So far, our attempts to identify signs of extraterrestrial life have all amounted to nothing. The apparent lack of observed intelligent life in the universe beyond Earth in the face of what would seem to be an almost limitless potential for such life to arise is known as the Fermi Paradox.
There are several theories to explain our apparent aloneness.
Some have suggested that humans are being intentionally avoided by intelligent alien civilizations to allow us to grow and develop naturally (this idea is, somewhat unsettlingly, known as the “zoo hypothesis”). A more farfetched and difficult to believe version of this idea posits that aliens are already here, but only covertly, and their presence remains hidden from us.
My theory, known from here on as "The CW Paradox," explains this aloneness by pointing out that humanity has only been communicative outside the bounds of our planet Earth for a very short time, maybe a hundred and seventy years at most. That's a literal blink in time. Multiple alien life forms could exist yet be in the same condition we were in until very recently - in other words, very vibrant but only within their habitat, whatever that habitat may be. Or, they could have looked our way, but seen and heard nothing, and then continued their search in other directions, leaving us undiscovered, for now.
Hey, hey, we're over here!
They're out there alright. When I put on my tin foil hat, I can hear them chatter away in their weird languages.
Maybe we should want them to show up at the doorstep (Vulcans on Star Trek) and render the live long and prosper theme.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe they like eating human brains and we're better off keeping quiet (fat chance of that happening)?
How about the CS paradox? As in CS Lewis. We are under quarantine. See "Out of the Silent Planet."
ReplyDeletetruly intelligent species would want to maintain the "low profile" until such time as they are assured their species could survive contact with an equal or higher technological type civilization.
ReplyDeleteas far as "us" is concerned, we have sorta survived having nukes for only seventy three or so years. again, just a blink in time. another civilization with the ability to get here would notice this. if they did not care for us and all our problems, they would just sit back and watch the comedy of our history. if "they" liked us they would come and show us the error of our ways. if they REALLY like us they would show up with barbecue sauce and an appetite.
so, my question back is are we truly intelligent or are we just another planet of herd animals?
We could also be suffering from the sheer vastness of the cosmos: unless FTL travel:communication is perfected, we just might be too far off the beaten path to have been discovered and/or bothered with...
ReplyDeleteAnd we've only been radiating Radio waves for what, about a hundred years? And pretty low power at that....chances are that there is no one close enough to have heard us yet and if they are close enough, they might not be able to pick our stuff out from the background noise.
ReplyDeleteAt the distances we are talking about, it'd be hard to pick out even BIG clear channel radio stations. Best chance would be they pick up the bursts from the nuclear explosions, but the'd have to be listening at the right time...
almost all the antennas SETI uses are probably pointed towards the galactic core. older civilizations would be towards the outside edge of the galaxy, wouldn't they????
Deleteperhaps the true cause for ETs lack of contact is they hate comnercials.
In addition to distant planets in Outer Space, the other source of extra-terrestrials is right here on our own Earth, in parallel dimensions, i.e., visiting angels, satanic influences, Heaven, and Hell, for example.
ReplyDeleteWe have plenty of written documentation of multiple parallel dimensions here on Earth in our Holy Bible, which tells us that we lived as spirits before we were born into mortality, and we will live again as spirits when we die, and later on, will live again with our physical bodies as resurrected beings, and again, after being judged, we will continue to live in an appropriate environment which we will have merited during our mortal activity, depending on whether those actions were good or evil, and the degree in which those actions were good or evil.
With the continuing rapid advances in scientific research, the time is not that far off when regular communication will be reliably established linking these parallel dimensions.
Also, there are the theories of wormholes, where the nearly parallel curvatures of time and space converge, allowing (theoretically) instantaneous access between distant worlds, not only by intelligent beings, but even by extra-terrestrial flora and fauna.
I like this theory. I've heard scientists say that theoretically, different dimensions co exist, as you say, like a sliced loaf of bread, with each layer a dimension of existence.
DeleteOf course, the fact that we have no evidence of extraterrestrial life no matter how hard and long we have looked is proof that it is there, we just haven't found it yet or looked in the correct place. (Sorry, I'm a Democrat and I'm using the Donald Trump / Russian collusion model of exploration)
ReplyDeletebut all the arguments this way and that could blow up in the future, if, after searching for billions and billions of years for ET, what if we don't find any evidence of them and conclude we are alone in this universe??? i suppose we could just curl up in our safe space
ReplyDelete