Jingszo !

One of the best analogies I ever heard concerning the question of life in the Universe is that of a lottery. Each world that forms around each star — whether it’s a planet, moon, or dwarf planet — is like a lottery ticket. All of a sudden, a huge number of questions arise.

• Will life ever form, arrive at, and take hold on this world?

• If life ever does arise, will it go extinct relatively quickly, or will it survive for long periods of time?

• Will there be multiple independent origins of life, or just one, if life does arise?

• And if that life does survive and thrive for long periods of time, what will be the most complex, differentiated, intelligent, and/or technologically advanced form of life that it becomes?

Even that first question, of whether life ever forms, arrives on, or takes hold on such a world, is something whose frequency we have no idea about.