As humanity explores the cosmos, the question of whether we are alone in the universe remains unanswered. The discovery of over 6,000 exoplanets suggests that many worlds could support life. However, the search for evidence of extraterrestrial civilizations has yielded no results, leading scientists to ponder the reasons behind this silence.
Various theories have been proposed, such as the idea that intelligent life may be exceptionally rare or that Earth is intentionally isolated within a “cosmic zoo.” Another possibility is that advanced civilizations tend to self-destruct shortly after achieving significant technological capabilities, or that we might be the first intelligent beings to emerge. Yet, none of these explanations provide satisfactory answers.
A recent study introduces a novel hypothesis: the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) may play a crucial role in our inability to detect alien life. This concept revisits thoughts from renowned astronomer Carl Sagan, who, in the 1970s, discussed the challenges of searching for extraterrestrial intelligence and introduced the notion of a “communication horizon.”
Sagan theorized that as a civilization”s technology becomes increasingly advanced, it may surpass our ability to detect it. While we can identify strong radio signals from distant civilizations, if they were to utilize forms of communication beyond our current understanding, such as neutrino communication, they could effectively become invisible to us. Furthermore, if there exist physical phenomena that enable faster-than-light communication, our efforts to identify such civilizations might be futile.
According to Sagan”s estimates, it could take approximately a thousand years for a civilization to evolve beyond our observational reach. However, advancements in technology since his time, particularly in AI, have changed the landscape considerably. Today, AI has become integrated into numerous aspects of daily life, and its growth rate is accelerating.
The recent paper argues that if we consider the rapid development of technology and the potential prevalence of non-biological intelligence, the timeframe for when civilizations become unobservable may shrink dramatically—potentially to just a decade or two. In this context, the likelihood of detecting an alien species diminishes significantly.
This perspective suggests that the silence surrounding Fermi”s paradox may be attributed to a “Dead Internet Theory” on a cosmic scale, where advanced civilizations simply become undetectable due to their technological evolution.
This article was originally published by Universe Today. For the complete study and further details, please refer to their website.
