We're not moving to Earth 2.0 any time soon

There has been a great furore about a new Earth (dubbed Earth 2.0) deep in outer space. People are excited about this scientific discovery but for all the wrong reasons.

Are we moving there soon?

Since the discovery, I have witnessed many an internet meme discussing the possibility of moving the human population to this new planet. Some even entertain the idea of it being a safe haven for when this planet goes to the dumps.

Our precious planet, this pale blue dot in the great vastness of the universe is precious to us. It is the only planet we currently live on, and more importantly, earth is where I keep all my stuff.

To our best scientific knowledge, planet earth is the only planet that can sustain life. For a planet to sustain life as we know it, it needs to pass some important criteria.

The planet needs to have liquid water which exists inside a very narrow range of temperature from 0°C to 100°C. A planet too close to its star will be too hot, a planet to far away from its parent star will be far too cold.

So a planet at just the right distance from its star is just right to host life as we know it. No wonder the zone where such a planet needs to exist is called the Goldilocks Zone for conditions for life that are "just right".

Like our home planet, Earth 2.0 is found to be in such a region and other analyses have found other similarities to our home planet using nothing else but thousand-four-hundred-year-old light.

Being so far away, going to the planet is out of the question. So, what is so great about an earth-like planet that is hopelessly out of our reach?

Well, it helps us edge closer to answering the question of whether we are indeed alone in the universe and to understand how this, we need to understand the process of looking for these planets in our galaxy.

Basics of planet hunting

Looking for planets in other solar systems isn't easy. No planet outside our solar system has ever been directly photographed so other means have to be used to find it.

A small telescope orbiting earth called the Kepler Space Telescope, looks toward the stars to spot the shadows of planets orbiting those stars. The task is equivalent to spotting a fly passing in front of a flood light from a few kilometres away.

In order to detect the fly, it needs to pass directly in front of the flood-light so that it is between the lamp and your line of sight and you need to be somewhat lucky to see it.

We were lucky enough to find this planet using this method and in order to understand the significance of this discovery, we need to consider another analogy.

Imagine you had to find a mango tree in a forest as the one (earth) you are currently at has been depleted of its fruit. Say, you take a few minutes look for another in the dense forest and find and another.

You would assume one of two things. Either you were very lucky to discover the only other mango tree in the dense forest or you are not so lucky and mango trees are abundant throughout the forest.

The latter would make better sense and give you hope in the abundance of more mango trees and therefore more mangos ripe for the picking.

That is the same idea we can apply in the search for another earth-like planet. The existence of this earth cousin increases the likelihood of other planets in the Goldilocks Zone which also increases the chances of the existence of life as we know it all over the galaxy.

Moral of this story

It is a good thing that people can get excited about science stories but what people discuss needs to be accurate.

'Coming out' as a Zulu atheist

I would like to tell you the story of how I came out to my family and community as an atheist. I would, more than anything, like to tell you what a difficult transition it was and how I can now put it all behind me. I would also like to tell you how accepting the Zulu culture, my culture, is of atheists and other free-thinkers.

I would love to tell you all these things, but I have learned that the truth is far from being rosy. Imagine being the only kid you know who did not believe in God when everyone you have ever known did. Now, imagine being an adult always defending what you (do not) believe in.

The trouble with telling people that I am an atheist, in isiZulu in particular does not sound as romantic as it does in English. Now, “I do not believe in God” sounds pretty straight forward to anyone who understands the language.

The same exact statement in isiZulu makes you sound like a crazy person or someone telling a sick, tasteless joke. “Angikholelwa kuNkulunkulu”, makes moderate and ‘advanced’ Chritians think you’re a lost soul or the spawn of the devil. I have even been invited to my very own exorcism by a prominent ‘prophet’ in the small suburb of eSikhawini.

While atheism may be accepted as an alternative religion in some contexts, I must stress here how the nature of atheism (opposite of theism- a belief in God or a deity) is the absence of belief in God and it is in its nature nothing else. It is as much a religion as “off” is a TV channel.
This is very hard to explain in isiZulu, not because my native tongue is backward in anyway, but because of the entrenchment of (ironically) Western religions in many of my fellow Zulus. You see, prayer and the acknowledgement of God makes up almost every family you will ever encounter in the Zulu nation.

“A family that prays together, stays together.”

There comes this Rasta-looking young man talking all this rubbish, by the grace of God, he will one day see the light and repent from his ways, they say. The irony of the statement is uncanny.

My coming out as an atheist to my family and my community has not been smooth at all. I suppose, all the years I have spent contemplating my decision, as I went on parading like a regular Christian should have prepared me for this backlash.

Church members who have looked up to me as a humble and respectful boy, can now barely spare me a second glance at the local mall. How very Christian of them. Respected former pastors today tell me how mistaken I am in my view and how I should do away with reason and replace it with unquestioning faith instead.

Some concerned Christians have even tried to gauge whichever traumatic experience in my past has led me to this path. Others are even claiming that “it is all these books you keep reading”. Perhaps I should tone it down on the Douglas Adams and company.

This makes me wonder, though. Having not been exposed to this ‘Western idea’ of atheism, would I be a devoted Christian instead? Well, even when the bible was read to me in isiZulu, I found it very hard to reason how a man could turn water into wine, how two people populated the earth, or how God created the earth only to drown almost everyone for some reason.

Now, do not get me wrong, I am not an atheist because I do not like the Christian God’s personality, or that I am not overly excited about spending three hours at church every Sunday (and falling asleep half the time); I am an atheist solely because I am sceptical of the existence of God.

How do I explain that in isiZulu so that I do not offend anyone in doing so, or make myself seem like a devil-worker?

I have not yet figured that one out.

Why a photo of cats fighting with light-sabers? Because cats don't believe in God and they are freaking awesome. I like cats better than people.