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If you immediately associate the title of this post with a quote from the physicist Enrico Fermi, then you will know the topic!
The Fermi Paradox, which stems from the question “but where is everybody?” is attributed to a conversation Fermi was having with his fellow physicists when talking about the existence of extraterrestrial life. Given the number of galaxies, stars, solar systems and planets and even if the probability of intelligent life is really low, there must be intelligent life out there.
If we just focus on the Milky Way then there are billions of stars that have evolved over billions of years. Some of those should have developed life long before earth and some of these should have developed into advanced civilisations that could have traversed our galaxy and, hence, the question “but where is everybody?”
There are lots of theories to try and explain the Fermi Paradox that range from the rarity of life to the vast expanse of space to evolutionary, sociological and even economic considerations. I have another theory to solve it.
Firstly, I do believe there is abundant life in all stages of evolution in the universe. In our own solar system I believe there was life on Mars long before there was life on Earth. Unfortunately the evolution of life on Mars and life on Earth were out of sync by hundreds of millions or billions of years. Mars’ magnetic field diminished and its atmosphere thinned, which in turn led to its water evaporating and the end of life on the planet. We are actively exploring Mars looking for comprehensive evidence of life and I believe it is only a matter of time until we find it.
Then of course there is life on our own planet that some scientists believe may have evolved separately to other life on earth. Cephalopods are very different to all other species on earth and could have arrived hundreds of millions of years after the first life began to evolve. Technically we could have been living with aliens for a very, very long time already!
Given that time on a universal scale works in billions of years, I also believe that there is life on other planets in all stages of evolution. Some are in their infancy, some are emerging, some are advanced and then some have either become enlightened and survived whilst others have become extinct. And then there is the presence of cosmic events that can impact the success (or failure) of the evolution of life (potentially like what happened on Mars).
So far nothing I am saying is anything new. There are plenty of theories on the evolution of life where the evolution either ends when intelligent life destroys itself or becomes enlightened and goes on to survive for a long time. I would classify humanity in the advanced stage of evolution where we are hurtling towards either becoming enlightened or destroying ourselves! The choices of the next generations will determine which way we land but that’s probably the topic of a different post!
Coming back to the Fermi Paradox, I also believe that extraterrestrial life has visited earth throughout our history. This theory is also not new, as it is based on the premise that civilisations more advanced than us would see no benefit in revealing themselves to humanity. Another version of this theory is that they wouldn’t want to intervene in our natural evolution. This is the premise of the ‘Prime Directive’ if you are a Star Trek fan!
But why would extraterrestrials go out of their way to conceal themselves?
This brings me to how I believe intelligent life evolves. Today humanity is grappling with a lot of issues, such as equality, freedom, race, religion, gender, eastern vs western philosophy, disease and the environment. And I’m sure I have missed a few issues in that list! Can we solve all of them? My belief is that if we don’t then we will eventually destroy ourselves and become extinct. Our species will end if we fail to adapt and let our petty differences lead to our demise. But that’s evolution right?
Now imagine if we do solve all our issues! What if we no longer squabbled about our differences and all worked together to solve issues that impact our species and the other life forms on our planet? If we did reach this stage of enlightenment then what would we be like? Would we be mean? Would we be hateful? Would we be jealous? I think not.
Would we pool all our resources and work together to develop interstellar travel and travel to other planets to meet other intelligent life? I think so. And if we did would we want to intervene with the natural evolution of other intelligent life that hadn’t reached enlightenment? I think not. I think we would go out of our way to conceal ourselves because we would have the utmost respect of life and the natural progress of evolution.
So that is my solution to the Fermi Paradox. Life is abundant in the universe and it is in all stages of evolution. In order for intelligent life to not become extinct then it must evolve to a stage of enlightenment. In order to reach this stage the intelligent life must solve all of its problems. Once this happens then the intelligent life must have developed the utmost respect for themselves and for all life and hence will not interfere in the evolution of other life that has not reached enlightenment.
The answer to the question “But where is everybody?” is simple, they’re hiding until we either become extinct or become enlightened. Hopefully it’s the latter and then we’ll get to meet them one day and join the interstellar enlightened community!
