Writing a discussion text
Engelska 7

BACKGROUND MATERIAL

10 reasons why aliens probably exist
The lonely universe: Is life on Earth just a lucky fluke?


INSTRUCTIONS

Alien life

Your task is to write an article for publication in an international magazine. The aim is to discuss wheteher we are alone in the universe or not. Your discussion should be based on the background material.
After reading the articles, decide on a few ideas, e.g. claims, statements and arguments that you want to highlight. You must refer to ideas from at least two of the texts. Discuss and evaluate these, compare them when relevant, clarify your own position and draw a conclusion.
You may want to consider the following questions: Are we alone in the universe? Should we search for aliens?

Task
Your article should be written in a formal style suitable for publication in a magazine. Remember to include clear references stating the relevant source when you refer to the background material. Your article will be assessed on how you express yourself and how you make use of the background material. You may quote from the articles, but the main part of your text must consist of your own words.

Your article should be at least 400 but no more than 700 words. Make sure that you have time to check what you have written with regard to appropriateness of language, content and structure.
Title: Aliens


  • The article highlights the so-called Fermi Paradox which points to the apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial life and various high estimates for their probability. The reasoning is as follows. There are billions of stars in our galaxy. Many of these stars are older than our sun and should therefore have some planet around them that developed intelligent life long ago. Some of these civilizations should have long ago developed interstellar travel and by this time visited us in one way or another. None of this has happened, according to the paradox.
  • In the article The lonely universe: Is life on Earth just a lucky fluke? the possibility that there may not be life anywhere other than on earth is discussed.
  • So - are we humans alone in the universe? We know that life has arisen once and therefore probably must have arisen several times. We believe that the reasons we have not encountered extraterrestrial life are because our civilization and another civilization must exist simultaneously, that our civilization and another civilization may use different ways of communicating - if not - then the immense distances may be another reason why we not found life elsewhere than on earth. For these reasons, we are probably not alone.

    But at the same time, we humans seem to have a strong desire to find extraterrestrial life. Perhaps this desire affects our reasoning. Therefore, we should continue to look so that our searching is based on facts instead of probabilities.
  • Aliens?
  • Claim 1 using source reference
  • In the article "10 reasons why aliens probably exist (but will not be visiting us anytime soon)" a number of researchers claim that we humans are hardly alone.
  • Claim 2 using source reference
  • The mere fact that we are constantly discovering new planets around the 300 billion stars in our galaxy suggests that we are hardly alone, says space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock. The fact that there are then 200 billion galaxies makes it even more unlikely. "It's purely a numbers game. It is probability, ”she says.

    It has long been mistakenly believed that in order for life to exist, a planet must be within a certain distance of the sun. That life does not need sunlight has been confirmed by the fact that life has been discovered on seabed where the light does not reach. The scientists believe this paves the way for life to also exist on the planets' moons.
  • It may seem unscientific to base the possibility of extraterrestrial life on probability and not on actual evidence. But since life has arisen once, the earth, it can therefore be argued that life also exists in other places given the number of planets that exist in the universe. Probability outweighs evidence.
  • Probably we have all wondered if we humans are alone in the universe. Captain Marvel, The Avengers or Star Wars are some of the hundreds of movies that annually attract young and old. Youtube clips with alleged UFOs are seen by millions of people. And world-leading business leaders like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos often appear in discussions about life beyond the earth.
       So are we humans alone in the universe?
  • The Fermi Paradox may seem convincing. If for a long time there have been an infinite number of planets where advanced civilizations could have evolved, why have they not visited us?

    Some of the answers may be found in the article "10 reasons why aliens probably exist (but will not be visiting us anytime soon)" In the article, a number of researchers try to explain why we have not encountered any aliens yet. One of the reasons may be that in order for civilizations to be able to communicate, they must exist at the same time. Given that the universe is said to be 15 billion years old and that we have only sent and received signals for a few decades, leaves a lot of room for civilizations to have existed on different occasions. According to the researchers, two other reasons why we have not encountered extraterrestrial life may be due to the distances. It could take thousands of years for a message to reach us. We've only had the technology to receive signals for a few decades. And - the third reason, maybe we use different ways to communicate? As little as we understand the communication of mosquitoes, we might understand the communication of any aliens.

    Since the fermi paradox does not take into account these three essential issues, the paradox is seems too weak to be taken seriously.
  • [Transitional paragraph] But if there is life in places other than the earth - why have we not met any aliens?
  • Development of claim 1 using summary of source reference
  • General description with question
  • Reflection, comparison between the two articles, argumentation and conclusion on summary of source reference
  • Title
  • Brief summary of the reasoning and a general conclusion
  • Reflection, argumentation and conclusion on summary of source reference
  • Development of claim 2 using summary of source reference