Science

Have you noticed the spike of interest in extraterrestrial beings lately? As scientific evidence for intelligent design continues to defrock the theory of evolution, leading atheists are lining up to concede that life on planet earth may have been seeded by designing aliens. The notion of a creator God is unconscionably irrational, we are told. Apparently the idea of paternalistic aliens should pose no problem for the enlightened.

Whatever contribution aliens may or may not have made in generating life on earth, we ought—so the thinking goes—at least introduce ourselves. Since 1960 scientists in organizations such as SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) have dutifully cupped their technological ears toward the heavens in hopes that aliens will contact us, or that we might at least intercept an errant radio transmission emitting from some extraterrestrial source. Hearing utterly nothing for four decades, NASA retooled in 2001 and began attempting to contact them.¹