Permanently Deleted
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox
4.1 Rarity of intelligent life
4.1.1 Extraterrestrial life is rare or non-existent
4.1.2 Extraterrestrial intelligence is rare or non-existent
4.1.3 Periodic extinction by natural events
4.2 Evolutionary explanations
4.2.1 Intelligent alien species haven't developed advanced technologies
4.2.2 It is the nature of intelligent life to destroy itself
4.2.3 It is the nature of intelligent life to destroy others
4.2.4 Civilizations only broadcast detectable signals for a brief period of time
4.2.5 Alien life may be too alien
4.3 Sociological explanations
4.3.1 Colonization is not the cosmic norm
4.3.2 Alien species may have only settled part of the galaxy
4.3.3 Alien species may not live on planets
4.3.4 Alien species may isolate themselves from the outside world
4.4 Economic explanations
4.4.1 Lack of resources needed to physically spread throughout the galaxy
4.4.2 It is cheaper to transfer information than explore physically
4.5 Discovery of extraterrestrial life is too difficult
4.5.1 We haven't listened properly
4.5.2 We haven't listened for long enough
4.5.3 Intelligent life may be too far away
4.5.4 Intelligent life may exist hidden from view
4.6 Willingness to communicate
4.6.1 Everyone is listening but no one is transmitting
4.6.2 Communication is dangerous
4.6.3 Earth is deliberately avoided
4.6.4 Earth is deliberately isolated (planetarium hypothesis)
4.7 Alien life is already here unacknowledged
Most likely explanation is that they’re out there and know we are mega cringe so they stay away
Edit: Fuckkkkkk dude this formatting got me feeling like something
They were going to contact us, but they started deciphering blue check twitter and turned around
There’s a lot of window dressing around the whole question, but all of the answers boil down to something like -
#1. Everything is far away in distance from everything else
#2. Everything is also far away in time thanks to the first
#3. Far, far more ways to be dead than alive
#4. Far more way to be alive than intelligent
#5. Far more way to be intelligent than human. We may be the only species that thinks flinging itself into the void is a remotely good idea.
Why would aliens want to visit us?
If there exists an alien race so technologically advanced to allow interstellar, or perhaps intergalactic travel, wouldn’t they be so advanced in comparison to regard us as nothing but ants?
Think about it: Would you stop to talk to ants?
What’s the argument that we’re like ants to them? Would we be unable to understand their motivations and goals, how they communicate with each other, etc? I don’t buy it.
Sure a biological brain is slower than a computer, and humans can’t see gamma/xray/microwave/ultraviolet/infrared/radio waves without assistance, but would that really change anything?
Consider that we’re pretty damn sure lots of animals around us have language. Dolphins, chimps, elephants, parrots(shit, most communal birds really), meerkats, hell, I’d include eusocial insects. And we’re nowhere even close to being able to communicate to them in a meaningful fashion.
Now consider a species that evolved in a completely different environment, from completely unrelated ancestors, with completely different architecture of their minds, possibly running with completely different chemistry.
I have doubts we could talk to aliens even if they wanted to as well.
Dolphins just want fish, friends, sex, no pollution, etc, and they can’t meaningfully interact with the world outside the water. They say things along those lines, and not much outside of that. It would be cool to understand exactly what they say, but they’re not talking about nuclear fusion behind our backs.
For better or for worse, humans evolved to be able to understand much more. The post above implies there are “things humans can’t understand”, which is what I disagree with. Anything physically possible/solvable should be understandable to the human brain with enough tools. Humans understand chemistry to an extent that they could figure out an alien’s biology given enough resources and time. In this way, the human brain is analogous to a universal Turing machine, and sadly dolphin brains are not yet.
Not trying to be human-centric, but I would love an example of something that is fundamentally outside the range of human understanding that hypothetical aliens could understand that makes us like ants to them in the way that even if they understand our language and motivations, we could never understand theirs. I think it’s all handwaving.
Basically everything about the topic is unknown because we have only one piece of data: us.
We don’t know the parameters for life itself, let alone intelligent life. We don’t know the types of life that could exist. We imagine they’re like us and go from there, which is an anthropomorphic assumption that would likely be wrong.
There is very little to say about it but people still try for some reason.
