Do you think alien life exists? | Writing prompt

Alien Life- Does it Exist?

By: Josh

Alien life is something we humans have been marveling at for decades and decades. We are all familiar with the stereotypical alien, right? Green, huge eyes, maybe even a few antennae. But that is just a caricature. Who knows what alien life actually looks like? Or does alien life even exist? There are many questions to be had about this, but virtually no answers. Scientists and astronomers around the world have been trying to answer this question, but to no avail. For all we know as of now, it could be that the universe is teeming with life, and our technology is not yet sophisticated enough to detect it. Or it could be that we are simply alone for now, and there really is nobody out there to answer our calls. 

To understand the idea of alien life, we must first start with the universe. An enormous glob of everything. Stars, galaxies, planets black holes, pretty much everything that exists and ever will exist. In fact, it is so enormous that we humans are incapable of even comprehending the universe's astronomical size. Anyway,  the universe is made up of countless galaxies, each of which contain trillions and trillions of planets and stars. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is a spiral galaxy about two-hundred-thousand light years in diameter. The Milky Way alone is home to billions of solar systems, each with their own planets. A percentage of these planets may also be habitable, with an earth-like size and an atmosphere. Perfect for life as we know it to form. But, if that is true, then where are all the aliens? Shouldn't we have encountered at least few species by now? Well, in my opinion, it is entirely possible that alien life in our galaxy exists. It may just be that our technology is not advanced enough to communicate with them, or that neither of us have even bothered trying to find each other. I haven't the slightest idea, but here are a few ideas worth mentioning:

1. I've already mentioned this a few times, but it could just be that aliens exist, and we aren't aware of it. Maybe because they are just too far away. Or that we are just incapable using current technology. Or that they, like us, are not too focused on finding life besides themselves at the moment.
2. Another theory is that we may actually be alone. For now, at least. It could be that we are just one of, if not the first living beings in the entire universe, and that alien life will start showing itself later on in the universe's lifespan. The current universe is still quite young, so there is a high chance that alien life will develop in the future.
3. There may be a managing force in the universe: some sort of god-like beings that clear up civilizations once they reach a certain level of technology. Although this idea is sort of far-fetched, it is still a possibility.

(These ideas I have mentioned above are just a few of many others.)

The universe is a place of contradictions. So empty, but so full. Magical, yet dull. Fun, yet scary. Life is a delicate thing; something made to make the boring surroundings of space-time more interesting. So the idea that some completely different life may exist out there takes me a long time to process. That there is going to be living beings somewhere that are going to change our current definition of what it means to be alive. And the fact that in this seemingly endless universe, absolutely packed with galaxies, stars, planets, asteroids, and space junk floating through the void of space-time, there is a very, very small chance that we are alone.

-Josh