The Fermi paradox tells us that there should be other intelligent beings in the Universe besides us. But for some reason we don’t see them, there is no scientific explanation for this. And outside of the scientific method, everyone has their own assumptions about it.
Fermi paradox
More than 60 years have passed since the American physicist Enrico Fermi half-jokingly asked: “Where is everybody?” Referring to the aliens. However, the question was much more serious than one might think. After all, if everyone is so sure that there is intelligent life outside the Earth, where are at least some signs of it?
This discrepancy between expectations and observations has been called the Fermi paradox. It has proven to be such a significant problem that scientists are still unable to give it an unambiguous and well-confirmed explanation.
Actually, they have learned a lot about the Universe over the years, but this information is still not enough to explain the lack of aliens. The scientific evidence rather favors that they have to be somewhere. However, the most thorough search has not yielded any results so far.
So for now, everyone explains the lack of signals from extraterrestrial life as they wish. And here we’ve collected 12 of the most surprising explanations for this fact.
We’re looking in the wrong Universe
The first explanation that can be given for the Fermi paradox is that our Universe is simply poorly suited for the existence of life. Earth is a happy accident, an exception to the rule. This class of solution to the paradox is called the “unique Earth hypothesis”. The fact that our planet is actually not so extraordinary has been heard more than once. However, adherents of the theory continue to find more and more new explanations.
The last of these concerns, oddly enough, dark energy. Life as we know it is only possible on planets orbiting stars. However, if the aforementioned form of matter is too abundant in the Universe, the material for their formation will disperse extremely quickly, and a sufficient number of habitable worlds will simply not have time to form.
Aliens may not live on planets
Another possible explanation for understanding why we haven’t found aliens is that we’ve been looking in the wrong place. We used to think that they would be waiting for us on earth-like planets, but they don’t have to live there at all.
It is quite possible that they have long ago learned how to create artificial environments, and therefore their home is a fleet of giant space stations drifting freely in space. We know that living beings can survive in such conditions because our astronauts already live in them during orbital travel.
Life may be hiding in the underground oceans
Another possibility is that life, intelligent and non-intelligent, may exist not on the surface of Earth-like planets, but underwater. It’s about the oceans lurking beneath the surface of icy worlds.
In this case, the aliens may not be interested in the outside world at all, and get all their energy not from the stars, but from geothermal sources. The most amazing thing about this assumption is that if it is true, another civilization could exist even within the Solar System.
For example, aliens may be hiding under the ice of Jupiter’s moons. Soon, NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will have the opportunity to check if someone really lives there.
Closed on super-Earths
Another explanation, at least for the fact that no one has come to us, could be that the aliens are trapped on super-Earths. These worlds, which have no analog in the solar system, are indeed common in the Universe.
Super-Earths are similar to our planet but are several times more massive, their gravity can be tens of percent stronger than ours. Therefore, it would take a lot more energy to get the cargo at least into orbit, making space travel impossible.
They’re robots
Another possibility could be that the aliens are actually robots. If their evolution began much earlier than ours, then intelligent machines could have been invented a very, very long time ago. And over the time since then, their civilization may have gotten rid of organic bodies altogether.
At first glance, this doesn’t explain anything, but it really doesn’t. If only intelligent machines exist in space, they are at the same time very different from us and don’t live where we expect to encounter life. So finding them won’t be easy.
We’ve seen aliens before, but failed to realize it
The next hypothesis is that there are actually a lot of aliens relatively close to us. We have looked at them repeatedly, but we have not recognized them. Because they are so different from us that we have not recognized them as intelligent beings.
Indeed, our confidence that we are familiar with the solar system is based on hundreds of thousands of images, none of which we have seen anything resembling a bipedal ape. But who says aliens have to look like this?
Threat of annihilation
Another factor that affects the possibility of alien detection is the threat of annihilation. After all, if you know someone is somewhere, you can eventually get rid of them. It’s a bit paranoid, but we can’t rule it out.
Many conclusions can be drawn from the assumption. The main one, however, is that the aliens are silent because all excessively “talking” civilizations have already been wiped out, and those that remain sit quietly.
Environmental disaster
The next possibility is that sooner or later in the process of technological development any civilization starts producing too many unwanted chemicals and radiation, and they destroy the natural environment of their planet and this kills intelligent beings.
This is a very sad assumption for us, because it means that humanity will eventually end up in the same way. But we cannot reject this possibility.
Renewable resources haven’t helped
So maybe environmental stewardship can remedy the situation? Most regrettably, it may be the case that restricting energy appetites conversely reduces a civilization’s ability to survive. After all, this path leads to the abolition of space exploration, and when disaster does strike, the aliens simply have nowhere to run.
Too little time
Another possibility is that life on other planets may have too little time to evolve to an intelligent state. It has taken us 4.5 billion years to get here. But on other planets, it’s different. Their climate may no longer be suitable for organisms for some natural reason before intelligent beings appear.
Separated by dark energy
Another valid point regarding the Fermi paradox concerns not so much the present as the future. The already mentioned dark matter causes the Universe to expand. So far, this effect has only been felt in galaxies. But in the future, the distance between individual stars may begin to increase as well.
Provided by www.livescience.com
