Is the Search for Extraterrestrial Life Doomed to Fail? Essay

The search for extraterrestrial life is not doomed to fail. Ancient Egyptians, Chinese, Babylonians, Indians, and Sumerians had all believed in the existence of extraterrestrial life, even if they were principally focused on angels and demons in their belief. The Jewish Talmud stated that there are at least eighteen thousand other worlds. Hindu belief also revolved around multiple worlds in contact with each other. The Muslims’ Qur’an says, â€Å"All praise belongs to God, Lord of all the worlds† besides mentioning angels and jinns (â€Å"Extraterrestrial Life†). Thus scientists have enough support from historical and religious traditions of humanity to keep on searching for extraterrestrial life. This search may go on until humanity takes a quantum leap, or hits the point of a breakthrough in its endeavor. After all, most of the scientific discoveries and leaps did not occur without persistent efforts and firm faith in the fact that we will eventually make it through. Besides, scientists are some of the most persistent and confident humans on earth today, who know that they will make it through. James F. Kasting wrote, â€Å"Habitable planets are likely to exist around stars not too different from the Sun if current theories about terrestrial climate evolution are correct. Some of these planets may have evolved life, and some of the inhabited planets may have evolved O2-rich atmospheres† (291). We are assuming that other species on other planets in our universe may be living in conditions very similar to ours. In other words, in human understanding extraterrestrial life must involve the use of water, sunlight, air, etc. However, if we believe in angels and jinns of the historical and religious traditions, we are instinctively aware that these species do not rely on the kinds of terrestrial conditions that we rely on. Hence, we might have to change our focus IS THE SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE DOOMED TO FAIL? Page # 2 on terrestrial conditions in order to find proof of extraterrestrial life. We might discover, for example, that different uses of lenses to bend light or to employ it in a different way – would allow us to see angels. Our world has talked enough about Unidentified Flying Objects or UFO’s. Despite the photographs and eye witnesses of UFO’s, most people in the scientific community refuse to believe in UFO’s and also urge the public toward disbelief, because the majority of scientists searching for extraterrestrial life have not thus far had the opportunity to capture and dissect aliens coming out of the UFO’s. And yet, there is talk about alien capture from Area 51 in California. There are countless reports, in fact, about the existence of UFO’s. If all scientists were to believe in the phenomena of UFO’s at this point, one of the requirements to substantiate their belief would be a certain level of control over the extraterrestrial life. Seeing that scientists have not thus far managed to exercise control over UFO’s and aliens, the way they have control over their spaceships, most of them claim that UFO’s and aliens may be a falsehood. Once again, this is only because aliens and UFO’s have not subjected themselves to human scrutiny the way human beings give in to human biology experiments. NASA’s Chief Historian, Steven J. Dick has written that one of the most important tasks of NASA undertaken since the beginning of the Space Age has been the search for life beyond earth. As a matter of fact, in the year 1962 the Space Science Board of the National Academy of Sciences had declared that NASA’s nascent space biology efforts had the search for extraterrestrial life as the prime goal. Moreover, writes Dick, NASA believes that â€Å"Without organic molecules, the building blocks of life, life cannot exist. † To put it another way, the most IS THE SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE DOOMED TO FAIL? Page # 3 important scientific venture to search for extraterrestrial life does not even consider the possibility of extraterrestrial