No chance of contact... The achievements of astrophysics have made it possible for scientists to look into the depths of space, having learned that in our own galaxy, the Milky Way, there are billions of planets, one way or another similar to the Earth. Most scientists are inclined to think that life exists in the vastness of the Universe. Publicist Alex Berezov writes about this in his article published in Big Think magazine. “Currently, the academic debate is not about whether life exists, but about what form it takes. Many assume that the most common form of life is microbial. A fair guess, given that humans are a relatively new invention on Earth, while microbes have been around for 3.5 billion years. Therefore, astrobiologists are making every effort to study the atmospheres of exoplanets for signs of the existence of bacteria there, ”writes Berezov. Scientists are arguing about what alien life might be like, he said, but such a debate clearly suffers from a lack of perspective. Berezov notes that in order to detect alien life, two unlikely facts must be confirmed: First, the hypothesis that the origin of life in itself is not a unique process, but its development is easy. However, as the publicist notes, decades of studying the mechanism of the origin of life from inanimate matter actually yielded nothing. “This clearly indicates that life is not born as easily as we would like it to be,” notes Berezov. He also notes that most of the exoplanets discovered have absolutely no conditions for the emergence of life on them. According to the results of the latest research, it turned out that most of the stars in our galaxy are not able to support plant life through photosynthesis. Collecting solar energy is the first step towards the evolution of life, but evolution cannot even begin if there is no such energy. At the same time, Berezov also notes that given the huge cosmic distances, the fact of the possibility of interstellar travel must also be confirmed. “In my opinion, this is even more unlikely than an easily nascent life. We know that life has evolved at least once, on Earth, but we have no idea if interstellar travel is possible. Of course, we could board a spaceship and go to Proxima Centauri, but it will take us about 6300 years to travel, ”the author of the article notes. According to Berezov, the idea that humanity or other hypothetical civilizations are capable of traveling through galaxies is only pure speculation. “However, even if travel at the speed of light were possible, the distance between stars is almost incomprehensible. For example, the other side of the galaxy is more than 100 thousand years away, ”the researcher notes. He also mentions science fiction ideas such as space-time warping technologies or wormhole travel. “But again, such assumptions are purely speculative. Aside from the quirky mathematics that suggests such maneuvers are theoretically possible, we have no idea if this could actually happen. Just because unicorns and mermaids are theoretically possible doesn't mean they exist. Putting it all together, you can draw a sobering conclusion: it doesn't matter if intelligent alien life exists somewhere in the universe. We will never find her, and they will never find us. In other words, we are actually alone in the Universe, ”Berezov points out.