Where is Everyone? Where are the Aliens?
In the short post I published last week, I discussed the reasons I believe in extraterrestrial beings. So assuming the Drake equation is 100% accurate, where are all the aliens? Why have we not been able to contact any other intelligent civilisation in the vast expanse of our universe? These questions are what the Fermi paradox seeks to answer. The following are a few main reasons as to why we may not have encountered intelligent life yet.
The Great Filter
The Great Filter suggests that intelligent interstellar lifeforms must take a series of critical steps, and at least one of these steps must be highly improbable. Perhaps there is a hurdle that no advanced species could ever cross, and that hurdle could be the step that would allow intelligent life to travel around space – like how we travel from country to country – and colonise other worlds.
We Can’t See Them, and They Can’t See Us
For one moment, let us imagine that there is an intelligent civilisation out there – 65 million light-years away – who possesses a powerful telescope that can observe planets millions of light-years away. This intelligent civilisation would see dinosaurs roaming the Earth instead of the technological advances we have made as a species.
When one looks into space, one is gazing at the past due to how light travels. Here’s an example. The star Proxima Centauri is 4.246 light-years away from Earth. That means the light your eye sees tonight has been travelling for 4.246 years. In other words, you are looking at Proxima Centauri as it was 4.246 years ago. We would have no idea how Proxima Centauri currently looks.
So even if extraterrestrial beings or humans possess extremely powerful telescopes, the chances that our telescopes would coincidentally be pointed at the exact right part of space at the right time to detect signs of extraterrestrial civilisation are almost 0.
They Communicate Differently
Perhaps, other intelligent beings in the universe have a completely novel way of communicating with each other whereby humans are thousands of years away from developing. Dogs, for example, communicate through vocalisations such as barks, growls, howls, whines and whimpers, screams, and sighs. Dog X would understand what Dog Y is implying when he or she barks, but as humans, we wouldn’t. So perhaps we are simply on a completely different playing field – communication-wise – compared to other intelligent beings that may lurk out there.
We’re Not Worth Contacting
For thousands of years, humans have waged war and killed our own. Racism, sexism, and many other forms of discrimination in the 21st century still exist. If we can’t even look forward as a species and overcome problems that may be considered “petty” to intelligent beings, why would they contact us? Our constant bickering and love for war could be seen as a threat to an intelligent civilisation’s way of life. Until we get over ourselves, can we then interact with others.
The Zoo Hypothesis
This one’s somewhat similar to the above reason. This hypothesis suggests that alien life intentionally avoids communicating with Earth. This is to allow for natural evolution, sociocultural development, and avoiding interplanetary contamination, like how we observe animals at a zoo. A former MIT Haystack Observatory scientist John Allen Ball suggested the laboratory hypothesis, where Earth is a giant laboratory and humanity is merely the test subjects of a more advanced species.
No Civilisation is Advanced Enough
Perhaps no civilisation is advanced enough to travel through space and contact others. Maybe there are intelligent civilisations out there, but, from a technological standpoint, they may be behind us or only our equivalent. We may interact with advanced lifeforms, but maybe 500 years from now.
Disclaimer: All views expressed through my account – Viscinary – are my own and do not represent the opinions of any entity whatsoever with which I have been, am now, or will be affiliated. If you disagree with my views or hope to share more with me, I always welcome a civilised discussion through email (theviscinary@gmail.com). It would be my privilege to learn from what you have to teach me!
