Life in the Universe, and Titan's Disappearing 'Island'

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Some scientists are studying an island that isn't there, and probably isn't an island. Others have found new ways to look for extraterrestrial life; and discovered a planet that's not where it 'should' be....

...Alone in the Universe: Or Not

"Thar's only two possibilities: Thar is life out there in the universe which is smarter than we are, or we're the most intelligent life in the universe. Either way, it's a mighty sobering thought."
(Porky Pine, in Walt Kelley's Pogo; via Wikiquote)
I don't think that there is life on other planets. I don't think that there is not life elsewhere in the universe. Right now, we don't know.

I'm not going to repeat the mistake made by some European scholars, around the time Thomas Aquinas was writing Summa Theologica. Debate about whether or not other worlds existed had gotten intense, with some scholars claiming that Earth had to be the only world in the universe: because Aristotle said so.

That's when the Catholic Church stepped in. Ever since 1277, claiming that we have to be standing on the only world has been against the rules....

...If catalogs of extrasolar planets and the ongoing search for life in the universe seem out of place in a 'religious' blog: you're probably new here.

Like I've said before, my faith doesn't depend on trying to keep up with what we're learning about this wonder-filled universe: but it's not threatened by knowledge.
"...methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God...."
(Catechism, 159; emphasis mine)
What we learn over the next decade, century, and millennium, will almost certainly upset some folks. People are like that: but not all people.

I'm pretty sure that those of us who want to know what's over the horizon will keep looking: and finding "wonderful things."...

More at A Catholic Citizen in America.

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