Life on Other Worlds - Annotated Bibliography Example

November 18, Life on Other Worlds Outline Introduction – Thesis ment: There are many theories about life on other worlds, but the scholarly consensus is usually that, although it probably exists, our chances of meeting it are slim. 2. Conditions for Life – What chemical, spatial, mineral, or other conditions are necessary for microbial life to come about? 3. Finding a “Goldilocks” planet – A “Goldilocks” planet is one where the conditions are “just right” for microbial life. What implications would it have on the search for extra-terrestrial life if many of these planets were found to exist? 4. What kind of Life?

– Although people often talk about “life” on other worlds, in most cases they are not specific about the kind of life they mean. Usually, however, scholars mean microbial life and the regular public means intelligent life. 5. Conflicting theories: Universe Size – If the universe is infinite, then life must exist elsewhere, because an infinite space holds all possibilities. 6. Conflicting theories: Religious perspective – The religious perspective in Western cultures is that the Universe was created for Man alone.

Obviously, this has impacted some thinkers and scientists in their belief on intelligent extra-terrestrial life. 7. Conflicting theories: Rare Earth Hypothesis – The Rare Earth hypothesis looks at the conditions not for microbial life, but for a race of intelligent beings with similar technology and cultural levels of achievement to our own. 8. Conflicting theories: Drake Equation – The Drake equation is a mathematical formula used to calculate both the likelihood of extraterrestrials existence and the likelihood of our being able to contact them. 9. Conclusion – The concluding paragraph will summarize the points raised in previous paragraphs in a way that uses the information presented to support an argument about the search for extra-terrestrial life and the probability that it exists.