In Search of the Invisible

This is when my childhood got ruined. Don’t get the wrong idea, I didn’t get abducted by aliens or anything (though it would raise my self-appreciation and I may be more self-glorifying my life – in a more dramatic way.) The truth is, I meant, NOTHING happened. I guess like the typical kid intoxicated to modern fictions, I once thought that maybe I had special properties, given the intelligence and stunning feature I have (lol). Maybe something would happen and awaken they secret power that was always hidden from me. But once I started college, a habitat of creatures having the same expectations and delusion that I have, it is just so easy realize that I’m just a weird kid like the rest of the population. To think about it, I am still amazed that I can just fit in so well with the rest of the world that no body can be bothered or affected by my presence.

Is attention my ultimate target? Not really. Well, why not? I suppose that the claim about introvert needs attention is true. It is delirious to read (or to watch on YouTube) about those legendary figures with their awesome brain power and contagious passions, and those historical triumph and the magnificence of nature (I swear I would let out my cry at the scene of the ape that took the first step in the human evolution BBC documentary if my sister wasn’t nearby). It nourishes my imagination, pressurize my blood vessels, tire off my old skin cloak, wash it to the last bits of stain and drape it back onto my flesh making me a newer and smarter person. On the outside that may seems true… But dear Lord of Kepler-22b, if I could choose again, I would do anything to get into engineering and be the artist-scientist that I longed for multiple lifetimes~ It makes me feel humble and powerless when I picture my future as an exhausted monotonic laborers, rambling downtown’s streets, day after day, week after week, sustaining my life with coffee (that I hate right now), or maybe my future is limited to a seat in front of a computer screen, a bird-nest-shaped hair, smelly beggar-styled cloths and a big long beard tangled with cheese and pepperoni (the sad part is I can’t even grow a beard even if I wanted to). And there’s no limit for worst possibilities. I’ve been quite concerned about people who failed their carrier and suddenly end up scavenging for food in dumpsters and sleeping on the cold pavement. Those people who may have been once mad kids believing in aliens and super power, had their own universe where they put themselves as admired heroes and kings, had their own skills and expertise in things that are unfortunately not as well demanded as some others. But why God gives us wings if we cannot own the sky? But in the end, isn’t the sense of longing that allow us to find meaning in each day of our life? But in the end, either we accomplished our desires or not, none of them matters anymore once dead.

But here’s what I would say to myself if I were born as a twin. HALAAH HALAAH HALAAH ~~~ Don’t speak like an old man who thinks he knows everything! I am of course aware that I still have a lot of time ahead of me before sending off my final impression about life to whoever would be interested in bothering oneself for knowing it. However, allow me to share with you something that opened a door of vast possibility when I was stuck in an intersection where all available paths seem to suck.

(Please don’t be to tough on this, I wrote it before my final exam as a way to review the material. ^^”)

Astrobiology, a Mission to Meet Extraterrestrial Life

It was only a few decades ago, in the generation of my lowest or second lowest predecessors, that textbooks on astronomy only contained a small 4-sentences paragraph about extrasolar planets, which solely stated that they may exist. You might have heard what happens at the beginning of modern science when people were only specializing themselves in a specific area. Astronomers were only astronomers, biologist were only biologists. But when questions about extraterrestrial life existence rise, there is no common ground for both types of scientists to understand each other. Astronomers might talk about habitable zone, the HR diagram, and biologist might just ignore those and talk about organic chemicals and biosignatures. At last, a unified field emerges in the 1950s bringing us the term “astrobiology,” an cocktail of physics, chemistry, astronomy, biology, biochemistry, ecology, planetary science, geography, and geology all for the ultimate goal to answer the question “is there life elsewhere?” in a scientific way.

This question is serious; answering this question and inevitably answering a lot other questions can lead humanity to a type V civilization or beyond on the Kardashev scale. But before we even think about how to get there and take over resources, let’s look at what we need to become extraterrestrially supreme.

In Search of the Invisible (you are here~)
Astrobiology? Did you Mean Alien?
If You Were an Extraterrestrial Astrobiologist…
Mars: Astrobiologists’ Attraction Park

NOTE: I haven’t gotten the time to go through all the material though. Got the mark that I wanted in the end anyway. :p