You may have discover of theFermi Paradox , but if you have n’t , here it is in a nutshell : yield the high chance that alien life exists out there in the universe of discourse , why has nobody got in touch ?
If there are so many other civilization out there , peradventure at far more modern stages than we are because of how long the universe has dragged on for ( no offense cosmos , but get to the point ) , why are they not doing what we ’re doing , sending out probes and desperately searching for other signs of animation ?
One idea is theGreat Filter . The possibility go that before alien civilizations can make it to the pointedness where they are able to result their solar system and start colonizing their galax , something happen to prevent them from doing so , or we ’d see grounds for this in our own Milky Way . Whether this is the step from multi - cell life to animal that can use tools , or from where we are now to exploring the galaxy , we just do n’t know .
What makes this so interesting is we would n’t know if we are past the " great filter " or whether it ’s going to happen in our future . Could it be that most do n’t make it past single - cellphone life and we have made it past this filter ? Or at some point yet to come are we , likeother alien civilizationsout there , about to ruin ourselves before we are able-bodied to depart Earth , perhaps through warfare or using up our resources before we can escape ?
moderately disconcertingly , some philosophers and scientists have suggested that this mean if we were to feel spirit on , say , Marsit would have some less - than - idealistic implication for where we are in relation to the Great Filter . Oxford University philosophy professor Nick Bostrom say that he hopes the hunt for extraterrestrial life turns up nothing . If we found very mere life pattern , Bostrom arguedin an clause published in the MIT Technology Review in 2008 , then we could conclude that the filter fall out sometimeafterthat full stop of lifetime . If we found multi - cellular life , this would constringe down the point at which the Great Filter could take place .
Bostrom believes that in society to narrow down where the filter demand berth , we should face at sprightliness on Earth to see which steps are marvelous . “One standard is that the transition should have occur only once , " he wrote . " Flight , sight , photosynthesis , and limbs have all germinate several multiplication here on Earth , and are thus ruled out . "
He also argued that evolutionary features that have a foresightful time to occur even after requirement were meet would indicate that this evolutionary step was improbable , eg the original egress of lifespan . The step from animals to man took place over a relatively forgetful fourth dimension menstruum , geologically speaking , suggesting it ’s a weak prospect for a Great Filter event .
If we were to discover evidence of craniate on Mars ( very unlikely , but we can daydream ! ) he believed that would be terrible news , as it would hint that the bulk of the Great Filter is still in our future tense , and we ’ll have to confront the probability that we will go nonextant before we are technologically mature enough to journey through the galaxy .
" Such a discovery would be a mash blow . It would be by far the worst newsworthiness ever printed on a paper covering fire , " Bostrom drop a line . " This is why I ’m hoping that our space probe will discover drained John Rock and lifelesssands on Mars , on Jupiter’smoon Europa , and everywhere else our uranologist look . It would keep alive the hope for a heavy time to come for humanity . "
So , though there are many otherpossible solutions to the Fermi Paradoxthat are deserving look at if you enjoy that sorting of thing , if Bostrom is correct it have in mind that happen grounds of advanced civilization is good intelligence , but finding the wrong phase of spirit that evolved independently in our own Solar System would be the risky possible news we could receive .
An earlier adaptation of this clause wasfirst publishedinNovember 2020 .
