It Might Get Messy

Man, I am gonna be really pissed off if I die right before we establish contact with extraterrestrial life. I’m a lifelong biologist (I did my first series of fish dissections to study parasite loads for the 5th grade science fair). I’ve seen ecosystems from tropical forests to Mediterranean deserts, from blue water oceans to swamps to alpine tundras. I’ve turned over rocks from Philadelphia industrial yards (where I popped up a nice little brown snake) to remote fly-in New Mexico highlands. And the most important lesson the world taught me is that life is an inevitable, integral outcome of physics, chemistry, and geography. Which means that life is not, can not be, a uniquely earthly phenomenon. It’s as universal as matter and energy. It’s everywhere. Of course, we’re still left with the “Fermi Paradox”: if life is so damned abundant and universal, where the hell is it? Why aren’t we up to our asses in extraterrestrial alligators? Oh yeah. I know I promised you a rant regarding urban biodiversity for this column this week. But I’m kicking that can down the road (where hopefully some needy person can find it and turn it in to a metal recycler for cash) in favor of a more immediate and interesting topic. We’ll get to the biodiversity screed sometime soon. 

So, at the moment, why raise the issue of life elsewhere in the universe? Did the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) people turn up a television broadcast from a far corner of the galaxy? Did somebody finally smuggle an “Alien Gray” in a jar of formaldehyde out of Area 51?

Not quite. But. Radiotelescope networks have been turning up an interesting and inexplicable signal for a number of years [1]. These high-frequency radio bursts arrive here on earth years apart and from various directions “out there”. And, oddly, the more we find out about them, the less explicable they get [2]. The weirdest thing may be the simplest: collectively, the ratio of arrival times of highest vs. lowest frequencies are consistent multiples of a single number: 187.5. That consistency rules out the enormous  number of possible causes that come with certain physical variables (such as exploding or collapsing stars), because the ratio would be altered by interstellar dust or gas that is distributed more-or-less randomly (or at least certainly not in multiples of 187.5!). The original author who identified the signals thinks they’re most likely from something like cell phone towers here on earth. But every report I’ve read, even by conservative astronomers, acknowledges the possibility that the bursts originate from alien intelligence.

Taking us right back to where we started this entry. If we’re about to find out that there is indeed life off-earth, I sure as HELL want to be here for it. Why? Well, first, because it would mean my life’s driving principle is closer to right than wrong--that biology is as fundamental as physics and chemistry. Second, because my deeper belief that “we” (in the broadest sense, that is living things) are actually the sole manifestation of godliness. There are no “hidden” gods, or God, in “heaven” or some other “plain”. The living things here in the physical universe have the total say as to whether we bring things closer to heaven or to hell. It’s a choice we make, and a result of our activities. Job 1, people. Call down the good. Trash the bad. Bring heaven one step closer to reality.

OK, enough of the existentialist bullshit. The question at this point is, how likely is that I’m gonna live long enough to see ANY scientific advancements, never mind the appearance of extraterrestrial life. And the fact is, I don’t know. And that is an ENORMOUS positive change in my condition. By medical consensus, I should have been dead weeks to months ago. That I’m not only not dead, but breathing relatively clearly, with pain levels receding, extremely weak but otherwise vaguely functional, are big-time positives. I was privileged to have a whole group of old friends, clients and colleagues visit for an afternoon this week. I was asked what my prognosis is. Best I was able to give was what Dr. T (my oncologist) thinks. Her belief at the moment is that at some point in the relatively near future (weeks to months) some of the many small cancer loci in my lungs and chest cavity will free themselves from the hammering of last year’s radiation and chemotherapy and begin to grow again. At that point, I’m right back in the crapper, living with the nightmare physiology effects of the chemotherapy, and possibly radiation if the mass in my chest proves to be malignant rather than a blob of scar tissue. Once again I’ll be facing the decision to live with the hammering or to let myself slip away from this life and return my borrowed shares of the universe’s matter and energy to give some other living thing(s) the chance to exist. I will say this. The daily course of the manifestation of my illness is actually improving over time, rather than deteriorating as expected. Biggest problem I face now is the build up over the course each day of volumes of saliva and mucous throughout the surgically reconfigured plumbing of my mouth, sinuses, and throat. In the evening, when the knock-out effects of antihistamines aren’t an impediment (I should be sleeping long hours as possible, and napping as necessary) I take heavy doses of same to cut the mucous production and let me sleep.

So it could be a damn site worse than it is now. Surprising my doctors and especially myself, my physiology and immune system are battling back against the forces of malignant evil. How long they can hold out is the key question now. I would dearly love them to keep me alive until we get rock-solid evidence of extraterrestrial life. At that point, I won’t be exactly “happy” to die. But I’ll have fulfilled the top item remaining on my Life List of Things To Do Before I Die. At which point in fairness to the universe (not to mention my long-suffering family and friends) I’ll die, smiling and remembering the remarkable things I’ve seen and done, and the remarkable people (those same friends and families, and others) I’ve had in my social circle. 

Hard to ask any more of life than that. And I know you all out there in the world are working on my behalf because I truly feel your thoughts, prayers, and reminiscences on my behalf. Thanks for being here for me, everybody. Per usual, I deeply love you all. And I implore you to use ‘em while you got ‘em. Because they are not forever. And of course there may be a shitload fewer of them if those aliens turn out to be millions of years deep in technology and hostile to earthlings. I recommend two short-term fixes to assist your thinking about these issues. The movie “Screamers”, starring Peter Weller will give you insights into the negative potential for humans spreading across the galaxy (although no true “alien” aliens are actually involved).  And the movie “Contact” by and starring Jodie Foster will give you a more nuanced vision (eerily similar to the present radioburst findings) of the possible lead-in to the initial dealings with incontrovertible aliens.

Tune in next week for the first flower photos of this spring! I’ve already taken some (first ones earlier today), and will process them tonight. After discussions with my colleagues this week, it is apparent that there is an appetite for the two other weblogs I put on hold while I battled cancer. I think I’m strong enough to tackle the 3 blog empire again, so look for referrals to the new start-up to the new versions of the old and dormant blogs. My love and gratitude to all of you. Having you have my back is just the most comforting thing on...uh...earth... .

References

[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/02/radio-bursts-alien-signals_n_6984870.html

[2] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/11357176/Mystery-alien-radio-signal-picked-up-in-space.html