Scientist, investor, and philanthropist Yuri Milner is part of an elite group of brilliant minds dedicated to the exploration of the cosmos and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. In his book, Eureka Manifesto, Milner discusses the motivation behind humanity’s desire to explore space and how this shared goal helps society to build its future.
Milner makes several excellent points throughout the text, supporting the theories of other intellectuals in the IT and science sectors like Carl Sagan, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Stephen Hawking. Our purpose, Yuri explains, is directly related to our search for life outside of this planet.
New Life Forms & Cultures Can Be Born From Galactic Civilization
In Eureka Manifesto, Milner discusses how the world’s unique cultures are the result of our ancestors’ efforts to explore uninhabited or empty lands and establish civilizations there. Music, art, literature, and science have all stemmed from man’s expansion into various parts of the world. Milner asks, “What heights of creativity could be unleashed by entirely new worlds?” What might we find as we begin to explore the uninhabited lands of the cosmos?
Although space exploration initiatives to date have not shown any meaningful signs of extraterrestrial life within the observable universe, the European Space Agency makes a compelling argument about the likelihood of life beyond Earth. “Given the size of the universe — there are at least 100 billion stars in our home galaxy alone and perhaps 100 billion galaxies of much the same size scattered throughout deep space – few scientists believe that the Earth is the only home of life,” the Agency says.
As humanity develops advanced technology that brings the possibility of space settlement ever closer, Milner’s work becomes even more applicable. But whether or not we are successful in our search for extraterrestrial life, Milner suggests that our purpose runs much deeper than even this. “In a Darwinian landscape, no one is safe from extinction, and in an uncertain universe no civilization, however sophisticated, is guaranteed to survive indefinitely. So to reduce the odds of the Mission being derailed, it makes sense to maximize the number of existing civilizations and devote our resources to deepening our understanding and spreading out into space,” he writes.
The Importance Of Man’s Mission to the Outside Universe
In 1997, Carl Sagan and Frank Drake wrote for Scientific American, describing the importance of man’s search for life beyond Earth. In this article, they suggested “There can be little doubt that civilizations more advanced than the Earth’s exist elsewhere in the universe. Since intelligence and technology have a high survival value, it seems likely that primitive life forms on the planets of other stars, evolving over many billions of years, would occasionally develop intelligence, civilization, and high technology. The probabilities involved in locating one of them call for substantial effort.”
While humans have yet to find any consistent signs of meaningful life beyond planet Earth, the probability of its existence remains high. Theoretically, one could even posit that it is the humans of the future that settled the solar system who are attempting to communicate with us from the stars.
However, Milner cautions against becoming so caught up in the search for extraterrestrial life that our own future in space takes a back seat. “Another lesson from our own experience on Earth is that encounters between more and less technological civilizations tend to go badly for the latter. We would be prudent, then, to advance our civilization as rapidly as possible before we bump into any aliens,” he writes.
Get Your Copy Of Eureka Manifesto
Yuri Milner has created a strong scientific and technological approach to space travel that is encouraging fellow investors and entrepreneurs to further the mission of space exploration. Eureka Manifesto is a fast-paced read with open-ended ideas about humanity’s future both on and off Earth.
