In a new article published by NASA scientists, they clarified why we haven’t encountered extraterrestrial intelligent life until now. NASA believes that all intelligent life probably self-destructed before reaching a point in evolution sophisticated enough to support such an encounter, and that the same fate awaits humans if we don’t act.
The “Great Filter” theory (the “filtering” of various forms of life), cited in the published article, argues that the universe was a cradle to other civilizations throughout its lifetime. However, pointing out that these civilizations destroyed themselves before they could make contact with Earth, the article argues that there is still some hope for humanity, provided we can learn that other life exists and take steps to prevent our own extinction.
“The key to humanity’s successful passage through such a universal filter is to identify for ourselves [destructive] qualities and neutralize them beforehand,” says astrophysicist Jonathan Jiang and his co-authors in the paper.
The authors argue that anything that seems likely to destroy humans could also threaten intelligent life on other planets. The authors note that possible disasters that could be impacted by humans or other intelligent life forms include nuclear war, epidemics, climate change, and uncontrolled artificial intelligence. In response, the researchers point out that the biggest challenge will be to work together to survive: “History has shown that interspecies competition and, more importantly, cooperation has taken us to the heights of invention. Yet concepts that seem like the antithesis of long-term sustainable growth.” We must be prepared for: racism, genocide, injustice, sabotage.”
You can find the entire article here.
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