By Allison Strickland
Professor Michael Crowe, a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Notre Dame, gave the lecture “One World or Many? An Historical Perspective on the Question of Extraterrestrial Life” on October 17 in the auditorium of the Speed Art Museum.
Crowe’s speech highlighted three claims about extraterrestrial life: that there is evidence that extraterrestrials have invaded, that religious people do not need to begin to think seriously about the question of extraterrestrials, and that the Copernican principle is problematic.
Dr. Dick Davitt, with whom Crowe is team-teaching a mathematics class, provided quotes during the speech.
The first claim Crowe made, that extraterrestrials have invaded, has to do with their presence in our world today.
“There is much evidence that belief in extraterrestrials has already produced many effects on our society,” said Crowe. “Extraterrestrials have invaded our televisions, films, and fiction, influenced government funding in some countries, and impacted various systems of thought.”
Crowe offered a statistic that “3.7 million Americans claim to have been abducted by extraterrestrials.”
Crowe’s second point was that religious people do not need to begin thinking about the question of extraterrestrial life because they have already been doing it for centuries. Instead, according to Crowe, “religious thinkers should continue to think about these issues, but it is not the case that they need to begin this.”
Crowe next stated that the Copernican theory is true, but that the Copernican Principle is problematic. The Copernican Principle states that “if there is life on Earth and if all regions of space are more or less comparable, then there must be life elsewhere.”
The Copernican principle has three different forms. The first is a “scientific claim which may or may not be testable;” the second is that the principle can be seen as a “methodological directive,” suggesting what should be studied in the universe; and third, the principle has been used as a “metaphysical assumption that can be used to criticize claims made by various religions.”
The debate of extraterrestrial life has existed since Greek and Roman antiquity. They took the position known as the “plurality of worlds,” meaning that many worlds exist that are very similar to ours.
Copernicus was the first person to propose that the sun, not Earth, was the center of the universe. The Copernican Principle is derived from this removal.
Crowe cited reports by Copernicus, Kepler, Pascal, and Galileo, as well as many other famous astronomers throughout the lecture.
“During the last fifty years, the two most important developments regarding the quest for extraterrestrials have been radio astronomy, which opens the possibility of establishing communication with intelligent being elsewhere, and the discoveries beginning in 1995 of extrasolar system planets,” said Crowe.
Crowe ended by saying that “the earth is very significant; it is the home of intelligent beings.” He closed with the statement that he does not know whether or not extraterrestrials exist.
