Passage 1
Generations of science-fiction movies have conditioned us to consider bug-eyed monsters, large-brained intellectual humanoids, and other rather sophisticated extraterrestrial creatures as typical examples of life outside Earth. The reality, however, is that finding any kind of life at all, even something as simple as bacteria, would be one of the most exciting discoveries ever made.
The consensus within the scientific community seems to be that we eventually will find not only life in other parts of the galaxy but also intelligent and technologically advanced life. I have to say that I disagree. While I believe we will find other forms of life in other solar systems (if not in our own), I also feel it is extremely unlikely that a large number of advanced technological civilizations are out there, waiting to be discovered. The most succinct support for my view comes from Nobel laureate physicist Enrico Fermi, the man who ran the first nuclear reaction ever controlled by human beings. Confronted at a 1950 luncheon with scientific arguments for the ubiquity of technologically advanced civilizations, he supposedly said, So where is everybody?
This so-called Fermi Paradox embodies a simple logic. Human beings have had modern science only a few hun- dred years, and already we have moved into space. It is not hard to imagine that in a few hundred more years we will be a starfaring people, colonizing other systems. Fermis argument maintains that it is extremely unlikely that many other civilizations discovered science at exactly the same time we did. Had they acquired science even a thousand years earlier than we, they now could be so much more advanced that they would already be colonizing our solar system.
If, on the other hand, they are a thousand years behind us, we will likely arrive at their home planet before they even begin sending us radio signals. Technological advances build upon each other, increasing technological abilities faster than most people anticipate. Imagine, for example, how astounded even a great seventeenth-century scientist like Isaac Newton would be by our current global communication system, were he alive today. Where are those highly developed extraterrestrial civilizations so dear to the hearts of science-fiction writers? Their existence is far from a foregone conclusion.
Passage 2
Although posed in the most casual of circumstances, the Fermi Paradox has reverberated through the decades and has at times threatened to destroy the credibility of those scientists seriously engaged in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) research program.
One possible answer to Fermis question (If there are extraterrestrials, where are they?) is that extraterrestrials have in fact often visited Earth, and continue to do so. This is the answer of those who believe in the existence of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs. But few scien- tists, even those engaged in SETI, take the UFO claims seriously. You wont find anyone around here who believes in UFOs, says Frank Drake, a well-known SETI scientist. If one discounts the UFO claims, yet still believes that there are many technological civilizations in the galaxy, why have they not visited us? Drakes answer is straightforward: High-speed interstellar travel is so demanding of resources and so hazardous that intelligent civilizations dont attempt it. And why should they attempt it, when radio communication can supply all the information they might want?
At first glance, Drakes argument seems very persua- 65 sive. The distances between stars are truly immense. To get from Earth to the nearest star and back, traveling at 99 percent of the speed of light, would take 8 years. And SETI researchers have shown that, to accelerate a spacecraft to such a speed, to bring it to a stop, and 70 to repeat the process in the reverse direction, would take almost unimaginable amounts of energy.
Astronomer Ben Zuckerman challenges Drakes notion that technological beings would be satisfied with radio communication. Drakes implicit assumption is that the only thing were going to care about is intelli- gent life. But what if we have an interest in simpler life-forms? If you turn the picture around and you have some advanced extraterrestrials looking at the Earth, until the last hundred years there was no evidence of intelligent life but for billions of years before that they could have deduced that this was a very unusual world and that there were probably living creatures on it. They would have had billions of years to come investigate. Zuckerman contends that the reason extraterrestrials havent visited us is that so few exist.
Both the author of Passage 1 and Ben Zuckerman (line 73, Passage 2) imply that researchers seeking life on another planet should focus on which of the following?

Question

Passage 1
Generations of science-fiction movies have conditioned us to consider bug-eyed monsters, large-brained intellectual humanoids, and other rather sophisticated extraterrestrial creatures as typical examples of life outside Earth. The reality, however, is that finding any kind of life at all, even something as simple as bacteria, would be one of the most exciting discoveries ever made.
The consensus within the scientific community seems to be that we eventually will find not only life in other parts of the galaxy but also intelligent and technologically advanced life. I have to say that I disagree. While I believe we will find other forms of life in other solar systems (if not in our own), I also feel it is extremely unlikely that a large number of advanced technological civilizations are out there, waiting to be discovered. The most succinct support for my view comes from Nobel laureate physicist Enrico Fermi, the man who ran the first nuclear reaction ever controlled by human beings. Confronted at a 1950 luncheon with scientific arguments for the ubiquity of technologically advanced civilizations, he supposedly said, So where is everybody?
This so-called Fermi Paradox embodies a simple logic. Human beings have had modern science only a few hun- dred years, and already we have moved into space. It is not hard to imagine that in a few hundred more years we will be a starfaring people, colonizing other systems. Fermis argument maintains that it is extremely unlikely that many other civilizations discovered science at exactly the same time we did. Had they acquired science even a thousand years earlier than we, they now could be so much more advanced that they would already be colonizing our solar system.
If, on the other hand, they are a thousand years behind us, we will likely arrive at their home planet before they even begin sending us radio signals. Technological advances build upon each other, increasing technological abilities faster than most people anticipate. Imagine, for example, how astounded even a great seventeenth-century scientist like Isaac Newton would be by our current global communication system, were he alive today. Where are those highly developed extraterrestrial civilizations so dear to the hearts of science-fiction writers? Their existence is far from a foregone conclusion.
Passage 2
Although posed in the most casual of circumstances, the Fermi Paradox has reverberated through the decades and has at times threatened to destroy the credibility of those scientists seriously engaged in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) research program.
One possible answer to Fermis question (If there are extraterrestrials, where are they?) is that extraterrestrials have in fact often visited Earth, and continue to do so. This is the answer of those who believe in the existence of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs. But few scien- tists, even those engaged in SETI, take the UFO claims seriously. You wont find anyone around here who believes in UFOs, says Frank Drake, a well-known SETI scientist. If one discounts the UFO claims, yet still believes that there are many technological civilizations in the galaxy, why have they not visited us? Drakes answer is straightforward: High-speed interstellar travel is so demanding of resources and so hazardous that intelligent civilizations dont attempt it. And why should they attempt it, when radio communication can supply all the information they might want?
At first glance, Drakes argument seems very persua- 65 sive. The distances between stars are truly immense. To get from Earth to the nearest star and back, traveling at 99 percent of the speed of light, would take 8 years. And SETI researchers have shown that, to accelerate a spacecraft to such a speed, to bring it to a stop, and 70 to repeat the process in the reverse direction, would take almost unimaginable amounts of energy.
Astronomer Ben Zuckerman challenges Drakes notion that technological beings would be satisfied with radio communication. Drakes implicit assumption is that the only thing were going to care about is intelli- gent life. But what if we have an interest in simpler life-forms? If you turn the picture around and you have some advanced extraterrestrials looking at the Earth, until the last hundred years there was no evidence of intelligent life but for billions of years before that they could have deduced that this was a very unusual world and that there were probably living creatures on it. They would have had billions of years to come investigate. Zuckerman contends that the reason extraterrestrials havent visited us is that so few exist.
Both the author of Passage 1 and Ben Zuckerman (line 73, Passage 2) imply that researchers seeking life on another planet should focus on which of the following?

Toppr Admin · Accepted Answer

Correct option is B- Evidence of the most basic forms of life

Correct option is B. Evidence of the most basic forms of life