Charles S. Cockell - Taxi from Another Planet: Conversations with Drivers About Life in the Universe

Taxi from Another Planet

Conversations with Drivers about Life in the Universe

CHARLES S. COCKELL

HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTSLONDON, ENGLAND2022

Copyright 2022 by Charles S. Cockell

All rights reserved

Cover design: Henry Sene Yee

978-0-674-27183-8 (cloth)

978-0-674-27994-0 (EPUB)

978-0-674-27993-3 (PDF)

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Names: Cockell, Charles, author.

Title: Taxi from another planet: conversations with drivers about life in the universe / Charles S. Cockell.

Description: Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021059776

Subjects: LCSH: Extraterrestrial beingsPublic opinion. | LifePublic opinion. | EvolutionPublic opinion. | Taxicab driversAttitudes.

Classification: LCC CB156 .C615 2022 | DDC 001.942dc23/eng/20220208 LC record available at https:// lccn .loc .gov /2021059776

Dedicated to all taxi drivers in the known universe

Its a mysterious, beguiling, and fascinating material, this stuff we call life.As someone who spends their professional life studying it, I often get into conversations in all sorts of places about what it all means and whether life could exist on other planets. Whether its parties or plane journeys, the matter of whether we are alone in the universe and why this grand experiment even started here on Earth can stimulate the most serious and most entertaining conversations. And there is one group of people whom I have found to be particularly interesting to engage in these sorts of conversations: taxi drivers.

Each and every day, taxi drivers are exposed to the bountiful and colorful menagerie of humanity. They start conversations with, or are forcefully regaled by, people from every walk of life, people holding every opinion. Left-wing, right-wing, religious, atheist, conservative, liberal, vegan, or meat-eater. Taxi drivers are linked into the collective mind of our civilization in a way that very few of us are. They feel the pulse of human thought. Not many other people boast continuous day-to-day exposure to such a wealth of human experience and outlook.

I dont get out much, and that isnt a comment of self-derogation. I suspect that it applies to most of us. Im an academic and I write scientific papers with people who broadly share the same worldview as I do. I attend scientific conferences where people talk and think about things that interest me. When I do speak to people outside the safe paddock in which my fellow horses roam, they usually ask me about science, so we end up talking about what Im familiar with anyway. I suspect that people in the corporate world do much the same. Even real estate agents. I bet they dont talk much about aliens, and when they are at parties, I have a suspicion that they end up advising people on property. Its fine to be like this. None of us can hope to grasp the totality of human knowledge. Life is short. Its sensible to focus on a small area of wisdom, assimilate it well, and then attempt to contribute something to our civilization through that conduit.

But, having said that, its enlightening to find out what others think about some of the great questions we face. For example, are we alone in the universe? I dont believe that this question has escaped the attention of many people, whether real estate agents or scientists. Its more than a scientific question, though. Its a version of a question we ask ourselves in our daily lives: Am I alone, in a physical sense, or alone in some point of view that I hold? Being alone is a deeply human experience. Its only natural that we wonder as a species whether we are alone in a cold, vast, endless universe.

When we ask whether alien life exists, related questions are sure to follow. Why should I care about aliens? If there are aliens, what happens if they turn up in my hometown?