Recently, the first public hearing on UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) by the Pentagon before the US Congress has captured public attention. This marks the first time in nearly 60 years that a similar topic has been brought to a public hearing.
This move has sparked numerous questions and discussions among science enthusiasts. The most pressing question is why humanity has never recorded the presence of extraterrestrial life on Earth, despite the vast universe estimated to contain hundreds of billions of galaxies.
All advanced civilizations will face an energy crisis.
In response to this question, Livescience cites the views of two astrobiologists. According to them, the explanation is rather bleak and relates to a vital issue for all civilizations or life forms in the universe – energy.
They hypothesize that as civilizations with space travel capabilities expand in scale and technology, they will eventually face a significant crisis when scientific advancements cannot keep pace with the ever-increasing demand for energy. The inevitable consequence is collapse.
The only way to avoid this grim fate is to reject a relentless growth model in favor of maintaining balance. This strategy also necessitates that civilizations must sacrifice their ability to travel further into space.
This argument has been presented as a solution to the Fermi Paradox – a well-known theory in astrobiology and science fiction. Named after the reflections of Nobel Laureate physicist Enrico Fermi, this paradox points to the contradiction between the immense age and scale of the universe and the lack of evidence for the existence of extraterrestrial life.
Civilizations have chosen a “homeostatic balance” model between development and energy needs.
“So where is everyone?” – Fermi posed the question.
According to Michael Wong, an astrobiologist at the Carnegie Institution for Science, and Stuart Bartlett from the California Institute of Technology, civilizations have chosen a “homeostatic balance” model between development and energy needs, or they have collapsed due to depletion. Both hypotheses reinforce the absence of observations of a galactic-scale civilization.
This conclusion is drawn from the study of supergrowth models of various cities. They suggest that when cities reach exponential growth in energy consumption as the population increases, the inevitable outcome is crisis points where development collapses swiftly, or worse, the collapse of civilization.
Similarly, planets will reach this crisis once their civilization can be described as a global city, the group of researchers notes.
Civilizations approaching this collapse are actually quite observable with current human capabilities, as they would consume an enormous amount of energy in an extremely unstable manner. This further raises the question of whether many of humanity’s initial discoveries of extraterrestrial life (if any) would belong to intelligent yet unwise species (due to their failure to choose a sustainable path).
To reverse this grim fate, according to scientists, humanity or any civilization needs to shift from growth at all costs to a model that prioritizes social welfare, sustainable development, equity, and harmony with the environment. Such a path would be termed “the awakening of homeostatic balance.” Naturally, the cost would be limiting contact or travel with distant civilizations.
In fact, humanity has had a few instances of “homeostatic balance awakening” to address crises. For example, the global nuclear arsenal has decreased from 70,000 warheads to 14,000; the ozone layer has recovered through CFC bans, and the international whaling ban established in 1982.
Of course, all of the above is merely theoretical. Many questions remain about our solitude, such as the numerous challenges of intergalactic travel, or the notion of “the right beings at the wrong time” – extraterrestrials may have visited us too early, or they may come in the distant future.
Another grim explanation for the Fermi Paradox is the Dark Forest Theory – that civilizations deliberately avoid each other to protect themselves.
Another hypothesis published on April 4 in the Astrophysical Journal suggests that it could take up to 400,000 years for signals from one intelligent species to reach another. For humanity’s space exploration history, that figure is exceedingly long, and perhaps we need to be more patient.
