Will 2020 Be The Year We Discover Intelligent Alien Life?

From its possibilities, to what it would mean to life as a whole, join us as we ask the question...will 2020 be the year we discover intelligent alien life?
"Are we alone in the universe?", that is the question that many have asked for untold generations. And I do mean that literally, because signs of alien life and "sightings" go back much farther than you might think. But that's another topic entirely. Regardless of the when, or even the who, the thought about life beyond Earth has fascinated us for a long time. Because if there IS life out there, then we almost feel compelled to discover it and learn what we can about it. But, if it's not out there in any capacity, then that would raise all sorts of questions as to why Earth was "chosen" to be the one that has all the life, and why there isn't anything else out there.
As we enter this new decade, some people are hopeful that 2020 will be the time and place where we get to look up at the stars and find something out there. Not teases, not "potential signs" of life, or even planets that COULD have life...but actual life. Intelligent life. It could be out there, and some think this is the year that it'll be found...and...then there are those that don't feel that way...
"Well, despite being the widely celebrated 100-year anniversary of the election of Warren G. Harding, 2020 will not likely gain fame as the year we first discover extraterrestrial life," said Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.
I know that this particular scientist may sound like skeptic, but he is right on one thing, it is unlikely that THIS will be the year that we discover alien life, but not because we're not trying, far from it. It's just that given all that's happened over the last ten years of space discovery and exploration, it's hard to say that this year will be any different from any other year that we've tried to look for things. But even Shostak admits that we are trying to find life in 2020, it's just that the "area" that we need to look at is massive. And I'm not referring to the universe as a whole (though we'll get to that), but rather, just looking at the Milky Way Galaxy, things are much larger than you think:
"One should remember that this type of search is gaining speed in an exponential fashion, and that particular technical fact allows a crude estimate of when SETI might pay off. If we take — for lack of a better estimate — Frank Drake's opinion that there might be 10,000 broadcasting societies in the Milky Way, then we clearly have to examine at least one [million] – 10 million stellar systems to have a reasonable chance of tripping across one. That goal will be reached in the next two decades, but certainly not in 2020," Shostak said.
So yeah, based on just that, it would be kind of unfair to say that 2020 WILL BE THE YEAR that we find alien life. But again, we are trying, and you could argue that we are getting ever closer to finding out whether life truly does live somewhere else in the universe at large.
Because not unlike the space programs of the world (of which there are many in many of the biggest countries in the world) there are also national and private companies looking for signs of life. SETI is one, but there are also smaller groups and even people within universities around the world that are dedicated (in the non-conspiracy sense...) to seeing if there are alien life forms out there. So as you can see, there are honestly a LOT of places looking for signs of life. And this goes to the indirect sense of the word too.
After all, agencies like NASA and more are looking for planets that might be able to support life like ours. So, by that token, if they were to find a planet that could support life, that might mean that there is already life on it right now, even if only in its more basic forms. And obviously, there are some planets that could have life on it right now that we're just not able to see or observe in any good measure.
How so? Well, think about a water planet, of which there are some that are seriously believed to be that, if a planet was formed full of water, and we can't reach that planet...how can we know if there is life under the waves? Sure, we can guess, but it's not a given thing. If life on Earth has taught us anything, it's that life adapts to things that you don't expect them to. Not unlike how in our own oceans there are geothermal vents that pump out water that would eliminate just about any kind of life from the heat alone, and yet there are organisms that not only live within those vents, they thrive in it. So who's to say that there isn't life in those waters even if they are different from our own?

aliens in 2020,alien life,extraterrestrial life,2020,seti,fermi paradox,discover,discovery,outer space,are we alone in the universe,universe,aliens,do aliens exist,are we alone,the universe,enrico fermi,astrobiology,extraterrestrial,where are the aliens,et,extra terrestrials,ancient aliens,intelligent life,space,fermi,alien,signs of life,extraterrestrials,ufo,space discoveries,discoveries,2020 discoveries,life,insane curiosity,intelligent alien life,