adopted, however, earth lost its special place.
As estimates of the size of the universe and the
number of stars in the galaxy increased, the
earth’s relative significance further dwindled.
And yet now a new terrestrial exceptionalism
is rising.
Even if the earth is but a small planet on
a thinly populated, far-flung arm of the Milky
Way galaxy, it may nevertheless be unique in
having a technologically sophisticated life form.
Perhaps earth is special after all. So we see recent
books with titles like Rare earth: Why Complex
Life is Uncommon in the Universe (Peter Douglas
Ward, Donald Brownlee. Springer Science
& Business Media, 2000) and The Privileged
Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos is Designed
for Discovery (Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay W.
Richards, Regnery Publishing, 2004).
Earths in the Universe
This brief history
of technology
on earth has
been outlined
for the sake of
a comparison
with the parallel
spiritual history.
. . . The spiritual
history that
unfolded on our
planet happened
nowhere else in
the universe.
New Church doctrine not only allows for the
existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the
universe, it insists upon it: “What would the
human race on only one planet be, and what would the angelic heaven formed
from it be for the Infinite Creator? For Him a thousand planets – no, tens of
thousands – would not be enough.” (Arcana Coelestia 9441)
The passage goes on to note, without endorsing the numbers: “The
following calculation has been made. Supposing there were in the universe
one million earths, and on every earth three hundred million men….”
A million inhabited planets – this is the sort of number that Fermi or
Drake probably had in mind. But if there are this many homes for intelligent
life, how can one answer Fermi’s question? The term in the Drake Equation
that needs to be examined is the probability of the development of technology.
Those who think the development of intelligent life very unlikely are
apt to suppose that, given intelligent life, technological progress would be
inevitable. Someone thinking from a New Church perspective would look
at it the other way: intelligent life in the universe is common, but advanced
technology is not. But why should this be?
Three Technological Revolutions
To reach the level of scientific knowledge and technological ability that has
permitted radio communication, a long and gradual process of development
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