Billed as “a cool inspirational read” offering “new ways to think about possibility, exploration, and destiny,” Yuri Milner’s Eureka Manifesto: The Mission for Our Civilization is a must-read for anyone fascinated by the secrets our Universe holds.
In the short book, Milner explores how humanity could benefit from embracing a collective mission to explore the Universe. Among the benefits, there’s still plenty of opportunity for us to meet other intelligent civilizations, even though we haven’t met any yet.
Why Haven’t We Found Alien Civilizations Yet?
In Eureka Manifesto, Milner takes us back to 1961, when astronomers Carl Sagan and Frank Drake organized the Green Bank conference. At this conference, Drake presented his infamous equation that estimates the number of potentially communicative civilizations in the Milky Way.
Since then, astronomers have continued the search for radio and optical transmissions. However, they haven’t found any confirmed signals of artificial origin. There are several potential reasons for this, but it may simply be that we haven’t searched far enough.
As the search for extraterrestrial life (SETI) expert Jill Tarter says, the searches undertaken since the conference are comparable to dipping a single glass into the ocean and hoping to catch a fish.
So far, we may have looked in the wrong places, or we may have looked in the right places but without the right tools. Alien civilizations could be trying to communicate with us using methods of communication that we can’t intercept or recognize.
Of course, the silence could simply be because we are the only intelligent life in the Universe. However, another option is a Great Filter that makes the long-term evolution and survival of life extremely unlikely.
Perhaps, for a civilization to thrive, a series of random molecular interactions must unfold. Maybe cellular life is common while intelligent life is cosmically rare. Perhaps most intelligent civilizations self-destruct or must face an existential crisis from space.
Although we don’t know whether any of these are true, the possibilities are some of the biggest incentives to embrace our mission to explore the Universe. Without pursuing science, we will never find out whether we are alone or what lies ahead for humanity.
Yuri Milner’s Groundbreaking Scientific Initiatives
Milner has worked with other visionary minds to launch scientific initiatives that expand our understanding of the cosmos. After signing the Giving Pledge in 2012, he co-launched five Breakthrough Initiatives that advance space exploration and search for intelligent life beyond Earth:
1. Breakthrough Listen
Breakthrough Listen is the world’s most extensive research effort to detect potential alien civilizations. This ambitious project involves scanning the 1,000,000 stars closest to Earth using advanced telescopic instruments.
2. Breakthrough Watch
Breakthrough Watch focuses on identifying and analyzing Earth-like rocky planets orbiting nearby stars. The program places a particular emphasis on the Alpha Centauri star system and others within 20 light-years of our planet.
3. Breakthrough Starshot
Breakthrough Starshot is working to develop revolutionary light-propelled nanocrafts. The long-term goal is to create a feasible interstellar exploration mission targeting Alpha Centauri within the next generation.
4. Breakthrough Message
Breakthrough Message is a global competition inviting participants to craft digital communications representing humanity. Entrants develop messages that might be comprehensible to advanced extraterrestrial civilizations, and the prize money totals at $1,000,000.
5. Breakthrough Discuss
Breakthrough Discuss is an annual academic conference on cosmic exploration and the potential for life beyond Earth. The July 2024 event at the University of Oxford examined “A Cosmic Tapestry for Exploration.”
The Breakthrough Prize and the Breakthrough Junior Challenge
Aside from the Breakthrough Initiatives, Milner is also one of the minds behind the Breakthrough Prize and the Breakthrough Junior Challenge. While the first celebrates current scientists, the latter celebrates the scientists of the next generation.
The Breakthrough Prize sees researchers who are making life-changing discoveries receive $3 million awards and celebrate at a high-profile ceremony with celebrities.
Meanwhile, the Breakthrough Junior Challenge sees thousands of teenagers educate each other with creative, scientific videos. The winner receives fantastic prizes for themselves, their school, and their teacher — plus an invitation to the Breakthrough Prize ceremony, otherwise known as the “Oscars of Science.”
