There are around 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, and orbiting those stars are another 100 billion planets. Out of this group of planets, there are an estimated 300 million habitable exoplanets. Yet, we have not received or seen any evidence of alien life in our galaxy. So, where is everyone? Are we alone in the massive universe, or is there something else causing this paradox?
There have been a vast number of potentially habitable exoplanets discovered by spacecraft like Kepler and JWST. As a matter of fact, these telescopes increased our estimate of how many habitable exoplanets there are by a huge amount, but this still doesn’t shine any light on why we haven’t come in contact with any other forms of life. If anything, this actually amplified our confusion about why aliens haven’t reached out to us. The real thing that sends chills through my bones is the eerie fact that the universe remains silent.
One reason no aliens have reached out to us is that life could be incredibly rare. It makes all the sense in the world; life arose from lifelessness, and to this day, we don’t know how. I mean, think about it—life only emerged once in Earth’s 4.5 billion years of existence, and that life boomed, transforming into thousands of different species. We might be the greatest paradox in the cosmos.
A more optimistic theory is that aliens are too advanced to notice us or maybe even to care. Aliens might be so advanced that they don’t even need to kill other living things to survive; they might rely on photosynthesis to fuel themselves. As they look down on us, they see that we slaughter all other kinds of life just to feed our own needs. We seem so barbaric to them that they don’t feel the need to risk being slaughtered just so they can contact us.
The last theory I will talk about is the Zoo Hypothesis. Aliens might be observing us but deliberately staying hidden, like a cosmic wildlife preserve. They might have such advanced technology that they can walk among us or even just view us from their invisible UFOs, studying our nature and lives. I will say that this is the most far-fetched idea out of the three. Most of this theory is just speculation and a simple answer to why we think we are alone. In reality, this just makes us sound like we are the center of the universe and that everyone wants to observe us.
The truth is, it has become ever more likely that we are the only life in the cosmos. Or it might be that humanity is among the first civilizations to reach technological maturity. Are we responsible for spreading life and intelligence across the galaxy? Maybe. It might be up to us to cultivate the vast galaxies and discover the hidden secrets of the universe, including the question, “Where is everybody?” Whether we are alone or not, the answer is clear: we have to keep moving forward as a species to colonize other parts of our solar system, and then move outward because the only way to answer the big questions is through exploration.