“Anybody Out There?” Response Questions
Comprehension
1. What is Sacks’s answer to the question he poses in the title?
Sacks provided a few answers from several sources including his own opinion, but he summed them up all together and gave the answer: maybe. Evidence and theories shows that the production of life is incredibly delicate, lucky, unlikely, and rare. But to counter that argument, there is also the fact that there are billions of planets in a single galaxy, and billions of galaxies in the known universe, so the likeliness of life starting on another planet isn’t ruled out.
3. List and define some of the scientific evidence and scientific principles Sacks mentions in his essay.
In paragraph 5, Sacks goes over how Oxygen was formed, and how Oxygen isn’t a requirement for life, as organisms called “anaerobic organisms” thrived on Earth as some of the earliest life forms, post-dating the pre-genotes and other life. This is important, as there are many planets in our galaxy that we know of, that may be suitable for life, but don’t necessarily have an oxygen-rich atmosphere, which is a misconception to many, as many people would believe that “life” is similar to human life and life on Earth, which is primarily based around oxygen and O2, which it isn’t.
Rhetoric
3. What is Sacks’s
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The thesis is that it is likely that there is sophisticated and evolved life out somewhere in the universe. He offers a ton of evidence and support regarding it, and sums it up in the end. It may be unlikely and rare to have evolved life, as it takes a great amount of luck, and an astonishing amount of time, but the amount of planets and galaxies out in the universe are mind-boggling, and that counters the rare and unlikeliness with