life being anything dissimilar to life on earth. In scientists’ view, extraterrestrial life must be based on conditions that are very similar to those for life on earth. As an example of its scientific victory in the search for extraterrestrial life, NASA believes that it has found evidence of water flowing on Mars. Alex Stone writes that the presence of water greatly increases the likelihood that living organisms once thrived on the planet, and perhaps still inhabit Mars today. And so, Stone states: Pictures taken by the camera on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor suggest that rivulets of liquid water were flowing on the Red Planet within the past few years and may still be flowing today, welling up from beneath the Martian surface and streaming down gullies along the sloping walls of impact craters. †¦. But is the liquid flowing down these gullies really water? Probably, say experts at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, but more evidence is needed to seal the case. â€Å"You can never be certain from orbit,† says Ken Edgett, a member of the research team that made the discovery. â€Å"But this is the best evidence yet of liquid water being present on Mars right now† (20). If we are only searching for extraterrestrial life that resembles what we have on earth, it may or may not take a long time to find extraterrestrial life. The search would not be futile still, for we will gather much evidence about other aspects of our universe in the process. All the same, IS THE SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE DOOMED TO FAIL? Page # 4 according to historical and religious traditions of humanity, angels are made of light and jinns are made of fire. It would perhaps be best for scientists to try finding life that is based on light and fire to boot. In other words, scientists have to consider the possibility that extraterrestrial life may be based on an infinite number of elements. Water, air, and sunlight may not be necessary to support other forms of life. Seeing that we have not by now discovered everything we possibly can about our universe, we also must assume that we have failed to consider the possibilities of other elements making up extraterrestrial life. Hence, scientists must be more open to exploration than before, taking into account both the historical and religious traditions of extraterrestrial life, in order for their knowledge base to be complete. After all, they still debate about the origins of life on earth – about God versus Darwin. In both of these belief systems, our understanding of life is incomplete. Neither God nor evolution has explained to human minds everything to know about the universe. Therefore, assumptions are necessary. Moreover, it is crucial for scientists to open themselves up to alternate theories of life. They may decide to start by trying to see angels of light and jinns of fire simply because these beings are referred to in the historical and religious traditions of humanity. Eventually, we are bound to find extraterrestrial life, even if it means that our earth may be destroyed by an asteroid before scientists can capture on a massive scale images of angels and jinns. In that case, we all might go through the experiences of those who have been near death, that is, there would appear an angel of light to each one of us and tell us what we needed to know. IS THE SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE DOOMED TO FAIL? Page # 5 Works Cited 1. Dick, Steven J. â€Å"The Search for Life. † NASA (2005, June 26). Retrieved from http://www. nasa. gov/mission_pages/exploration/whyweexplore/index. html. (28 February 2007). 2. â€Å"Extraterrestrial Life. † Wikipedia (2007). Retrieved from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_life. (28 February 2007). 3. Kasting, James F. â€Å"Habitable Zones Around Low Mass Stars and The Search for Extraterrestrial Life. † Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres, Volume 27, Numbers 1-3 (1997, June), pp. 291-307. 4. Stone, Alex. â€Å"Like Water For Mars. † Discover (2007, February), pp. 20.

