In the discussion about the nature of alien life many assume that it must be very different from our own, within of course the parameters of the elements and physics of nature. But I have another thought, that ties into a personal philosophy of mine about the meaning of life.

Life is a part of the universe. Just like stars and planets and rocks and water, life is an element of the universe. Consciousness, although so little understood, is undeniably an element of the universe. Here we are! And while the universe seems at times to be a mindless, meaningless place where life can and is snuffed out so easily by natural events, it is in fact not mindless. As Carl Sagan so famously said, WE are the universe’s way of knowing itself.

But still life is fragile and short. So how do we make meaning of it all? There is a way. A mission. A purpose for humanity and all life. Procreation is built into the DNA of all living creatures. But for intelligent life, there is another step. It is to seed the universe with life. THERE, is the way our civilization, our very existence, can have near eternal meaning.

We could genetically engineer multicellular life that are programmed to evolve in millions of years into human and other species like those on earth. This is not out of the realm of modern science. If we send them off on multi century and multi millennia journeys to worlds in countless other star systems, we are ensuring the continuation of earth based life forms, of life itself even! Certainly they will evolve in ways that are specific to the worlds they inhabit, but they will have at least some of our characteristics. People who say we would be contaminating other worlds don’t see the big picture. Spreading life throughout the universe is ultimately the only meaningful and enduring thing we can ever achieve as a species.

And maybe that’s how life got here? And if so at least some aliens out there might not be so different from us after all.