There is a debate that is almost a classic and that we do not see that we are able to clarify, at least in a few years. We are talking about debate about whether or not there are extraterrestrial . It is clear that it is very unlikely that you will meet an alien on the train on your way to work, but let's be honest, it is not very likely that, as immense and unexplored as our universe is, we are the only inhabitants. Today in Supercurioso we want to tell you about the Zoo hypothesis , which is one of many hypotheses about whether or not there is intelligent life alien . It is also a very original hypothesis that you can share in a dinner with friends where the subject is discussed.
What is the hypothesis of the Zoo?
Think carefully, What real possibilities are there that the Earth is the only planet that harbors intelligent life? It is believed that there are, today, about 100 planets very similar to the conditions of the Earth that could give shelter to species similar to those that inhabit our Planet. So why have we never heard a little extraterrestrial noise? Not the slightest sign of life.
As we said at the beginning, these questions are not the first to ask, in fact it is a recurring theme in any group meeting. Interestingly, what Enrico Fermi did in 1950 during a meal at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Enrico Fermi, who was an Italian physicist who won the Nobel Prize, launched the following question: How can it be that we are alone with the size of the universe? As his famous phrase says: "Where is the whole world?
In 1950 the formal Fermi's paradox :
"How can we not have found a trace of alien evidence, when it is more than likely that they have a way to LEAVE IT?"
We might think we did not hear them because they are too far away, but Enrico Fermi did not think that was a compelling reason. He thought that an alien civilization should surely have the technology necessary to establish communication with other planets, such as ours.
The Zoo Hypothesis is disturbing
A good explanation for the Fermi paradox is the hypothesis of Zoo . Surely it is a difficult situation to imagine but let's do an exercise of imagination. Imagine that the aliens know about our existence. They know where we are but they avoid contacting us, instead, they decide to study us from a distance.
This hypothesis of the zoo was proposed by the MIT astronomer John A. BAll, in 1973, and is so called because it holds that all life on Earth, with all its species of flora and fauna, is like a big zoo where the first rule is "you look but do not touch". Ball argues that perhaps these alien civilizations are so presumably advanced that they are able to observe us without influencing us.
Solutions to the Fermi paradox
Actually Ball came to expose 10 possible solutions to this Fermi Paradox and the Zoo Hypothesis only covers two of them. In one of those solutions, the aliens do not find "any interest" in us and only study us out of curiosity. In another of these solutions, the aliens believe that we are "interesting" so they pay us more attention. In either case, they would contact us deliberately.
There are other solutions even more crude to accept, maybe the aliens do know about us but they do not care in the least because we do not pose any threat to them and, besides, we have nothing that would interest them.
In any case, the most popular proposal to Fermi's paradox would be that the existing alien life is still very primitive and does not have the technology to establish contact or even that it had existed, but that it had already been extinguished.
Anyway, everything is an unknown but it is very funny to imagine all the reasons why we have not yet established contact with extraterrestrials.
Ball and his other theories
In addition to the Zoo Hypothesis, Ball also presented other hypotheses to answer the question of why we have no record of life beyond our planet. These other answers are based on religion, philosophy and science. Although Ball has so many answers to why we have not contacted aliens so far, What he is sure of is that we are not alone in the universe , that there are other civilizations surely with an intelligence far superior to ours, which would give them some advantage over us.
What do you think about it? Do you think there can be intelligent life beyond our planet? Tell us your hypothesis, we will be happy to read you!