Are We Alone?

The Fermi paradox is the idea that science supports the idea that aliens exist, so why has no extraterrestrial species made contact with humans? Evidence has pointed towards alien life theoretically existing, so surely aliens must have developed technology to traverse and communicate across the universe. Well, I believe that alien life exists, except that they are probably not humanoid nor do they have the actual ability to communicate with humans.

Human curiosity about alien life seems to be biased and even selfish about what extraterrestrial life may look like. Think about any pop culture depiction of alien life that you have seen. It’s probably a green figure with long arms and legs, a massive head, and large black eyes.

The thing is, this image that we have been force-fed is based on the way humans are built. We want aliens to look like us because we think humans are always superior. However, for aliens to look like we do, their planet would need to have the same gravity, elements, water, and air that Earth has. While the universe is massive, this just seems unlikely. I believe that somewhere, somehow, multicellular organisms exist. They would just not have the same basic functions that humans do. If one day we manage to come in direct contact with aliens, I feel like we are going to be very disappointed once we find out there are just a bunch of space cows or something like that.

To expand on my previous point, communicating with alien life seems impossible unless there is direct contact. Here on Earth, we can’t have full conversations with any other species, so how would even know if something is trying to talk to us? Unless there is some intergalactic radio station, anything that scientists pick up could or could not be alien transmissions.

What if aliens don’t want to talk to us? I’m not sure about you, but letting aliens know that we’re just chilling on Earth sounds like an invitation to evaporate our water sources and harvest our organs. Maybe they are just as scared of us as we are of them. Maybe they are just space cows and can’t talk at all. Regardless, the logistics of trying to communicate with cosmic creatures do not work. If there are advanced civilizations out there, and we have not received any communication from them, that could be a sign that intergalactic contact is simply unachievable.

The Fermi paradox attempts to organize the curiosities and inquiries we have about potential alien life. Extraterrestrial life seems pretty likely, but we can never be quite sure unless we make contact. The problem is, that contact is extremely unlikely, and the chances of aliens looking, acting, thinking, and speaking like us are even more unlikely. Until we come face to face with aliens, I’m just going to leave you while you suffer from the existential dread that we may be all alone on one meaningless planet in the grand scheme of the universe.