Conrad: Kill Whitey Essay

Indigenous peoples of Africa die every day because of war, famine, and disease largely due to the legacy of European imperialism. Joseph Conrad, who saw firsthand â€Å"the horror† (Conrad 154) of imperialism as a ship captain, sought to change public opinion and call attention to the atrocities committed. In Heart of Darkness, Conrad articulates his negative view of imperialism as oppressive and hypocritical through contrasts and parallels of Africa and Europe Conrad’s sympathetic portrayal of natives and demonizing portrayal of the Europeans makes the reader actively despise the institution of imperialism by forcing them to condemn the actions of Europeans in every circumstance presented. In his journey to the inner station, Marlow captains a ship that is crewed by cannibals and carries Pilgrims. Conrad sets up a decisive contrast as Marlow observes with puzzlement that the cannibals act restrained, even though the Pilgrims throw out their food. Marlow, acting as the European perspective â€Å"saw that something restraining, one of those human secret that baffle probability, had come into play here,† (Conrad 116). While this situation of native cannibals versus European pilgrims illustrates a distinct difference in behavior, other incidents stand out as well; most of Marlow’s encounters portray the natives not as villains, but as victims. At the central station he watches as a black man is beaten by whites for â€Å"[they] said he had caused the fire in some way; be that as it may, he was screeching most horribly,† (Conrad 92). Here, Marlow characteristically infused doubt as to the man’s guilt, through the â€Å"be that as it may† clause, that further shows victimization. But how much of this behavior is fiction? Avrom Fleishman writes that in his other works, Conrad consistently demonstrates how Europeans in their contact with natives show an emergence of â€Å"submerged barbarism† and that â€Å"whites become more savage than the savages,† (Fleishman 157). This pattern of role reversal allows Conrad to easily defame imperialists through their beastly and â€Å"Savage† actions. If Africa houses and nurtures evil, Conrad attempts to parallel it in Europe.  Before Marlow begins to tell his story the narrator remarks on his surroundings, frequently interlacing descriptions of settings with foreshadows of doom, making London and the Thames part of the world Marlow is about to take the boatmen into. The sun is described as being â€Å"stricken to death,† (Conrad 67) implying that evil lurks not just in and amongst the denizens of Africa, but here in Europe too in the relative safety of the Thames. Chinua Achebe in his indictment of Conrad as a racist admits a parallel between the Congo River and the Thames, stating â€Å"the Thames, too, ‘has been one of the darkest places on earth,'† (Achebe 1). The evil in Europe then must spread to its people. Kurtz, who embodies evil through his godlike control or hollowness, is both the most evil European and the most productive. Kurtz links ruthlessness to productivity and while his actions may only flourish in Africa, he still gathers ivory for Europe. By paralleling and linking the evil in Africa to Europe, Conrad poignantly shows the hypocrisy of the white view of black natives as savage. How can they be savage if the most evil person Africa is white? The hypocrisy of the imperialists extends beyond their perception of the natives; it surrounds all of their actions. In his essay of Conrad’s views of imperialism Cedric Watts describes the circumstances of Marlow’s visit to the central Station. On one side we see instances of the inefficiency, wastefulness and futility of the imperialists’ endeavours–objectless blasting, upturned trucks; and on the other side we see the price in human terms of these activities: the emaciated blacks of the chain-gang, starved slave labourers. The juxtaposition makes a telling indictment of the folly, hypocrisy and callousness of the so-called emissaries of progress, ‘pilgrims’ who, nominally Christians, are idolaters before ivory. (Watts 181) Watts’ charge illustrates view that all Europeans are alien to the region and do not belong. By making them seem useless and more as a burden, Conrad makes the reader feel that the Europeans should leave Africa; and convincing them in the context of Heart of Darkness will eventually help Conrad spread his anti-imperialist message. Throughout Heart of Darkness Conrad reinforces the Europeans as being outsiders, intruders, and the prime evildoers in the novel. He articulates his negative view of imperialism through contrasts and parallels of Africa and Europe: through his contrast of the cannibals and pilgrims, the role of Kurtz, and his portrayal of the imperialists. Conrad observed the horror of Imperialism and set out to fight it being sewing seeds of discontent in his readers’ feelings about the issue cementing Heart of Darkness as a prime example of an anti-imperialist text. Works Cited Achebe, Chinua. â€Å"An Image of Africa† The Massachusetts Review Vol. XVIII No. 4 Winter 1977: 782-94. Exploring Novels. Student Resource Center, Detroit. 29 Nov. 2003 . Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: Signet Classic, 1950. Fleishman, Avrom. â€Å"The Politics of Imperialism.† Conrad’s Politics:Community and Anarchy in the fiction of Joseph Conrad. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, (1967): 89-96. Rpt. in Readings on Heart of Darkness. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. 156-161. Watts, Cedric. â€Å"Indirect Methods Convey Conrad’s View’s of Imperialism.† A Preface to Conrad. London: Longman Group UK Ltd., (1993). Rpt. in Readings on Heart of Darkness. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. 177-183.

Management Portfolio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words - 3

Management Portfolio - Essay Example The ability to understand and coordinate with numerous a numbers of disciplines and functions within a civil engineering domain is clearly portrayed in the essay. Finally adopting the techniques related to innovation within the limits of framework leading to sustainable construction and effective quality management for understanding the requirements of end users. Major focus areas of civil engineering study demands the conceptual understanding about the complexity of infrastructure with more components like Operations Research, Maintenance of men, machine and materials, Adaptation & Conversion and Refurbishment & Renewal. The next critical factor will be the factors like project size and environment. Project size can range from small to medium and the type could be large scale creation and type of built environment for example regeneration. There are cross functional processes adding more value to the civil engineering through effective concept and design of values leading to full fledged functionality of civil engineering. Major focus areas requiring attention apart from construction mechanism are All the above determinants help us to understand the intrinsic aspects of civil engineering and also derive the correlation between civil engineering with the specific functions. In addition to the above determinants, there is strong need for designing an effective document control process to ensure accuracy and compliance on the management portfolio with relevant data management processes. The entire portfolio is presented with effective case studies, schematic diagrams and data tables for better understanding and application. Let us review the relation of civil engineering with various domains and their advantages and disadvantages using different case studies of construction companies for more practical understanding and application. The Case

