Alien Life: Can AI Find a Plausible Explanation?

Dr. Asoke K. Laha, Chairman-Emeritus and Founder, InterraIT

When I hark back to subjects that I had handled in this column for more than two decades or so, I am imbued with a feeling that I could treat a variety of subjects, going beyond the ICT landscape, which has been my prime focus. From the occult to Artificial Intelligence has been on my radar as subject matter for this column. Every time I treated a new subject, I got thrilled and charged since it involved a new set of research, reading, thinking, writing, and rewriting. I only wish my esteemed readers would have liked the subjects that I dealt with. 

Today, I am emboldened to dwell on a subject; that is combining the occult, the primitive conundrum that cannot be explained with available scientific data with the most modern scientific breakthrough -Artificial intelligence, popularly known as AI. Thousands of researchers across the world are working on AI to take it to the next level. There are fascinating descriptions by erudite people: what will be the next stage of AI and how it will impact mankind? The recently concluded G7 Summit held in Italy treated AI as the subject theme to discern the positive and negative spin-offs of AI and evolve regulatory mechanisms so that its growth will be subordinated to the welfare of mankind.

Let me recall  our memories. Some years ago, I had written a piece in this column about aliens, or more scientifically referred to as extraterrestrial humans.  Call it my hallucination, premonition, or predilection, I believe in the existence of life beyond our planet. While scoring through various reports which are in the public domain, there is an increasing number of people, who believe that there is life beyond earth. Yet, there is no scientific breakthrough either confirming or ignoring such things. Many in most developed countries like the US, Australia, and Canada claim to have seen aliens or sighted unidentified flying objects that are moving at great speed within their vicinity. I have seen a few films which have treated alien life. There are associations in various countries that are formed by people who believe in the existence of aliens. Amongst them are people who had sighted the unidentified flying objects and aliens. I am not getting into a debate on whether they are talking truth or misleading. My only suggestion is: can we use AI to tackle the raging discussions around alien life?

 Many like me believe that developments in artificial intelligence (AI) may help us to predict the probability of life on other planets. There are studies also conducted on that subject.  A case in point is the study conducted by researchers at Plymouth University in the UK using artificial neural networks (ANNs) to classify planets into five types. Carefully classified types of planets are the planets most like the present-day Earth, the early Earth, Mars, Venus, or Saturn's moon Titan. They have something in common with Earth.   These planets have rocky bodies, and atmospheres, and therefore, are potentially habitable objects in our Solar System.

Some explanation of ANNs is needed to fathom the direction of the study. ANNs are systems that attempt to replicate the way the human brain learns. They are one of the main tools used in machine learning and are particularly good at identifying patterns that are too complex for a biological brain to process.

These studies, when undertaken, will provide insights into the probability of life in each case, and whether they can support life. Importantly, future interstellar exploration missions can be focussed on these areas instead of spreading too thinly in the cosmos.

 Researchers are currently interested in these ANNs for prioritizing exploration for a hypothetical, intelligent, interstellar spacecraft scanning an exoplanet system at range. They are also looking at the use of large-area, deployable, planar Fresnel antennas to get data back to Earth from an interstellar probe lying at large distances. This would be needed if the technology is used in robotic spacecraft in the future.

Newer insights are coming from the scientific community as to the form of aliens. No longer, do people think that aliens need to look like humans or it may be possible they may not have any physical form. They instead form an unfathomable AI, a formless object that can communicate intelligently.  Billions of years had taken for intelligent life to emerge by natural selection on Earth.  There are billion more years ahead in our planet's lifetime. Over that time, intelligence could develop in entirely new directions.
Some of our conventional wisdom and research are going to be put to the test with the new knowledge that is coming. It is possible as new centuries dawn upon us, we may be overtaken by artificial intelligence, which is termed inorganic intelligence. That period will have many new characteristics. It will not be a case of survival of the fittest, as is the case in the natural selection process. It will be the survival of technology, no matter how strong or weak the human beings may be. The worst-case scenario unveiled by the scientific community that machines taking over man may be a possibility at that time, for which an interlude of two centuries is given by the scientists.

My dear readers, my intention is not to trigger a scare among you but to give an explanation of how things will be as we progress. I am sure issues surrounding alien life and AI are going to be discussed in the future also both in the pedestrian and scientific realms. I do not know whether there will be a credible solution in sight. But discussions and hallucinations will go on irrespective of the fact whether AI will prove or disprove alien existence;  because mankind needs something to discuss all the time.  That is a natural law, which no machine or inorganic intelligence can take away from us-the mankind.