The Fear of Being Alone In the Universe

Last night in my MCCC Logic class I presented, as an example of a logical argument, Ward & Brownlee's "Rare Earth" argument. It goes like this:

1) Complex life is very fragile, and can only exist in a habitable zone.

2) A habitable zone suitable for complex life has many rare earth factors that have come together and appear fine-tuned for complex life.

3) The odds of such factors is astronomical. (That is, of them coming together randomly. If there are other such planets, it would be astounding on the random approach, and would argue for the existence of God.)

4) Therefore, intelligent life probably exists only on Earth and nowhere else in the universe

I did some brief internet research late last night and didn't find a whole lot that did a good job refuting the RE theory. See this debate involving Ward, Brownlee, and dissenters, to include Frank Drake (of the famous "Drake Equation," which Ward & Brownlee challenge in their book).

But now I'm thinking of the psychology of alien-belief. It's powerful! There's a psychological need for this, it seems. The very idea that we might be alone seems threatening to some. I now feel that belief in aliens is a kind of God-substitute. No aliens = no one out there who might contact us, for better or worse. When I present this argument in class I feel a resistance to it that's stronger than most of the argument examples I give. I've experimented with this argument for 8 years, and see that it feels especially threatening to a number of students. What if the truth is that we are really alone in this universe? Some, I think, refuse to contemplate such a possibility. It feels bleak.

The desire that aliens exist is in inverse proportion to the loss of belief in God.