In 1950, the brilliant physicist Enrico Fermi asked a question that seemed simple at first glance: “Where is everyone?” He meant that if the Universe is indeed teeming with life, then where is the evidence of advanced alien civilizations? This question, known as the “Fermi paradox,” remains one of the greatest mysteries in science to this day. However, a new scientific paper by astrophysicist Robin Corbet offers an unexpected but quite simple solution to this puzzle.
According to the researcher, there may not be many civilizations in the Milky Way, and they are not much more advanced than ours. That is precisely why we cannot find each other — our technologies have similar, rather modest limitations. Corbet calls this concept the “principle of radical mundanity.”
“It’s like having an iPhone 42 instead of an iPhone 17,” explains the scientist. “They are more advanced, but not so much that it’s radical. This idea seems more natural because it doesn’t require anything extraordinary.”
Galactic Silence
For decades, we calculated the number of civilizations using the Drake equation and waited for radio signals. We even searched for traces of giant structures around stars—so-called Dyson spheres. But the result is absolute silence. Some believe that aliens are too advanced for us, others that they deliberately avoid contact, and the most pessimistic theories claim that all civilizations ultimately destroy themselves.
Corbet rejects these extremes. What if there is a natural technological ceiling that cannot be broken through? Perhaps humanity has already approached the upper limit of progress. Other worlds are probably stuck at this plateau as well, unable to build interstellar spacecraft or powerful signals.
Even if the hypothesis of “radical mundanity” is correct, this does not mean that the search is futile. We may still detect radio signals leaking out from civilizations similar to ours, and such a discovery may be just around the corner. However, Corbet cautions against excessive optimism.
“Although this discovery will have profound significance, it may not revolutionize our technology and will leave us a little disappointed,” concludes the scientist. It turns out that we are not alone in the Universe, but we may be so similar and limited that our civilizations are simply unable to find each other in the boundless cosmic ocean.
Earlier, we reported on 12 strange reasons as to why we still haven’t found aliens.
According to theguardian.com
