Mr. Wickramasinghe is saying that, " .
. . the probability of discovering this set of conditions crucial to life by
random shuffling is one in 10^40,000, a number that exceeds by many powers of 10,
the number of all atoms in the entire observable Universe." (Therefore, he is,)
" . . . compelled to seek a non-mechanistic 'creator' for life."
Both scientists have testified in a court of law, on behalf of Arkansas, in
defense of creation science. U.S. District Judge William Overton has, "In his
opinion of the case issued Jan. 5, [1982] concluded, 'creation science is not
science'."
The research mentioned by Mr. Wickramasinghe has been undertaken by H. D. Pfulg
of the University of Giessen in West Germany. At the time of the article, the
results, " . . . are to be published soon."
The data are quite valid and will
serve to introduce us to our third group, the scientists. They have a lot of
circumstantial evidence and well thought out theories but, so far, no direct
data on the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence. The line of approach
pursued by science is based on the premise that, this kind of life would have to
mimic the development of life on Earth; this is mainly because of the fact that
Earth life is the only kind of life discovered so far and therefore, the only
measuring stick available. Thus, one of the first necessities for our kind of
life is a planet. "We have to assume . . . that complex life must grow and
evolve to intelligence on planets orbiting stable stars." The detection of
planets orbiting other solar systems, is a very difficult task however, in the
words of David C. Black, "We now possess the technological capability to mount a
comprehensive search for other planetary systems." Such searches have been
going on for a while on a smaller scale, and of all the stars investigated to
date, the most promising one seems to be Barnard's Star; A study of the shift in
the star's center of mass conducted by Mr. Black together with G. C. J. Suffolk,
" . . . assumes three planets for Barnard's Star." And so, it seems that even
though no planets have been observed outside of our solar system, their probable
existence is a generally accepted scientific fact.
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