Theories that try to explain why aliens have not yet contacted us

The Fermi Paradox It remains very young despite having been formulated in 1950, partly because today there are still councils of scientists addressing possible responses to the physicist’s idea. We do not know if we are alone in the universe and the desire to explain how we are accompanied. There is an even more intriguing theory: zoo hypothesis.

It is a matter that a few years ago was discussed by astrophysicists, biologists, sociologists, psychologists and historians at the biannual meeting of the METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) “What is life? An extraterrestrial perspective.” At the meeting, topics were discussed such as whether a signal should be sent to space or the possible extraterrestrial origin of life on Earth, as well as somewhat more fun hypotheses like the one we presented to you.

Enrico Fermi asked how come we had not had contact with the extraterrestrials if they were there, where were all those life forms if their existence was so probable. A possible answer is the one that has been discussed in this METI event, in which the analysis of the Fermi paradox has been covered from a scientific approach, according to Cyril Birnbaum and Brigitte David. Forbes.

And the truth is that the issues that were discussed were, to say the least, striking from a scientific perspective:

• Do extraterrestrials remain silent in case contact with us impacts humanity?
• Do we live in a galactic zoo?
• Should we send international radio messages to nearby stars to demonstrate humanity’s interest in being part of the “Galactic Club”?
• Will alien intelligence be similar to human intelligence?
• Is the origin of life on Earth somewhere else in the galaxy (interstellar migration hypothesis)?

In fact, we already talked about the first here as we linked to you before, but what is this about the zoo? What does this theory suggest in reference to the idea that we are not alone? Well, not only that, but we are being watched and even protectedas explained by Florence Raulin Cerceau (of the METI board of directors and in the organization of the event).

And if we are not very interesting

It is about the idea that there is a series of alien civilizations that knows about us, but that is intentionally hidden to avoid influencing our behavior or development. In the same way that keepers monitor animals in zoos, reasoning that if a zebra suddenly communicated with us through prime numbers using its hoof, our relationship with it would be altered and we would be forced to respond, explains Douglas Vakoch, president of METI.

“If we went to the zoo and suddenly a zebra turned towards us, looked us in the eyes and started sending us series of prime numbers with its hoof, that would establish a radically different relationship between us and the zebra, and we would feel compelled to respond. (…) We can do the same with aliens by transmitting powerful, intentional, information-rich radio signals to the stars.” Douglas Vakoch, president of METI

This hypothesis is supported by ideas such as the fact that they have left surveillance equipment or automated systems on Earth (yet to be discovered), that we are not interesting enough or that we have not reached a sufficient level of progress for them to come into contact with us. It was already there Anders Sandberg in 1999 (from the University of Oxford) who raised another possibility that perhaps technologically advanced civilizations would prefer to stay on their planets building gigantic supercomputers as big as the planets they lived on, their so-called “Jupiter brains.”

In this way, the Earth would be our great cage or space, from which we are oblivious to the surveillance of extraterrestrials. In fact, Jean-Pierre Rospars (research director at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research and co-organizer of the event with Raulin Cerceau) speaks of a “galactic quarantine“, which would be imposed on our society as the aliens are “culturally troublesome” for us.

Until they can be properly disproved, there are many theories attempting to answer the Fermi paradox. There are those that we gather here and many others, like the one about the aliens They are locked under oceans of ice (from Alan Stern, principal investigator on NASA’s New Horizons mission), trapped on super earths due to its extreme severity (from Michael Hippke, an independent researcher associated with the Sonnenberg observatory in Germany) or already devastated by themselvesas we earthlings seem to be doing (this one by Adam Frank, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester in New York).

Without completely denying the existence of life in the universe beyond terrestrial life, not all points of view assume that there are already intelligent forms or that we are going to find the same molecular mechanismsyes. As stated by Dr. Felipe Gómez from the Astrobiology Center of the CSIC, highlighting this as the weakest point in the search for life in space when asked Does it make sense to look for life in outer space?.

In this regard, on that occasion we also spoke with Domingo Marquina (microbiologist at the Complutense University of Madrid), who clarified that “there is no definition of life.” Hence there are two well-defined lines of research: searching for more elemental forms of life (what missions like Curiosity would do) or higher intelligence (what SETI does).

“We don’t know if the life forms that we are going to encounter will have a form of life based on DNA, on carbon.” Domingo Marquina (microbiologist at the Complutense University of Madrid)

It is also Dan Hooper’s approachresearcher of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratorywhich based on the principle that the universe is expanding has been discussing what an advanced civilization should do to survive. Consider that civilization would realize this problem and expand rapidly, building Dyson spheres and using that energy to accelerate those stars that move away near the center of civilization where we can continue using them. It is something, according to him, that they should do as soon as possible.

Image | Graham Holtshausen

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