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Ask your friends why scientists have not managed to find extraterrestrials and you can be sure that at least one of them will give the following answer: Humans are not worthy.
We are imperfect beings. We regularly threaten each other, not to mention other species and the environment. This does not seem very civilized and offers a plausible explanation for the lack of contact with extraterrestrials. Maybe the extraterrestrials know that we are here but do not want to deal with us – neither by communication nor by visit.
This idea is constantly attractive. It's so old. In 1973, the radio astronomer MIT John Ball published an article in which he suggested that the lack of success in the discovery of the cosmic society was not due to the lack of foreigners. This is because these people from another world have accepted a policy of non-intervention.
They have kept their distance not because we are flawed, but because we have the right to pursue our own destiny. Diversity is a value that everyone in the cosmos is supposed to value. Life-carrying worlds should therefore be left to their own evolutionary development.
You may think that Ball's idea is somewhat similar to Star Trek's famous "primordial directive," which forbade invading Federation members from doing anything that could harm other cultures. or civilizations, even if this interference was well-intentioned. The MIT astronomer said that we had not managed to get in touch with aliens, not because we are unworthy, but because we are worthy – as are threatened eels.
Ball went further by proposing to live in a metaphorical zoo – a kind of cosmic Eden. The extraterrestrials of the galaxy have arranged things so that our planet is protected from them by anti-return bars: they can observe us, but we can not observe them.
A good thing about this hypothesis is that it offers a solution to a long-standing puzzle called the Fermi Paradox. Founded nearly 70 years ago by the physicist Enrico Fermi, it is based on the fact that the universe is very old. Therefore, if intelligent life is commonplace, part of it is surely advanced enough to have colonized the entire galaxy. We should see evidence of aliens everywhere. The fact that we can not be explained by Ball's hypothesis – we are deliberately isolated.
The zoo's assumption has recently made headlines, as it also justifies an activity called METI, short for Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence. In simple terms, METI practitioners transmit radio signals into space in the hope of provoking a reaction from strangers capable of capturing them. In 2017, a Norwegian antenna was used to transmit a message to a star system at 12 light-years.
Earlier this month, researchers discussed all of this business at a meeting in Paris. Douglas Vakoch, president of METI International, an organization that organized the Norwegian transmission in San Francisco, cited the zoo's hypothesis as a possible justification for broadcasting. After all, if the hypothesis is correct, then it is understandable that our efforts to find signals from space have been unsuccessful. We surveyed our earthly cage in an inconsiderate way while the aliens stand at a distance and watch.
But as Vakoch argues, this one-way scenario could be changed. If a zoo animal suddenly starts barking through the bars saying "I'm here and I think you're out", those on the other side might react.
In simple terms, METI's deliberate emissions could lead to the discovery of a cosmic society, because the emissions would indicate to the aliens that we no longer need their parenting in a helicopter. We are grown enough so that they can come into contact.
Nevertheless, the zoo's hypothesis depends on the importance of terrestrial life – our existence is apparently important enough to dictate the behavior of societies that could be millions or billions of years later. And Ball's idea requires a galaxy-wide pact to ensure that all evidence of intelligent inhabitants' presence – radio signals, laser flashes, and even the construction of easy-to-detect megastructures – are not visible to earthlings. . How would you do that, even if you are a very advanced alien?
In addition, the idea that all extraterrestrials wish that the evolution of our planet remains free and natural seems strange, egocentric and a little too selfless. Let's face it: the main directive has never been fashionable here. In fact, we seem to prefer the opposite: on Earth, we intervene constantly in the cultural development of each other.
The zoo's hypothesis therefore seems more than a little forced. On the other hand, I must admit that it is prudent.
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