Why are we (still) alone? New theory not only makes sense but also does not invalidate the most consensual theory about the existence of life outside planet Earth.
Saturday, October 18th. Humanity remains unaware of the existence of any extraterrestrial life.
While countless theories try to explain the great silence, a NASA astrophysicist has just presented, in a study not yet peer-reviewed on September 26 on arXiv, a more mundane reason.
Robin Corbet introduces a theory he calls “radical worldliness”. According to the scientist, alien civilizations, if they exist, may not be much more advanced than us. In fact, they may use technologies similar to ours, without the means or motivation to send signals powerful enough to be detected from Earth. They may simply be more boring.
Corbet explains that, although there is a reasonable probability that one day we will be able to detect another civilization, this discovery could be a slight disappointment. Instead of beings capable of traveling faster than light or mastering unimaginable technologies as we fantasize about.
This theory challenges the widely accepted idea that any extraterrestrial civilization, by probability and given the “youth” of the human species, would be much more developed than humanity.
Rather, Corbet suggests that the apparent absence of alien communication may simply reflect ordinary technological limitations—radio waves, telescopes, and communications systems similar to our own—dispersed over immense cosmic distances.
Not all scientists, as might be expected, share this view. A darker explanation is the so-called Black Forest hypothesis. According to this theory, the universe would be a dangerous and competitive place, where civilizations remain silent to avoid being discovered by potentially hostile species. In this scenario, extraterrestrials may be deliberately hidden to ensure their own survival — just as humanity may one day have to do.