Addiction problems Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Addiction problems - Case Study Example Mrs. Smith was aged 85 and on 28 November 2009 was admitted to hospital with pneumonia. On 1st December 2009, she was being assisted by a nurse to get out of bed when she slipped on a wet floor and sustained a fractured neck of her right femur. This was treated surgically on 2 December 2009. She died of a pulmonary embolism following a deep vein thrombosis on 10 December 2009.One scenario is that the nurse could be sued for the fractured neck of the patient's femur. Another scenario is that the hospital might be sued for the fractured neck of the patient's right femur. The doctor could be charged with malpractice for the way in which he handled the pulmonary embolism for surgery. The hospital could be liable for the surgery gone wrong. Additionally, as a fifth scenario, the hospital might be liable for the patient's death, in which case, it would be a wrongful death lawsuit. As a sixth scenario, the hospital could get sued for negligence for the patient's death.The first scenario is that the nurse could be sued for negligence in the matter of the patient having fractured the neck of her femur. The nurse was supposed to be helping the patient avoid such a travesty. Since this accident happened on her watch, she would be liable. In negligence, the person preventing the wrong from happening to the other person has a duty of care. "Under the new rules, the existence of a duty states will depend on three factors: the foreseeability of damage occurring; the proximity of the relationship between the claimant and defendant; and whether it is just in the circumstances to impose a duty of care."1 From the nurse's point of view, since Mrs. Smith was aged 85, it should be a reasonable assumption to make that this nurse would have foreseen such an accident happening. Additionally, the nurse's proximity to the patient was such that she should probably have been aware of the patient's difficulty, although, proximity of the nurse to the patient would have to be established. Also, it is probably just to assume that the circumstances under which the nurse found herself required her to impose a duty of care. The second scenario is that the hospital could be sued for the patient's fractured femur. Obviously, this would probably not happen since the patient is already deceased, and litigation would obviously be moved to address the patient's death. In that case, the hospital could definitely be held liable for the patient's surgery having gone awry. After all, doctors are places that are supposed to help people get better, not allow them to pass away. Hospitals are technically supposed to be helping people. They are not necessarily liable for an unforeseen problem such as a pulmonary embolism, but it could be that the hospital's practices which were put in place had something to do with the patient's demise. If this was the case, the hospital could certainly be liable. The doctor could be charged with a malpractice suit due to negligence on his part if he knew that the procedure he used was not correct, or if he made a mistake during surgery. This is not necessarily what happened, but it is unsure. That is why, at the Inquest, it must be mapped out what needs to be found out in terms of evidence. The way the doctor handled the pulmonary embolism is sure to affect the outcome of the Inquest. Additionally, the hospital could be involved in a wrongful death lawsuit. This would be because the patient would not have had to have surgery if the patient had not slipped and fell due to the hospital staff's negligence. In this case, the hospital would probably take on the lawsuit and most likely win. Hospitals are notorious for doing this kind of thing. They are infamous for committing negligent acts and then sweeping them under the proverbial rug, hidden from the public's bird's-eye view.

