Why do we exist?

The upcoming eclipse got my oldest son and me talking about the cosmos. So many questions. Few answers. So we speculated and expressed our guesses.

Are we the only intelligent life in the universe? I don’t rule out the possibility that we are. I understand the vastness of the universe and how statistically it’s probable there are at least some habitable planets. However, I don’t rule out that the creation of intelligent life that we experienced here on Earth is one of a one-of-a-kind mutation. My son thinks otherwise. Also, he says if that’s the case (no other intelligent life) it will be disappointing to the extent of making our existence meaningless. I asked him to explain why. His point is that once we go extinct — which we will — there is nothingness in the universe in terms of intelligent life so our existence and all the progress have gone to waste.

Will humans ever be able to go interstellar? While I’m a great believer in the ability of the human species to explore the most unimaginable frontiers, I’m skeptical here. I can imagine that five hundred thousand years from now our civilization will be advanced in ways we can’t imagine and yet interstellar travel will still be out of reach. The distances are too vast. Also, the context matters. When we talk about interstellar travel, we either have in mind finding other habitable planets or finding other civilizations. Even if we do manage to fly to a planet near Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system, the chances of landing on something habitable are like winning a lottery. You’d then need to continue…