteria.