The Fermi Paradox: A 10 Step Guide To Finding Aliens

2. It's Not All Doom And Gloom: Alternative Hypotheses

Of course, there are a number of other reasons why we haven't been contacted by any little green men that aren't quite so apocalyptic.

As well as taking into account the Space Is Big and Time Is Big arguments that would mean that we're all just missing each other, there's no reason why the solar system shouldn't be teeming with life, but we're just too primitive to notice it.

You might think your dog is pretty smart, he can catch a ball and open doors after all, but try explaining the concept of an aeroplane or the world markets to your dog and he won't understand a single word. A similar principle could be applied to the human race.

We like to think we're pretty smart, but seeing as we haven't managed to put anyone further than our own moon at the moment, we might not recognise space colonisation technology if it kicked us in the face. Maybe they're even trying to communicate with us, but it's currently the equivalent of trying to send a caveman an email.

It could even be that our idea of an advanced culture is hilariously immature. Our provincial notion that what makes a successful civilisation is how many planets you've stood people on could be making us the laughing stock of the galaxy. It might turn out that we're going through something of an adolescence and that once we develop into, say, a Type II civilisation, our Dyson Sphere and Star Lifting technology might make our home solar system such a nice place to be that we simply don't want to go out and explore the rest of the galaxy.

Perhaps the technology that allows us to upload our consciousness to a great simulator comes before the technology to explore the furthest reaches of the galaxy (or perhaps it's already happened).

There is, of course, the possibility that we are being visited by aliens and the government is just covering it up...