Well, if you read the article Time.com ran titled, “Maybe We Really Are Alone in the Universe” by Jeffrey Kluger, Editor At Large for Time, you might think so. While several science news organizations ran this, including the New York Times, it failed to make it to the evening news. I was not surprised that it did not get the coverage it should have. It’s not like ET finally phoned home and the NASA heard the conversation.

Ever since the proponents of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution began to opine about the origin of life, there has been a dedicated group of like-minded astronomers and cosmologists who were certain that we are not alone. The bigger the universe, currently estimated as being 150 billion light years in diameter, the more certain these men and women embraced Carl Sagan’s view that eventually we would discover intelligent life somewhere out there.

The point of this article had to do with the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial life. Hopeful ET enthusiasts like SETI Project founder, astronomer Frank Drake, were referenced along with the aforementioned E.T. supporter, the late Dr. Carl Sagan. What has been noted by Kluger and others is not new information. At the Creation Studies Institute, we have been confronting these E.T. hopefuls with the same sober conclusions that run counter to the elites such as NASA who have sent out not one, not two, not three but four “one-way” messages to any alien that might stumble across Pioneer 10 and 11 or Voyager 1 and 2.

There is so much confidence in life spontaneously bursting into existence that astronomy professors teach graduate students subjects in astrobiology. That’s right, you can get an advanced degree in Astrobiology without one shred of credible evidence that life exists anywhere in the universe except for on our own planet.

Never Fear, the Fermi paradox is here

We can rest assured that hope springs eternal in the minds of atheist and agnostic scientists with regard to finally making contact with E.T. However, several serious problems should be considered in any serious discussion concerning extraterrestrial life. First, these scientists have a 100% failure rate with regard to their ambitious, but ill-conceived, efforts to have E.T. phone them. Over 50 years of listening for E.T. have yielded zero evidence in favor of the existence of extraterrestrial life.

The answer can be found in the logic of the Fermi paradox. What exactly is the Fermi paradox? It was the result of a 1950 discussion with physicist Enrico Fermi. In 1975, astrophysicist Michael Hart wrote a paper containing a more detailed discussion of the implications of the Fermi paradox, sometimes referred to as the Fermi-Hart paradox.

It is a set of seemingly logical precepts concerning the existence of extraterrestrial life. The Fermi paradox is the apparent contradiction between high estimates of the probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations (in the minds of evolutionary scientists) and the lack of evidence for, or contact with, such civilizations. These precepts are based entirely on a fallacious premise, i.e. that there must be life somewhere in the vast uncharted regions of outer space. Here is the Fermi paradox in a nutshell:

The size and age of the universe incline us to believe that many technologically advanced civilizations must exist. However, this belief seems logically inconsistent with our lack of observational evidence to support it. Either:

(1) The initial assumption is incorrect and technologically advanced intelligent life is much rarer than we believe, or

(2) Our current observations are incomplete and we simply have not detected them yet, or

(3) Our search methodologies are flawed and we are not searching for the correct indicators.

Have you noticed the flaw?

There is nothing in this paradox that allows for the possibility that life simply does not exist in outer space. Fermi states, life might exist, but the smart aliens are too rare for us to discover or we just haven’t looked in the right place yet or we are not doing it correctly or fill in the blank yourself any old reason will do. Bottom line, according to Fermi, and those who endorse his paradox, life exists in outer space, period! End of discussion, (Rowitt, 2010).

Don’t let these small concessions lull you into thinking that the evolutionary faithful will suddenly admit that the Word of God is true and that special creation was a one-time miraculous event. They cannot do that. It would be too overwhelming for them to consider. Remember that those who deny the existence of the Creator, do so not based on the evidence, but rather their inability to consider the consequences of denying the One who created them. Pray that the Creator and Savior would continue to use the CSI family to Reach the World with the Truths of Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Steve Rowitt, Th.M., Ph.D.
Chief Technical Advisor