When you really think about it, what this NASA scientist said actually makes a lot of sense. A researcher from NASA has shared a new idea that could explain why aliens haven’t reached out to us and it might be more logical than we think.
People have argued for years about whether aliens are real or not. But no matter which side you’re on, it’s still strange that in such a massive universe, we haven’t had a single confirmed visit from another civilization. You’d think that if even a few of the so-called UFO sightings were real, we’d have heard a “hello” from someone by now. Movies like Alien or Prometheus make extraterrestrials look terrifying, but in reality, nobody really knows what they might be like.
According to Dr. Robin Corbet, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, aliens might actually be wondering the same thing about us why we haven’t contacted them.
In his new research paper titled A Less Terrifying Universe?, Dr. Corbet explains that extraterrestrial civilizations may not be as technologically advanced as people often imagine. He suggests that the lack of clear evidence of alien technology in our galaxy could mean that other civilizations are simply not that far ahead of us.
This idea connects to what scientists call the “Fermi Paradox,” which questions why, in a universe full of planets and stars, we haven’t found signs of advanced alien life. Dr. Corbet argues that perhaps no species has yet reached the level of technology needed for massive space projects like building structures across star systems or maybe they simply don’t care to.
He adds that even if other civilizations exist, their ability to explore space might be limited, just like ours. To put that in perspective, traveling to a planet such as Proxima Centauri b one of the closest known planets that could possibly support life would take humans about 100,000 years to reach with our current technology.
Dr. Corbet believes that alien technology might not be much better than ours, meaning they wouldn’t have the tools or power to send fleets of robotic probes across galaxies to find us. In short, they might want to explore but simply can’t go that far.
He also pointed out that the galaxy might only have a small number of civilizations that use technology and even if they are more advanced than us, they might still be nowhere near the level of “super-science” we see in movies. That could explain why we haven’t detected anything obvious, like massive alien-built structures or signals.
Some other scientists, however, have a very different theory that aliens might actually be avoiding us on purpose. Dr. Gordon Gallup, a biopsychologist at the University of Albany, suggested in 2022 that intelligent extraterrestrials might see humans as dangerous. After all, if they’ve been watching us, they’ve probably seen our wars, pollution, and the fact that we have enough nuclear weapons to destroy our own planet.
He wrote that if other life forms exist, they might view humanity as a serious threat and have no interest in making contact. “Maybe that’s why there’s no solid proof or evidence of extraterrestrial life,” he said. “We pose too great a risk, and they don’t want to be discovered.”
It’s an idea that’s easy to picture aliens sitting around somewhere, asking, “Should we visit Earth?” Then one of them looks up what’s happening here and says, “No thanks too much pollution, too much greed, wars, traffic, lies, politics… we’re better off staying home.”
In the end, maybe aliens do exist, but they’re either not advanced enough to travel across galaxies or they’ve seen what’s going on here and decided to keep their distance. Either way, the silence of the universe might not mean we’re alone. It could just mean no one’s ready or brave enough to make the first move.
