Dear Humans,
The Fermi paradox is a question about intelligent life in the universe, and the question posed is why haven’t humans discovered extraterrestrial life. I wan to talk about two of my favorite hypotheses that may answer this.
- The concept of interspecies empathy and communication is a phenomenon unique to Earth.
- An Earth species will be the master race: the original colonizer and developer of extraterrestrial life
The first implies that chemicals similar to oxytocin and dopamine are uniquely developed in species on Earth; therefore, the need to feel close to other species and make friends would not be a key component in alien culture. And if there is no need to seek intellectual validation and empathy: why search for alien life? Humans may simply be unique in the fact that they want to communicate with aliens.
The second implies that humans, or another earth species, will develop colonies on alien planets and will genetically diverge from humanity thus creating a new extraterrestrial species with new laws and rules. This theory is explored in the 2018 Netflix movie The Titan. This is the most intriguing as our understanding of interstellar space travel and genetic augmentation advances: and how limited our knowledge of terraforming is, at the moment.
Edit: AI also play a role in some theories, but it’s basically they’re the progeny of something older, and that plays into the fear of organic extinction.