Has ET evolved to be discreet? An evolutionary tendency for inconspicuous aliens would solve a nagging paradox – and also suggest that we Earthlings should think twice before advertising our own existence. As physicist Enrico Fermi argued in 1950, unless the evolution of life is unique to Earth, there must be many intelligent species out there. So why have they neither phoned home nor been detected by us?
"It's a real paradox," says Adrian Kent of the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
In order to explain the Fermi paradox, Kent turns to natural selection – and suggests that it may favour quiet aliens.
He argues that it's plausible that there is a competition for resources on a cosmic scale, driving an evolutionary process between alien species on different planets. Advanced species, for example, might want to exploit other planets for their own purposes.
If so, the universe would be a violent place, and evolutionary selection may favour the inconspicuous – those who lay low on purpose, or who simply lack the skill or ambition to venture forth or advertise their existence. Read More
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