Where Is Everybody? Star Trek and the Fermi Paradox #startrek

 

Star Trek and the Fermi Paradox

I’m sure we have all rapturously listened to stories of aliens visiting our world in their funny little ships, of ‘little green men’ who live in some remote corner of the galaxy, far away from our planet tucked away in the Orion arm our Milky Way Galaxy.

To think there might be other worlds and other people on it, just like you and me was a seductive idea, and still is. It has inspired countless science fiction stories, books, movies and TV franchises. Among them, my favourite is Star Trek.

Star Trek's exploration of humanity and alien life
Photo Credits: Trek News, Freepik, Unsplash, Newsweek, Tina Hassannia, Ars Technica, Wired, Pinterest, Memory Alpha

The Trekverse

Star Trek paints a hopeful future where humanity ventures to the stars in search of answers to our most meaningful questions, as part of an entire Federation of planets aligned together in their common goals of peace, mutual respect and exploration.

It’s a utopian vision where humanity acknowledges its common unity and seeks to be something greater than itself- a part of a peaceful collective of planets and cultures spread out across the ‘Alpha Quadrant’.

The United Federation of Planets
Credit: Trekipedia

Even if some of the geopolitical skirmishes that take place in today’s fractured world are scaled up to the size of entire star systems in this utopian vision, and war, detention and espionage still take place, humanity and the rest of the Federation have still taken a giant leap forward and joined forces to explore the universe and new cultures.

And there are more than a few worlds to explore: the Klingons, Romulans, the Vulcans, the Cardassians, the Breen, the Rigellians, the Vorta, the Ferengi, the Vidiians, the Borg, Species 8472, the Kelvans, the Bajorans, the Trill, the Kazon, the Hirogen, the Terrans, the Metrons, the Gorn, the Tholians, the Risians, the Martians, the Andorians, the Tellurites, the Ocampans, the Talaxians, the Preservers, etc. all occupy different “quadrants” in the galaxy.

The Voth from Star Trek: Voyager
(They are distantly related to us- panspermia)
Credit: Game Rant

The Ferengi from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Credit: Wikipedia

The Cardassians from Star Trek: The Next Generation
Credit: Sacred Icon

The Klingons from Star Trek: The Next Generation
Credit: Salon

The Romulan Commander Toreth
Credit: Memory Gamma

Tholians from Star Trek: The Original Series
Credit: Memory Beta

Species 8472 from Star Trek: Voyager
Credit: Villains Wiki

When I first started watching Star Trek, what struck me was the incredible fact that humanity found others like itself in the first place; it found its purpose among the stars and among the countless alien inhabitants of alien worlds. It found the answer to one of the longstanding questions of our species- and an uplifting answer at that.

They are not alone in the universe. There are others like them, and they do not have to undertake the herculean task of exploring the universe and living out their lives all alone.

 And they were contacted by their alien buddies (Vulcans) in the latter half of the 21^st century too…and given that there are 100 billion stars splattered across a galaxy 100,000 light years wide, with an average of 1 or 2 exoplanets per star, science fiction starts feeling less like fiction and our reality of complete radio silence instead feels unrealistic and bizarre.

First contact with the vulcans
Credit: YouTube

The Milky Way galaxy
Credit: NASA Science

The James Webb deep field shows us the true extent and scale of our universe
Credit: Webb Space Telescope

They ventured into a universe that was teeming with life- with humanoid and non-humanoid civilisations just like their own, with their own cultures, histories and stories to tell.

What’s more, these alien worlds were less alien than one might think!

In the Trekverse, most of the civilisations portrayed are caricatures of ours- embodying particular aspects of our culture. They have similar concepts of art, architecture, culture and history; they drink wine and coffee. The Vulcans embodied our capacity for rational debate, logic and self-control. The Klingons represented our warrior culture and our concepts of honour, integrity and glory. Any people who recently escaped the clutches of oppression would identify with the Bajorans. The Romulans represent our cunning and tact. The Ferengi embody our capitalist, commercial culture. The Vidiians show us what might happen to any flourishing culture ravaged by disease and desperation.

So apart from the fundamental question of whether aliens exist, there’s the additional question of what they might be like. Is it possible they are anything like us, as portrayed in Star Trek?

If life arises everywhere along the same patterns that we did, then perhaps other civilisations will be a lot like us. If societies emerge in a specific way, with the same set of rules and hierarchies, then alien civilisations and values might be our values.

Alternatively, they may be nothing like we are- they might not even share the same senses, and their perception of the universe may be entirely different from our own. They may not have a concept of fear, happiness, anger and hope. Alien civilisations may be millions of years ahead of us in terms of trade, technology, science and commerce- or they might have explored other dimensions and transcended to a plane of existence that we can simply not comprehend.

There are more possibilities apart from the ones we have already imagined; and we have imagined quite a few.

So then, where are the aliens?

The Fermi Paradox

Italian American physicist Enrico Fermi
Credit: Brittanica

In the summer of 1950, physicist Enrico Fermi asked this very question while lunching with fellow physicists Edward Teller, Herbert York, and Emil Konopinski. Though he may not have been the first to posit this question, he certainly won’t be the last. This question encapsulates the heart of what has come to be known as the Fermi paradox.

So, what is the resolution to this conundrum? Is there any? Will we ever know?

