1. Are we alone? A qualified no. Life is probably ubiquitous wherever the elements of its makeup are present. Simple life may be as common as earth-like planets. Complex sentient life is likely much more rare. After all, it took 4 billion years for intelligent life to evolve on earth, just once.

2. Do you think we have ever been contacted or visited by a species not from this planet? No. There are an estimated 44 billion earth-like planets in the Milky Way alone; 11 billion orbiting sun-like stars and another 33 billion circling red dwarfs, the most common kind of star. We're lost in the numbers.

3. Do you think we will ever meet a species not from this planet? Ever is a long time. The three possibilities are that they will come here, we will go there or we'll meet somewhere else. I personally think we will have to go there. We will find them, probably in a simple microbial state.

4. Do you think humanity will ever successfully spread from Earth/the Solar System?...as in self sustaining communities on other planets that could continue if Earth was no more? No, not in our present form. We evolved here. We are constructed to maximize our lives in this environment. We'll have to change our species via genetic modification to travel in space or we'll have to project our species into the Universe via Artificial Intelligence. A.I. is the logical choice and we are steamrolling towards that technological achievement.

5. Do you think 3 or 4 will happen in your lifetime? Yes. We'll discover the first extraterrestrial life soon, perhaps within the next 10-20 years. A.I. will probably be common within the next 50 years.