UFO Obsessives Will Be Disappointed By New Theory That Says Aliens Probably Don’t Have Wildly Advanced Technology
The discovery of a mysterious interstellar object called “3I/ATLAS” and its passage through our solar system has led to all kinds of speculation about whether the rather large visitor could be some kind of alien probe. But now a NASA scientist has suggested that extraterrestrials may not be able to visit our little corner of the galaxy because their technology might be just as terrible as ours.
In a research article titled “A Less Scary Universe? Banality as an Explanation of the Fermi Paradox,” NASA and University of Maryland astrophysicist Robin Corbet He argues that the reason we haven’t encountered any aliens up close is because they don’t actually have warp drives or access to wormholes. In fact, Corbet says, they don’t have significantly more advanced technology than humans do:
This article examines explanations for the lack of strong evidence for the existence of technology-using extraterrestrial civilizations (ETCs) in the Galaxy, applying the principle of “radical mediocrity”…. By this principle, the possibility that the Galaxy contains a modest number of civilizations, none of which have reached a sufficient level of technology to perform large-scale astro-engineering or have the desire to do so, is preferable.
The article’s “Less Terrifying” reference relates to: Commentary by science fiction author Arthur C. ClarkeHe who is said to have once suggested that we are either alone in the universe or we are not, and that both possibilities are equally frightening.
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Solving the Fermi Paradox
3I/ATLAS image showing a glowing sphere moving through space – NASA
Physicist Enrico Fermi reportedly proposed the paradox named for him In the 1950s I sometimes wondered, “Where is everyone?” It was expressed with the question. Fermi wondered, in essence, if life in a vast universe must be abundant, why have we not yet encountered another civilization? Various explanations have emerged over the years, from humanity being the only intelligent evolved life smart enough to ask this question to the possibility that aliens are so far ahead of us in intelligence that we are effectively unrelated to them. (My personal favorite is that the most intelligent life in the universe is actually aquatic creatures—life on Earth started in the oceans, after all—and so we live in a galaxy full of whales who aren’t interested in leaving their happy aquatic homes.)
Corbet acknowledges that we have We’ve spent decades talking about UFOs And They developed a huge subculture around themHowever, the NASA researcher states that no one has found conclusive evidence that unidentified weather events can be traced to objects that are not from this planet. However, the controversial Harvard scientist Avi Loeb It has been responsible for all kinds of interesting theories about why 3I/ATLAS might be part of incredibly complex ET engineering. (Loeb is also interested in real science(Of course, this undermines some outrageous speculation about what is probably a massive comet.)
Radical mediocrity isn’t that radical
A van photographed next to alien graffiti at Area 51 – Josh Brasted/Getty Images
The idea of radical worldliness is kind of exciting Occam’s razor: If we haven’t seen aliens yet, it’s because they’re either a lot like us, maybe a little better, or possibly worse. The simplest explanation is the best. “The idea is that they are more advanced, but not much more advanced.” Corbet told the Guardian. “It’s like having an iPhone 42 instead of an iPhone 17”
He also suggests that even relatively advanced civilizations could send out a series of probes, find nothing, or nothing of note, and give up on exploration. After all, civilizations may be too far apart in space and technologically limited to interfere with each other’s fate.
In his article, Corbet also discusses various refutations of the mediocrity theory. Obviously, if aliens did appear, the theory would be debunked as they would need very advanced technology to reach Earth. But even if we detect a distant extraterrestrial civilization, it may turn out to be a little more impressive than ours. Scientifically, we cannot gain much from this encounter and may have to conclude that mediocrity is the rule in the Milky Way. Sorry, UFO obsessives. It really can be that boring.
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