THE FERMI PARADOX

 

THE FERMI PARADOX : 

ARE WE REALLY ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE ? 

The Fermi Paradox refers to nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi, who postulated that we should have been contacted by aliens by now. And yet in the vastness of our galaxy and the likely hood of alien life, we have apparently seen zilch. Ergo. We are alone. End of story. Whats on Netflix? 

But one mans humble opinion cant sway everyone right? 

ZOO HYPOTHESIS 

Carl Sagen would have lost his cool with Fermi's paradox for sure. After all, it has more plot holes in it than Swiss cheese. 

And he wasn't the only one. Russian astronautics pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky,  Neil deGrasse Tyson writer Arthur C Clarke, (even Gene Roddenbury of Star Trek) to name but a few, all agreed that the most likely reason we have not been visited by ET is because of the whole Zoo Hypotheses 

They're just waiting patiently for us to put our pointy sticks and hatreds aside. Only when mankind has learned to love one another will they decide to make contact. Or something like that. But that could take thousands of years. Or never. 

Also, we need to prove we can travel faster than light. Just like in Star Trek, the aliens might consider us beneath them if we haven't quite cracked interstellar travel. And only at that point will they possibly step in and guide us among the stars. 

Alternately they might just observe us from afar and single out certain individuals or governments when they felt the time was right. 

THEY'RE EXPERIMENTING ON US 

Former MIT Haystack Observatory scientist John Allen Ball went one step further and speculated on a laboratory hypotheses, where the aliens are using us as guinea-pigs to their own devious ends, treating the whole planet as a giant vivarium for study and experimentation. 

There seems to be a lot of traction with this thought, considering the amount of so called alien abductions that have occurred over the years. In which average everyday folk stated aliens had taken them to their space ships and probed them in every conceivable orifice. 

THEY JUST HAVEN'T NOTICED US YET 

It is quite possible that our Galaxy is teaming with intelligent life but being so utterly vast, it could be that any major governing aliens simply haven't seen us. Thus we're just a twinkle in the night sky and simply overlooked. 

After all, Space is big. I mean really big. Its also REALLY DARK. At best, we're just a blinking light in the sky to them and by the time our planet comes into view, it might already be hidden in the darkness of our own night time. 

If anything, the major space players would have mapped out our galaxy with only so much accuracy and probably only bother with other space-faring civilisations on an equal par with their own. 

JUST NOT WORTH THE SPACE FUEL 

They might just consider our star system pretty scarce of life anyway. I mean, at a glance, our sun has ten or so planets, which to them might be so much fuzz around a light bulb, shot out of a cannon and really worth investigating. 

Even if they do suspect our existence,  if you've seen one bi-ped, then you've seem them all. I mean, do you jump out of your car every time you see a fox or a squirrel? 

Plus the amount of fuel just to come check us out, might be pricey. Even if they have conquered interstellar travel, they'd have to be pretty desperate to come check us out in the back waters of the Milky Way suburbs. 

GOVERNMENT COVER-UP

A recent inquest into the UFO phenomenon descended into more bickering and scepticism. Simply because no hard evidence has surfaced, fuelling believers that governments are actually covering up the facts about extra-terrestrial life. 

And even if we have made first contact, our ruling governments would never admit it, because that would take away their power right? 

They would wana keep it all hush, to maintain the edge on new technologies and trade. Otherwise we'd all be investing heavily in space-tech and trading with other worlds. Think about it. The super powers would implode. 

A NEW ERA OF INTER-GALACTIC TRADE

The minute news broke of any country making First Contact, it would change EVERYTHING.  

Folks would be like: "Why the fuck am I stuck on this dumb ball? When I could be drinking Pina Coladas on some other exotic (and warm) planet, where they don't bomb the shit out of each other every day?"  

Screw Elon Musk. Competing companies would begin hiring any and EVERYONE, if it meant accessible trade with another world. What corporation wouldn't, once communication with other worlds had been established. After all, everyone wants something right? Even Aliens. 

You'd see a boom in the most unlikely places. Imagine McDonalds investing in the space program? Just to sell McDonalds Cheeseburgers to other worlds? 

The aliens might be partial to dog food. Imagine the boom in trade! They might love Kittens as pets or collect Antique furniture. Imagine intergalactic carboot sales.  

On a more darker note, they might be sex-obsessed maniacs wanting our women and children. Worst still, they might even take over the Earth.  But thems the breaks. After all. The aliens cant be much worse than our own race. To say we have lived without death and atrocity denies the reality that aliens might be just as bad (or good) as us. 

FEAR OF INVASION 

Writer HG Wells explored the possibility of alien invasion in his 1898 Novel The War Of the Worlds in which invading Martians land in England and quickly overpower us with heat rays, alien mustard gas and bio-mechanoid tripod war machines. 

But Wells saw it not so much as a cautionary tale of alien interference but more of a lesson in British Colonialism, under which a great portion of our world had succumbed to and not necessarily enjoyed the fruits of either. 

His invading Martians were a metaphor for colonial greed and his book, a finger wagging exercise on how would you like it done to you? 

After all, between 1578 and 1945, the British Empire had subjugated much of planet Earth. That might sound like a sci-fi novel in itself but it was true. 

This of course lead to countless wars, slavery and endless religious debacle. In the wake of the Second World War and the Axis Powers defeated, the USA emerged top dog and took on the mantle of a world dominant super power, second only to Russia. But since then, the legacy of colonialism and endless war has left its indelible mark on our world.  

WE'RE JUST TOO VIOLENT, SORRY  

Our list of atrocities reads like a 1980's phone book. Any intelligent peace-loving alien with access to our internet would give us a pass. 

The situation within the present Israeli–Palestinian conflict, coupled with the war in the Ukraine could quite easily spill us over into yet another world war. And in a nutshell, behind all the mysticism, false gods and spin, these hostilities stem from simple greed, for more land and resources. 

So, looking at this pale blue dot from afar, using technologies greater than our own, I think ole ET would give us a wide berth. 

Either way, we're way too dangerous to be considered 'civilised' by intelligent space faring aliens. Imagine Hamas (or any us) getting hold of advanced alien weapons? Its bad enough that we have nukes.

WE'RE JUST ASSHOLES 

Thus considering we're barely out of the stone age, verging on World War III, how would any sane alien tackle the whole First Contact thing anyway? Land and say hi? No way! They'd be avoiding us, like a dodgy part of town, where theres lots of crime. 

And who's to say they didn't land already and faced a welcoming committee straight out of a horror movie like Hostel? 

It happens all the time with back-packers right? Kids go off on a country-jaunt and end up as someones lab rat experiment. Would our governments be any different? 

Fuck these assholes. I'm outta here. 

ARE WE REALLY ALL ALONE? 

All we really know is that our governments have not been terribly forthcoming with the general public regarding UFO's and life on other planets, creating conspiracy theories on what is behind their motives.  

But if true, their reasons are as stated above, to hog information, technology and keep us all working in dumb-ass jobs 9 to 5 and 24/7. Or simply because they fear invasion.  

In any event, it boils down to two very simple outcomes. There are aliens or we are totally alone. And Im sure someone said that the possibility of either, is equally terrifying.