Why is the Universe Silent to Us?

A Friendly Thought About the Fermi Paradox

This image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 and its surroundings was the first image released from the James Webb Space Telescope in July 2022. The five zoom-ins are each roughly 19,000 lightyears across, and show galaxies seen some 13 billion years back in time. Careful analysis of these galaxies reveals that if we cannot resolve a galaxy, we may severely underestimate the total mass of its stars. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI / Giménez-Arteaga et al. (2023), Peter Laursen (Cosmic Dawn Center). Source: Phys.org

You know, just this morning, while I was out for my usual stroll — doctor’s orders to keep the old blood pressure in check — I happened upon a line of ants. They were on a mission, marching one by one from their home to who knows where.

It got me thinking, do they even know we’re here? Do they realize that just a footstep away lives a creature so big it could shake their world?

We look at ants and see a society with queens, soldiers, workers, and those little guys who look after the eggs. They’ve got their bustling cities underground, complete with tunnels and chambers.

But to us, they’re just part of the background, something we study or maybe just notice in passing.

Now, let’s zoom out — a lot. Our universe is a whopping 13.8 billion years old, and here we are, sitting on a 4.5-billion-year-old rock we call Earth. Our sun? It’s just an average star, not much different from countless others in the Milky Way, and that’s just one galaxy among billions. So, isn’t it possible that somewhere out there, life got a head start on us?

Imagine an alien civilization, way ahead of us in the tech game, looking at us like we look at ants. Maybe they’re out there thinking, “Let’s not ruin their day…