Originally Posted by Antarctica!

He shrugged. "Maybe we are alone. It's possible. I personally don't really think so, but I do think that the problems of size and distance aren't easily talked away. What I mean is, first, that even just our own galaxy, with its possible billions of planets with life on them, is so big that looking for specific inhabited planets might well be a never-ending task. And second, even if it were possible to pinpoint such planets, the distances between them and us are so unimaginably huge that even communication via radio signals - which travel at the speed of light, obviously - requires a lot of, er, patience. Astronomers could send one message and then would have to wait for the next generation to receive an answer.

"But," he said, leaning against the desk, "we should probably wrap up here in a little while. Before we do, though, are there any questions, or anything that needs to be clarified. Or, really," he added, "anything that you just want to discuss further."