When mankind did not step out of the earth and saw the vast universe, the plan to explore extraterrestrial civilization began. So is it possible for an alien civilization to exist? After we understand the general situation of the universe, this question will have an answer.
The galaxy in which the earth is located is the solar system, a small galaxy with a diameter of only about 2 light years. Outside the solar system is the Milky Way with a diameter of 150,000 light-years. The Milky Way has hundreds of billions of stars. Each star basically has its own star system, and there are varying numbers of planets orbiting it.
According to preliminary calculations by scientists, the number of terrestrial planets in the Milky Way will not be less than 40 billion. The Milky Way is only one member of the Virgo Supercluster. This supercluster is hundreds of millions of light-years in diameter, and there are too many galaxies like the Milky Way to count. The Virgo super galaxy is just a dust in the universe, and the current observable universe of human beings is about 92 billion light-years.
Within this observable range, even if it is a very, very small probability that a smart civilization will be born, the number of civilizations in the universe will not be a small number. After we truly understand the vastness of the universe, do you still have any doubts about the possible problems of alien civilization? I believe everyone has no doubts. Every astronomer and physicist is basically a firm supporter of the existence of extraterrestrial civilization.
Maybe someone here will say, if there are a large number of alien civilizations in the universe, why can’t we find it alone? In fact, the main reason is that the universe is too vast. The distance of the universe is measured in light-years. The closest star system to the solar system is 4.2 light-years away from the earth. Even if we fly at the speed of light, it will take us 4.2 years to reach it.
If it is at the speed of our current spacecraft, it will probably take hundreds of thousands of years to reach the neighboring galaxy. Therefore, even if there are a large number of alien civilizations in the universe, they are far away from each other, and without the ability to navigate galaxies, it is impossible to find each other. This is actually the same as the development of mankind in the earth age.
Before human civilization entered the age of science and technology, there was very little contact between the East and the West. Especially in ancient times, it was normal for the Easterners to not know the existence of Westerners. Due to the obstacles of the sea and the limitation of transportation, we have no idea how many human species are there on the earth. We might even think that only the East is inhabited in this world.
When human beings entered the age of science and technology, with fast transportation, the earth became a global village, and we can detect every corner of the surface. At this time, it is no longer a secret how many countries and places are inhabited on the earth. Now we are looking for extraterrestrial civilization in the universe, in fact, the same is true.
Even if there is an extraterrestrial civilization in the biling galaxy, we don’t even know it. So if there are alien civilizations in the universe, will they be in the stone age or the age of technology? I believe that many people are very curious about this. Maybe in the eyes of many people, alien civilizations are very powerful, especially many alien science fiction movies and science fiction novels have caused us a misleading, that is, human beings are outside. There is a weak existence in front of the star civilization.
Is this really true? Let’s analyze the situation of the Milky Way first. With a diameter of 150,000 light-years and a number of 40 billion terrestrial planets, is there really only one civilization of humans? This possibility is very small. If there are many intelligent civilizations in the galaxy, why didn’t we meet them alone? Human beings cannot take the initiative to find alien civilizations because we do not have the ability to navigate between stars and cannot regard the Milky Way as a back garden for humans.
But when a civilization grows into an advanced civilization, the distance between the universe will no longer be a problem. This is the same as the development of human beings on the earth. We now think that light years is an unbridgeable gap, because our technology has just started, but if the Milky Way has a technological civilization that has been developed for tens of thousands of years or even millions of years, then such a civilization has a high probability of being broken. In addition to the speed limit, interstellar navigation can be carried out.
Even if it can’t cross the universe, it is believed that there is no big problem with a small galaxy. But what we saw was that no alien civilization came to earth to come into contact with us. Isn’t this very strange? This is also the Fermi paradox that Fermi once put forward. For this issue, the scientific community has had many conjectures.
One of the most important conjectures is that the strength of alien civilizations is actually not strong, and it may be far inferior to humans. In other words, there is a high probability that there are no advanced civilizations capable of interstellar navigation in the Milky Way, and they may still be in the Stone Age or the technological age similar to human beings. Perhaps in an unknown galaxy, an alien civilization pointed the telescope at the solar system and also saw the beautiful planet Earth.
This civilization may also guess that there may be an intelligent civilization in the solar system. However, because the distance is too far away, and there is no limit to the relative speed, it is impossible to truly come to the solar system to enter the confirmation. If this is the case in the Milky Way, then other galaxies in the universe may be no exception. It is important to know that the birth time of the Milky Way is actually the same as the birth time of most other galaxies.
If the Milky Way has not developed a powerful advanced civilization, the probability of other galaxies is similar. Therefore, we can’t really discover the alien civilization. If things are really as we guessed, it is actually good news for mankind. You should know that there is a high probability that the law of the dark forest will exist among civilizations. If there are many advanced civilizations in the universe, especially the Milky Way, the existence of the solar system and the earth may have been discovered long ago.
Human beings and other intelligent civilizations are completely different civilizations, different intelligent life forms. It is very difficult for different civilizations to live in peace. It is necessary to know that even within human beings, there are still contradictions, let alone to expect other civilizations to treat mankind peacefully. Therefore, once the earth is discovered by advanced civilizations, our ending may not be so good.
Now we have not found any alien civilization, which is actually great news for mankind. Only when we continue to work hard to develop science and technology, when we become a powerful interstellar civilization in the future, we can go out of the solar system to explore the various galaxies of the Milky Way. I believe that at that time, we will find many intelligent civilizations. However, at that time, it is difficult to say what kind of attitude humans will adopt to alien civilization.