Whether you know about the Fermi Paradox or not, it’s pretty strange that no alien civilization has contacted us yet. According to Enrico Fermi there’s bound to be life in this vast Universe that is billions of years old with billions of billions stars and planets, some of which definitely support life in some form. Yet, here we are, all alone. This raises some questions as to what is the reason we are kept in the dark about other civilizations. Many theories were created trying to answer the centuries-old question whether we are alone in the Universe or not. Here are some of the most potent ones.
We simply don’t overlap
Compared to the age of the Universe our human civilization has existed mere seconds if not less. If this is the lifespan of an intelligent civilization, chances are we simply don’t overlap with other species as we are set apart in time and space by billions of light years. We would need to evolve beyond imagination to be able scan large parts of the Universe and travel through the space continuum in a matter of seconds so that we could find those alien civilizations. That is before we destroy ourselves, which is a sad, but probable scenario as of now!
We don’t meet their standards
We might think of ourselves as evolved species, but we are no more than monkeys to some of those mighty alien civilizations from other worlds. In that case they are simply not interested in contacting us, spending their time observing us, examining, and maybe even helping us one way or another by means of new technologies and scientific discoveries. They might have been watching us for centuries!
We’re living inside the Matrix and aliens are not allowed
It’s a popular scenario stating that we live inside the simulation created by some higher beings or a really badass AI in order to harness our energy or whatever other reasons. From this point of view things that will bring us closer to the truth are simply not allowed inside the simulation, that’s why aliens aren’t contacting us, despite existing in some other actual reality we don’t have access to. Of course, information and images come through, but they are mere glitches in the system and we don’t have any real evidence proving they exist.
They’ve contacted us, but the government is hiding it
It’s one of the most popular conspiracies, which doesn’t get any less potent with time. Things like Area 51 and the infamous Roswell incident sparked people’s imagination and mistrust towards the government. It’s easy to imagine that aliens have been in contact with us for quite some time now, but people holding power decided to keep it a secret not to cause mass hysteria or for other less noble reasons. Well, you know what? We’ve been making so many sci-fi movies about aliens that literally no one will even gasp if a huge spaceship lands in the middle of New York!
It’s just us
Now this is a scary thought and a highly improbable scenario according to all the statistics, but it just might be so that we’re the only intelligent species that made it so far. Well, this time, if you believe that there were ancient technologically evolved civilizations long before us. Yet right here right now there’s simply no one to make contact to! Hopefully, this remains just a theory.
No one’s reaching out
According to this theory, everyone’s listening, but no one is giving the signal! Similar like you would sit by the phone (or messenger) waiting for someone to contact instead of making the first step, most of the species out there spend their time scanning the space for some signals, but never emit their own to be found. This happens because of the fear of hostile civilizations that might be out there waiting for a feeble world to appear on their radar. This will keep us not only from transmitting our own signals, but from answering alien’s calls as well! If we’re like that, it’s easy to imagine that aliens might be just like us. And so we sit and wait for the call…
They are trapped on Super-Earths
Here’s good news – there are more planets similar to Earth than we can count. It’s possible there’s life on these so-called Super-Earths, but unless we fly there ourselves to check things out, creatures from these planets will remain hidden. Why? Because Super-Earths are planets that have a mass at least 10 times greater than that of our planet. This means it’ll be extremely difficult and expensive to build ships that can overcome the huge escape velocity and go into space.
We simply can’t receive their signals
Let’s face it, we aren’t that technologically advanced when it comes to space stuff. We can barely research our own galaxy and the radio emissions we’re sending out there don’t actually reach that far. If we were to travel to Alpha Centauri and then use our current tech to try and find ourselves – we would fail! We still have a long way to go in that department. Which means that more developed civilizations might have sent gazillions of info and messages, but we simply couldn’t apprehend them. It’s a sad, but very probable theory.
They are hiding underground
You don’t expect all alien races to look like humans and live above ground, do you? According to experts, alien life might very well be trapped in underground oceans, or simply living happily there and developing at their own pace. Planets with inhospitable surface and poisonous atmosphere may have oceans that are able to support life in various forms. This means that just by looking at planets’ surfaces we won’t find any alien species!
We should be looking for robots
At the rate our civilization is developing it’s safe to say that sooner rather than later there will be AIs everywhere. If they don’t take over us, they will mingle and mix with us, creating new species of advanced humans. Many scientists and sci-fi writers believe that our future lies in the machines, that’s why we shouldn’t focus only on finding habitable world for human-like creatures, but also search for places that would interest intelligent robots. Like those centres of galaxies that have loads of energy to feast upon.
We’re separated by the dark energy
And no, that’s not a cool way of saying that some dark forces are keeping us from seeing other intelligent beings. There’s actually dark energy that’s filling up the Universe, an invisible substance that is stretching it, pulling us further from potential alien friends and foes. Scientists speculate that in some trillion years the Universe will expand so much that we won’t be able to see the Galaxies that are shining brightly to us right now. That will make encountering an alien civilization nearly impossible!
