Matter Is Regarded As Being Constituted By

Supposing We Knew That Up There Is Some Alien Civilization And It's Sending Radio Signals Our Way We Should Not Tell The Public Where That Is. We Could Say That We've Picked Up A Signal, But We Should Not Tell Them Where For The Simple Reason That Anybody Could Commandeer A Radio Telescope, Set Themselves Up As Some Self Appointed Spokesperson Of Mankind And Start Beaming All Sorts Of Crazy Messages Back To The Aliens.

The Problem Here Is That A Civilization That Is 1,000 Light Years Away Doesn't Know We Exist. They Don't Know That We Have Radio Telescopes Here On Earth Because They See Earth As It Was 1,000 Years Ago. Nothing Can Travel Faster Than Light, So However Good Their Instruments They Can't See In Affect The Future. So There Is No Particular Reason They Should Be Sending Us Messages At This Time.

Although Gravity Is By Far The Weakest Force Of Nature, Its Insidious And Cumulative Action Serves To Determine The Ultimate Fate Not Only Of Individual Astronomical Objects But Of The Entire Cosmos. The Same Remorseless Attraction That Crushes A Star Operates On A Much Grander Scale On The Universe As A Whole.

Very, Very Slowly, The Dwarf Remnants Of What Was Once Our Mighty Sun Will Cool And Dim, Until It Embarks On Its Final Metamorphosis, Gradually Solidifying Into A Crystal Of Extraordinary Rigidity. Eventually It Will Fade Out Completely, Merging Quietly Into The Blackness Of Space.

Should We Find A Second Form Of Life Right Here On Our Doorstep, We Could Be Confident That Life Is A Truly Cosmic Phenomenon. If So, There May Well Be Sentient Beings Somewhere In The Galaxy Wondering, As Do We, If They Are Not Alone In The Universe.