Fermi paradox -
Cont'd
Possible explanations - Cont'd
They exist and
communicate - but we are not listening or dismiss the
evidence
Another series of views, which tend to be disregarded by
contemporary science, consider that alien entities have been
communicating with humans throughout history, but for any number of
reasons we are unable to scientifically detect these attempts; or
that the accounts of communication which have been reported are
generally dismissed by scientists for sociological reasons.
For example, radio telescopes may simply not be facing in the
direction from which signals are arriving, or listening on the
appropriate frequencies, or using the appropriate demodulation.
Alternatively, intelligent life may be using an esoteric, highly
advanced or other non-conventional method of communication which we
are unable (or perhaps unwilling) to detect or interpret.
These views do not necessarily assert that aliens are physically
present on Earth. Rather, these views suggest that, for instance,
if there is a communication medium that is more effective than
electromagnetism over interstellar distances, e.g. a form of
nonlocal 'psychic' communication, then physical travel would be
superfluous and unnecessary, thereby offering a solution to Fermi's
paradox.
For example, some have interpreted the accounts of mystics,
shamans, schizophrenics, and channelers as evidence for a type of
ongoing communication. In support of this view it has been posited
that if the brain can somehow operate using quantum mechanical
processes, as proposed by Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff, then
in principle a type of nonlocal communication may be possible,
which may then be enhanced or facilitated by traditional shamanic,
meditation, or kundalini yoga techniques.
In addition, Terence McKenna and others who have experimented with
Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) experiences have suggested that aliens
(perhaps originating from other 'dimensions' or parallel
universes), are communicating with humanity through unidentified
processes which are activated by DMT. Proponents of this view
believe that such experiences may have occurred, in the past as
well as the present, amongst certain indiviudals such as tribal
shamans, as DMT is endogenously synthesized in the brain's pineal
gland, or can be ingested by shamans as the drug ayahuasca.
It is suggested that the ability to utilise DMT for this purpose of
contacting alien intelligences may have conferred evolutionary
advantages by way of natural selection (eg. by inspiring shamans to
lead their tribes to undiscovered lands (such as by crossing the
Bering Strait), or out of life-threatening situations (such as in
the case of the shaman Black Elk).
Although classical communication in the context of information
theory is not possible using quantum nonlocal correlations,
supporters of this view believe that it may explain the 'garbled',
associative, and inspirational nature of the 'messages' recorded in
the world's religious and anthropological history.
The concept of biology as a basis for communication with alien
intelligence has certain analogies with the field of neurotheology,
which studies biology as a basis for spirituality and
transcendental experiences.
They no longer exist - or
we do not exist for long enough
Science fiction authors have proposed another possible explanation
that someone, or something, is destroying intelligent life in the
universe as fast as it is created. This theme can be found in
novels such as Frederik Pohl's Heechee novels, Fred Saberhagen's
Berserker novels, Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space novels, Greg
Bear's novel The Forge of
God, Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End, and Jack McDevitt's
novel The Engines of
God.
Another alternative is that they have disappeared following a
technological singularity, or that they simply destroy themselves.
Life on Earth, and intelligent life on Earth, evolved as a result
of the competition for scarce resources. The evolutionary
psychology that developed during this struggle has left its mark on
our characters, and left human beings subject to involuntary,
instinctual drives to consume resources and to breed. It seems
likely that intelligent life on other planets evolved subject to
similar constraints, and as such pessimism about their long term
viability is a justifiable position.
Technological civilizations may usually or invariably destroy
themselves (via nuclear war, biological warfare, grey goo, or in a
Malthusian catastrophe after destroying their planet's ecosphere)
before or shortly after developing radio or spaceflight technology.
This general theme is explored in The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven
and Jerry Pournelle, which has as its central premise a
civilisation that overtaxes its resource base and cyclically
self-destructs, but which tries to preserve its culture from one
cycle to the next.
It would be anthropocentric to suggest that humanity is immune to
any of these fates. Therefore another view is that we ourselves do
not exist long enough to encounter alien life. Indeed, there are
probabilistic arguments which suggest that our end may occur sooner
rather than later. See Doomsday argument.
They never
existed
Others argue that the prerequisites for the establishment of life,
or at least complex life, are rare in the universe. For example,
the Rare Earth hypothesis (see section above) implies that the
existence of complex life on Earth required a series of seemingly
improbable events to coincide, such as the existence of a large
satellite body like the Moon, which through gravitational effects
could stimulate the tides, which in turn are posited as being
necessary for the evolution of complex life. Lending some support
to this hypothesis is the leading scientific theory for the
creation of the Moon, the Giant impact theory, which posits that
the Moon was formed as the result of a singular occurrence, whereby
a body of a certain mass struck Earth at just the right angle and
velocity to carve off sufficient material, which would eventually
enter stable orbit and form the Moon. Some consider that the
improbability of the occurrence of such an event is magnified by
the relative proximity of the massive planets to the inner solar
system (too far and the impact rate greatly increases for the inner
planets; too close and their orbits are greatly disrupted). The
likelihood of complex life evolving as a result of the conjunction
of all these events and effects is seen by supporters of the Rare
Earth hypothesis as being so unlikely that the evolution of complex
life elsewhere must be exceedingly rare.
Although it is possible that complex life may evolve through other
mechanisms, the Rare Earth Hypothesis posits that the prerequisites
of life as we know it seem to be rare. Bolstering this is the fact
that in the extremely long history of life on the Earth only one
sentient species has evolved that has the capability of space
flight and developing technologies such as radio. So, even when
conditions for complex life exist there does not appear (based on
the only evidence we have) to be any inevitability that a sentient
space-faring species will develop. However it cannot be
conclusively proved or disproved, without a survey of the entire
Cosmos, that the conditions which are believed responsible for the
evolution of complex life on Earth have not occurred
elsewhere.
It has also been proposed that even if the conditions for life are
common, the probability of sentient life developing on more than
one world is so vanishingly rare that in fact, such life has not
yet developed outside our solar system. Further, it has been
proposed that even if complex life is relatively common, such life
may not be interested in the exploration of outer space or
developing relevant technology such as radio.
Another possibility is that ice ages, comet or meteor impacts,
supernovae, gamma ray bursts or other catastrophic planetary or
galactic events are so common that they usually prevent life, let
alone complex life, from evolving in the first place. Conversely,
if evolution is sometimes aided or facilitated by such events, they
may not occur at the right time or place, or at the right
frequency.
An episode of the PBS television show 'Nova', entitled 'Death
Star', discussed the hypothesis of physicist Arnon Dar regarding
galactic sterilization due to gamma ray bursts (see link).
Issue #60
