ALIENS?

When I was little, I'd look up at the night sky, pick out the brightest star and whisper, Star bright... star light ... I wish I may... wish I might...

I thought the Milky Way was a carpet of diamonds, a pathway for me to follow into a wonderful dazzling future.

Well, here I am, now, in New York City, the place to be if you have big show-business dreams, and when I look up -- no stars! never a single star, or a moon -- just the red glow of lights from the busy city.

It's always busy -- wherever I go I'm dodging people -- I'm saying excuse me, or being jostled as I enter a store, or stand in line, waiting to pay a cashier. Each year it's getting worse -- we're running out of things like oil, water, coal, food, and space.

Remembering my carpet of diamonds, I find myself  wondering if there are other worlds running out of things. I wonder about other planets like ours, people like us, who need and want things. Do they look like me, or like alien creatures in some of those movies?

Does the presence of alien life explain away some of the strange things -- crop circles, UFO's, and visitations that people have described.

I find myself humming, hearing John Cullum  singing, "Is -- any-body - there?"  (It's a plaintive tune the John Adam's character sang in "1776." -- my husband played the role on Broadway for a while.)

Lord Martin Rees, president of the Royal Society and astronomer for the Queen of Great Britain, said, “There could be life and intelligence out there in forms we can’t conceive. Just as a chimpanzee can’t understand quantum theory, it could be there -- there are aspects of reality that are beyond the capacity of our brains.”

NBC's Brian Williams has quoted Stephen Hawking, saying that aliens may be like Columbus discovering America -- "Look what happened to the Indians who were already here."

Stephen Hawkins says yes. They are here.  Michio Kaku says no, they are not here. Have I checked other sources,  yes. These two men are the most qualified, knowledgeable, trusted authorities. 

I find it spooky, scary, and would rather think Kaku is right, but I go with what Hawking has said.

Here's part of the Discovery Channel film that Stephen Hawking made, with an actor narrating Hawking's conclusions.



 Here's Michio Kaku, Professor of Theoretical Physics in the City College of New York, author of two NY Times best sellers ("Physics of the Impossible," (2008), and "Physics of the Future," (2011); radio, television, and film commentator, host of specials for BBC, Discovery Channel, History Channel, and the Science Channel.  
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