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Apr 27, 2021 · This chapter draws upon the archaeological and philosophical literature to offer an analysis and diagnosis of the popular ‘ancient aliens’ theory. First, we argue that ancient aliens theory is a form of conspiracy theory. Second, we argue that it differs...
- Derek D. Turner, Michelle I. Turner
- 2021
Commentator Adam Frank talks with Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb about exo-civilizations, techno-signatures, and the search for alien life — living or long-gone.
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- In space, no one can hear your civilization destroy itself.
- Cosmos: Possible Worlds Gallery
- The 25 Best Sci-Fi Movies
By Wesley L
Updated: Dec 23, 2020 6:21 pm
Posted: Dec 23, 2020 6:06 pm
A new study suggests that alien civilizations destroyed themselves through progress, meaning our galaxy could be full of dead alien civilizations.
"If intelligent life is likely to destroy themselves, it is not surprising that there is little or no intelligent life elsewhere," the researchers state in a paper detailing their theory.
If you're wondering why we might still be alive, it's because humans are billions of years behind these now-dead civilizations. The aliens in question probably saw life form around 8 billion years after the formation of the Milky Way whereas we didn't arrive until 13.5 billion years after its formation, meaning we are about 5.5 billion years behind.
"Since Carl Sagan's time, there's been lots of research," NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory astrophysicist, Jonathan H. Jiang, said, as reported by LiveScience. "Especially since the Hubble Space Telescope and Kepler Space Telescope, we have lots of knowledge about the densities in the Milky Way galaxy and star formation rates and exoplanet formation...and the occurrence rate of supernova explosions. We actually know some of the numbers."
The numbers Jiang is referring to is the mystery variables Sagan referred to in his Cosmos miniseries where he discussed the Drake equation. This equation comes from Frank Drake in 1961 and is an equation used to estimate the number of active alien civilizations in the Milky Way.
Due to the limitations of their time, Drake and Sagan had to include variables that couldn't be identified more precisely. Jiang and the team of researchers they worked with have learned some of those numbers that Sagan and Drake couldn't identify.
No single factor is more important than the idea that intelligent creatures generally have a tendency that leans toward self-annihilation, according to LiveScience. The theory also includes factors like the prevalence of sun-like stars harboring Earth-like plants, the number of deadly supernovas near the alien civilizations, the probability of intelligent life evolving, and the tendency of advanced civilizations to destroy themselves through progress.
All of these factors and more come together to lead Jiang and the other researchers to believe that advanced alien civilizations did exist at one point, but likely lead themselves to destruction by way of progress. We might not be the sole civilization that exists as living in the galaxy though, as a some scientists theorize there might be 36 extraterrestrial races among the stars, as reported by SyFy Wire.
This isn't the first time researchers have theorized that our galaxy might be home to the remains of now-dead alien civilizations. Back in 2018, researchers arrived to this same theory, but it wasn't progress that lead to their civilization-wide annihilation — it was climate change, according to this report from Forbes.
Regardless of the reasoning, Earth and the human race sound about 5.5 billion years late to the party of progress-related annihilation, but if it turns out climate change is the reason, we might be closer to our end than 5.5 billion years. While waiting to find out what our fate is, read about possible signs of life detected on Venus and then read about how according to a former Israeli government official, the United States and Israel are in contact with a galactic federation of aliens.
Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN who became increasingly more existential while writing this story. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.
Dec 10, 2021 · By Meghan Bartels. last updated 10 December 2021. The Kardashev scale is based on how much energy a civilization uses. The Kardashev scale classes a civilization with a Dyson sphere to harvest...
Jun 29, 2020 · A 50-year-old theory that began as speculation about how an alien civilization could use a black hole to generate energy has been experimentally verified for the first time in a Glasgow research lab.
civilization. This paper argues that we can draw some inferences from the history of. the Cold War and nuclear deterrence in order to show that at least some attack. scenarios are likely to be exaggerated. In particular, it would seem to be unlikely that. the humanity would be attacked simply because it might, some time in the future,
Sep 20, 2023 · September 20, 2023 by Brian Koberlein. First Contact Could Turn Out Well for Humanity. You’ve heard this story before. An advanced alien race comes to Earth. They offer peace and prosperity, but...