Same-Sex Marriages Should be Legally Recognized Essay

Same-Sex Marriages Should be Legally Recognized - Essay Example Those people have to be given the possibility to legalize their relationships. As the relationship between gays and lesbians don't have any legal definition, and they aren't regulated by the government, those couples are left to se the parameters of their partnership by themselves, which sometimes has negative consequences, as Dorothy Pomerantz notes in her article about the legalization of the same-sex marriages published in The Advocate in 2000.1 Marriage has always been an important institution in the American society, as after tying the knot two people became able to make important decisions for each other, and the share the common responsibilities. For the U.S citizens marriage means that two people decided to share their money, resources, and responsibilities as well as their bed, a legal commitment made to the society. Almost any man and any woman in our country can register a marriage, despite of their age, social status, or their feelings towards each other. The few things that are needed to register an official union is being the representatives of the different genders, and being more or less mentally healthy. In the same time, two people who love each other, and want to share their lives, and, maybe, raise children together, are deprived of the possibility to legalize those intentions just because they are of the same gender. Eric Stoltz, the author of the article about Proposition 22, a law project that banned recognition of the same sex marriages in California, writes: I could, for example, fly to Las Vegas tonight, wed a prostitute in a drunken stupor, and return to Los Angeles tomorrow morning to have my marriage fully recognized by the law and society. Fifty women can vie on national television to marry a man they've never met for his money, and that union would be recognized by the state. Any man can marry a woman for her looks in a cynical but legally sanctioned form of concubinage, and that union would enjoy all the rights and privileges of marriage. But if two people of the same sex want to establish rights of inheritance or become legally empowered to make health-care decisions for one another, we are now told that the entire structure of Western civilization will come crashing down. (Commonweal, 2000).2 And, in fact, the situation indeed looks like it. The persuasion that marriage should be a union, which only the representatives of two different genders can enter, is a social norm that was established thousands of years ago, when people created families as they needed to unite in order to survive, and bring their children up. The social roles in the primitive society were very well-defined - men had to bring food, and women were to raise kids and maintain fire, thus such a union was perfectly justified (Sullivan, 2004). 3 As thousands of years passed after people left the caves, the distribution of social roles has changed. Today both men and women can be the breadwinners in the family, the same as both members of the family can stay home to care for the kids. The necessity in the different-gender unity nowadays is much weaker than it had been when this social norm was first formed.

Uncertainy avoidance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Uncertainy avoidance - Assignment Example According to Reimann, LÃ ¼nemann & Chase (2008), clients from those cultures that exhibit increased uncertainty avoidance are less satisfied with service defects, or when service expectations are not met as compared to those from low-uncertainty cultures. I have identified culture as a strong determinant of a persons behavior even when such a person is in a very different culture. In my view, conflict will always be pervasive as long as the people in any situation have different cultural orientations. Recently, the world has witnessed the UN and USA trying to convince President Assad of Syria to step down and allow democratic leadership to take on. However, he still has strong internal and external support from those citizens and nations with high levels of uncertainty avoidance like Russia. If the situation in Syria were happening in Western nations, the citizens would be less willing to support such a regime under war circumstances. The reading has allowed me to reflect on why a number of people get it very rigid to change. For instance, I have quite a number of my friends who take the course, which a former family member took, and highly avoid new courses that are a little bit predictable in terms of employment opportunities and p rogress. Additionally, I have gained a clear understanding of why people from most Asian countries like to live in groups and rarely make friendships with those different from them. Reimann, LÃ ¼nemann & Chases (2008) study has allowed me to note that, in business, it is good to learn and understand the differences in customers’ cultures, expectations and needs, to be able to take action of them in the best way and to avoid conflict. As Kegan & Lahey (2009) observe, in cultures with a high level of uncertainty avoidance, citizens opt for predictable leadership and governance. They then become loyal to their leaders and embrace their way of doing things with little criticism. Here, citizens are concerned;

Bench mark assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bench mark assessment - Essay Example The heritage assessment tool identifies other factors such as family relations, place of origin and religion. In this regard, the tool exposes key issues that affect health in unknown capacities. Applying health assessment tool is an intelligent measure that enables health experts identify silent factors that affect health. Effective health policies can be devised from the results of the heritage assessment tools. From the tool, experts have a chance to access data that can trace historical health issues in the family. The point implies that health professionals can interpret various issues from the data that is given by the families. The different types of information in the tool, for example, commitment to religion, gives a clue to the health experts on which health threats a family might suffer or be suffering (World Health Organization). In this regard, effective control measures can be designed to protect them and how practitioners approach their health related problems. As the assessment results show, the most common health traditions include eating ethnic foods, engaging in religious activities and engaging in ethnic activities. Health is considered a combination of spiritual, mind and body well-being. Thus, understanding these issues and their effect on the health is the first step in ensuring a healthy community (Hollins 2009). All the issues positively identify a diverse health situation in a population. The families exposed a unique preference to ethnic foods. The families explained that at ethnic food from their background is art of their meals. In this regard, it is imperative to evaluate the nature of the consumed foods to ascertain the suitability for sustaining good health. The two families, with Asian and Caribbean origins, showed a tight relationship and preference to continue consuming ethnic foods. The cultural considerations in diet are critical in determining