An Ear to the Stars

The VLA: Very Large Array in New Mexico, USA used by SETI
Credit: SETI Institute

The Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico (It was sadly damaged in 2020)
Credit: SETI Institute

We have been listening for alien messages since the 1980s now (ever since the establishment of SETI: the Search for Extraterrestrial Life) and have not heard a word. Or a math formula or an intelligent number pattern. We equipped our deep space probes with plaques and records of who we are, in the hopes that if our probes ever fell into alien hands, they would perhaps come say hello. These probes haven’t got far; so far only Voyager 1 has cleared the solar system. It is possible our messages haven’t gone far either- after all, the universe is a big place.

It might just be that we haven’t searched enough- or we might have. We may never know for certain. Because if the answer is that aliens don’t exist, then we would have to keep looking for a long time. All it takes is one civilisation to prove that alien life exists. But to prove they don’t we can never stop searching.

Stranded in Time

GN-z11, the oldest galaxy discovered
This galaxy may have harbored (or might harbor) life and we may never know
Credit: Wikipedia

Civilisations might be stranded, not in space, but in time.

There might be such few civilisations scattered over such distant and disparate time periods that any contact between us is impossible forever.

Here’s one hair raising possibility- we might encounter an alien signal tomorrow, only to discover that it originated millions of light years away- millions of years ago, and that that the civilisation probably does not exist anymore.

The Rarity of Life

We may encounter another 'blue marble' a mind-boggling distance away if the universe is infinite
Credit:Wikipedia

Perhaps life is not as common as we think, it may exist- but the frequency of occurrence might be much lower, if not zero. In that case, there may be civilisations in other galaxies, other clusters, other ‘local groups’, or even at the other end of the universe.

If the universe is infinite, then the other identical Earth a mind-boggling distance away might qualify for aliens. Or not.

Maybe the aliens are just hiding.

The Zoo Hypothesis

Artist's conception of the Zoo Hypothesis
Credit: New Space Economy

Must we first invent the ‘warp drive’ before an intelligent civilisation deems us worthy of being contacted?

In 1933, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky proposed the ‘Zoo Hypothesis’, according to which alien civilisations might practice restraint in contacting other intelligent lifeforms like us, in order to prevent contamination, allow independent sociocultural development, and not hinder natural evolution. This idea is echoed in the ‘Prime Directive’, Star Trek’s ‘General Order One’ which prohibits any sort of contact with civilisations who have not yet developed warp capability (the ability to travel faster than light). Though it is important to note that there have been several breaches of this protocol in the Trekverse- which may indicate that even if the Zoo Hypothesis is true, there is no reason for there not to have been accidents or intentional breaches of this code.

Meet Our Alien Overlords

Artist's conception of an alien dyson sphere- an advanced megastructure
Credit: NBC News

In the episode ‘The Chase’ from Star Trek: The Next Generation, all present humanoid civilizations originated from a first, ancient civilisation. They left the clue of their existence in the DNA of all their progeny civilizations- genetic markers that could be read and understood only when a civilisation became sufficiently advanced.

Perhaps, there are not several alien civilisations, but one mother civilisation, or a less friendly overlord if we’re unlucky.

If they aren’t the friendly type, they may be biding their time to let us destroy ourselves, or they may have sent doomsday machines our way to do the job themselves.

Or they simply may not care. After all, we have no way to know what they are like, and what their intentions and values may be.

Perhaps they died out long ago.

Perhaps they never existed to begin with.

The Curious Silence

There is another possibility that I think may be the dullest on first glance, but is also the most exciting and liberating.

We are alone.

Perhaps life was not really meant to exist in this universe at all; and we somehow overcame extraordinary odds to come about. In that case, we might have to be the only members of our future Federation.

We might eventually become the alien overlords.

If we do, I hope we become good ones.

Humanity is Its Own Doomsday Machine

The cold promise of nuclear annihilation
Credit: The MIT Press Reader

There is also the grim possibility of us destroying ourselves.

This was once a very legitimate fear during the Cold War, when we had weapons advanced enough to affect catastrophic change and alter the course of our species forever.

We may not have been able to drive ourselves extinct, but we could plunge our descendants into the Stone Age and push them to eventual starvation and extinction.

The 1959 movie ‘On the Beach’ explored the once very real possibility of nuclear annihilation. Humanity might put an end to its story before it even started. Whatever disasters come our way; we must not give rise to our own.

The Great Filter

No species ever dominated the planet like us
Credit: Archaeology News

The steps to becoming a truly advanced, space-faring civilisation might have more hurdles than we think. It might not be as easy for life to emerge and advance to a stage where it becomes possible to contact other civilisations or be contacted.

Out of all the species on Earth, we turned out to be the only ones who could conquer the planet. The Earth hosts 8.7 million species- out of which only one could dominate the planet, without destroying itself (so far).

Life might be common, and intelligence might be rare. Perhaps societies are hard to come by competition might be fiercer than cooperation.

Maybe life itself is rare. Or the universe is a hostile place.

The hurdles to becoming an advanced civilisation constitute the several ‘great filters’.

Perhaps the universe only became inhabitable recently, in which case that one great hurdle might have prevented the existence of ancient civilisations.

So, what’s the answer?

Right now, there isn’t any.

There is only civilisation that we know of right now, and it is us. Our ideas of civilisations are limited to a very small sample size of humans.

At best, these are philosophical speculations and some back-of-the-envelope calculations. There is not a lot we can do but keep listening and keep exploring.

If there’s one thing we owe to the universe and any other civilisations that exist or once existed, it is to exist- meaningfully, and to never stop looking and never stop searching.