Why haven’t we detected a signal from intelligent aliens yet?
- Long ago, Enrico Fermi posed a simple question just by gazing at the stars: “Where is everybody?”
- Known today as the Fermi Paradox, there are many possible solutions, but some explanations are far simpler than others: namely, that there isn’t anyone else.
- Still, the most common way of estimating who’s out there, the Drake equation, should never be used. Here’s the science of how to do it right.
Without evidence to the contrary, we have every reason to keep looking and searching, but still no reason other than our own preferences to believe that other creatures, similar to humans, exist out there. While it may be incredibly fun to theorize a myriad of possible explanations as to why intelligent extraterrestrials might remain hidden from us, the simplest possibility — that they just aren’t out there — should be the default hypothesis until proven otherwise.
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Why haven't we detected a signal from intelligent aliens yet?
Life arose on Earth early on, eventually giving rise to us: intelligent and technologically advanced. "First contact" still remains elusive.
