It is difficult to believe that just two decades ago, talking about extraterrestrial life was a matter of mirth in academic circles.
But today, many scientists agree that “the truth is out there”.
There are billions of stars similar to our Sun, and trillions of planets in the “Goldilocks Zone”. If life was a rare event (0.1 per cent) the possibility of civilisations goes from 1,000 to 50 million only in our galaxy. If the galactic neighbourhood is so overpopulated and with possibly many super-advanced technological beings, where is everybody? There is not a single piece of hard evidence of the existence of ET. Why, against the great number of possibilities, haven’t we seen or even heard of them? Why haven’t they colonised the galaxy?
There was a man that predated the “crazy” early believers and the researchers of the 21st century, who attempted to answer those questions. Enrico Fermi (Nobel Prize for Physics, 1938), known for “The Fermi Paradox”, was an early pioneer who did some groundbreaking work in this area. According to “The Fermi Paradox”, there are no signs of higher civilisations, because there are none. This holds a sub-theory called “The great filter”, a barrier that in the long run of evolution is very difficult or impossible to pass and leads to three possibilities for us:
a) We are rare: Somehow we overcame the “great filter” and we are one of the very few that came to this level of intelligence.
b) We are the first: We and many other species are on the way to super civilisations that would allow to be seen after mastering interstellar travel.
c) We are doomed: The great filter is ahead of us and we are doomed like the other evolving ones to oblivion. Did somebody think nuclear war or global warming here?
The second group of explanations on “The Fermi Paradox” goes like: There are super civilisations out there and there are good reasons we haven’t found them.
It is possible that we are that galactic kid that is picking his nose while others are building computers, so the evidence is there, but we are unable to see it. There are ten possible scenarios in this theory:
a) Aliens came but we were not yet here or were not prepared. Recorded history is only a few thousand years old, therefore we have no way to know.
b) The galaxy is colonised, but we live in some alien forgotten rural area.
c) Colonisation is a barbaric human idea and may not even be practical for anyone.
d) There is a predator civilisation and that is why other civilisations are not broadcasting their locations.
e) There is an apex predator civilisation that does not like competitors and exterminates any possible challenger. Much as we have done on earth.
f) We are too primitive to hear their communication
g) We made contact, but governments are not keen to make it public yet
h) They are so elevated that they just observe us as we do with the chimpanzees.
i) We are (again) too primitive to perceive them (Are ants able to understand the highway next to the anthill?)
j) We don’t understand “reality”, this is worth another entry (Hologram Universe, we been planted as cattle, etc)
But as we haven’t found anyone, let me give you something to keep you awake once in a while: We may very well be completely alone in this infinitely vast universe, if we let the delicate flame of life fade on this planet, the whole cosmos may be dead forever. It is a lot of responsibility.
